Artaksiniya

While Russian illustrator Artaksiniya has been on my radar for a while, I hadn't realised just how much new work had been pouring out of her these last few months. It's an intimidatingly consistent portfolio of beautiful characters and graphical prints, all fleshed out in biro and pencil. Both quality and quantity!

Artaksiniya, who will also be in the LCF's exhibition on fashion illustration (see the recent post on the blog) had this to say to Decoy about her style. 

"I have a journalistic backround with MA of Russian Literature (since I studied Journalism and Literature). But everybody in my family draws well, so I`m not an exception. A few years ago I gave up my journalistic job for the illustration thing (which I've always loved). I started with pictures for newspapers (and I`m still true to this style, as you can see at the-dose.com), *ED: make sure you check these out* but my personal works were always about women and men, clothes and all things fashion, and I`ve always been nuts over patterns and ornaments.

I`d define my style as eclectic, since I love balancing between clear lines,bold colours and excess graphic elements.

I`m in love with modernism, and unconsciously revert to the decadent  imagery quite often, with all those green-skinned peoples, flowers, etc. Being a child I loved Beardsley and Klimt, it had a massive impact on me apparently, and I`m a huge lover of traditional Chinese art, I have an obvious creative clutter in my head"

Her penmanship and appreciation for line and proportion quite clearly show a great passion for what she does, as well as her choice of designers and outfits in her illustrations. Simply, the girl knows fashion. If you check out her blog (which is updated constantly) you'll see that Artaksiniya is just as adept at modelling as she is drawing, and it's wonderful to see her interaction with fashion isn't just with pen and paper. 

Her style also reminds me of two of my personal favourites (who I know I always go on about), Mel Odom and Richard Gray. 

 I love coming across an illustrator whose work is truly blossoming and Artaksiniya is totally there right now. Her illustrations for The Dose show that she is able to interpret and focus on illustration not just fashion related (something I struggle with myself), and that she's extremely driven by beautiful clothing and art alike. A big agency would be stupid not to snap her up immediately.

Website: www.artaksiniya.com

Blog: http://artaksiniya.blogspot.com

(note: I've seen a LOT of gaga illustrations floating about, this is so far the only one I've loved, it's hard to draw that mug of hers)