Sunday, September 9, 2012

John Bauer




Йон Бауэр 
(4 июня 1882 — 20 ноября 1918) 
 John Bauer 
(4 june 1882 - 20 november 1918)




Шведский художник и иллюстратор. Его работы можно встретить издании со сказками «Среди эльфов и троллей» (швед. `Bland tomtar och troll`). Благодаря этим сказкам он стал одним из самых знаменитых художников Швеции.Помимо жанра иллюстрации, он пробовал себя в написании сказочных детских пьес, либретто (для балета `Горный король`. Швед. `Bergakungen`), создавал монументальные фрески. 

Swedish artist and illustrator. His artworks could be met in fairy-tale book `Among elves and trolls` (swedish `Bland tomtar och troll`). Thanks to these fairy-tales he became one of the most famous swedish artists. Apart from illustration genre he also tried himself in writing plays for children, libretto (for ballet `Mountainking`. Swedish `Bergakungen`), created monumental wall-paintings.



Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Interview

Last several months i illustrate blog of norwegian politician Ola Kristian Johansen. So, he decided it is time to make interview with me. When i got to know about his plans, i was both surprised and pleased :) 
Here you can see the original article in Ola Kristian`s blog. 


Your full name?
Starostina Alexandra Sergejevna

Age?
22 years old

Where do you live and with whom?
I`m living in flat (3 sleeping rooms), with my parents,  greatgrandmother, dog and three cats. As you see, company is huge and all the time something  happens here : )

What is your favorite food?
I prefer to eat fruits, vegs, kasha, cheese, fish, simple veg-soups.  And… as almost every girl i also like to eat cookies and cakes : )) Favorite food- is that one which is made by our own hands.

And favorite drink?
Water, green or herbal tea, coffee~


Favorite music?
For my dad is fan of rock-music, I was raised on this since childhood. Lots of old western rock bands I like… Mother gave me love to instrumental classics such as Rimsky- Korsakov,  Grieg, Schubert, Paganini, Bach and so on. My `own` love are Pink Floyd, Nephew, Grinderman, the Myrrors and Rammstein : )
All what I listen gives me kind of inspiration, so I can feel new wave of power and urge to draw or make smth. I guess, everybody can get such feelings while listening to favorite music?

Do you read books?
I read lots of books, especially energized reading was at school. So I have plenty of favorite books for now… But,i guess book which i`ll never forget is Mary Shelley`s `Story of Frankenstein`. I was too impressed with how nice and kind, open-hearted the monster was, and how rude, cruel and blind were people around him. From russian classics i`d name `Karamazovs brothers` (by Dostoyevsky), `Master and Margarita` (by Bulgakov) and collection of poems by Mayakovsky. From not-novels I like V. Zeland`s `Transurfing of Reality` series.
Oh, I can`t name only one favorite book, as i`m almost bookworm! ; )

What education do you have?
Through whole life my education was connected with art and creativity. Art-schools in childhood. At school i was studying in art-oriented class (graduated with silver medal). Not long ago i`ve successfully  graduated from Volgograd state university of architecture and  building construction (and now my speciality is Designer of architectural environment). Also I have additional high education as Translator/ interpreter of professional texts (rus/eng).

Tell me about your interests?
Drawing (now i`m more oriented to illustration); learning languages (across my life have passed english, german, serbian, norwegian, japanese, but for this moment I`ve put my chose on english and norwegian, later i plan to better my german); history of the world, of illustration, design, architecture and so on; getting to know other cultures; I love to get know new things; travelling; being on nature; cooking; watching anime; old things, antiquities; selfimprovement and selfeducation; philosophy of living, transurfing of reality; astronomy, psychology; mystique things, symbolism, theory of esoteric and shamanism;  myths of different countries and epochs.

What are your political views?
Concerning this question…. I can`t see into politics well enough to define any of my own political views.

Do you believe in God?
I`m not religious in common meaning of this notion. Though I believe in several things: 1) Nature`s spirit is in and around everything; 2) every person has power to make, to get what he wants, to change himself or life around him. Only real wish, motivation and correct actions are needed; 3) I believe in small kind mythological nature`s creatures, like elves, trolls and so on : )

Why are you illustrating this blog?
At first steps my goal was only to help Ola Kristian- to make work with blog easier for him (he will not need to search for proper illustrations and waste time for it); to make blog look more individual. But then I understood that it is very good chance for myself to polish my drawing skills, to define my individual style in it. Working with blog, i also get know new things about Norway which are not told in Russia. Letting me to illustrate blog, Ola Kristian helps me to make and collect portfolio, which would be very useful when I find my dreamjob.

What is your dreamjob?
So, here`s favorite topic for my thoughts : ) I want to be illustrator of books , magazines, internet pages and of everything what needs to be decorated or explained with pictures. Part of this dream has already came into reality, thanks to Ola Kristian!


If you`re interested in Alexandra`s work, have some questions or just want to add as a friend, you can find her in Internet:
Deviantart  -here you can find her unsorted drawings of different ages and themes;
Behance -this is her portfolio which Alexandra prefers to show to employers;


Sunday, July 15, 2012

Ivan Bilibin


Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin
16 August [O. S. 4 August] 1876 – 7 February 1942
Билибин Иван Яковлевич
4 (16) августа 1876 - 7 февраля 1942


 Известный книжный иллюстратор и график (наверняка у многих из вас была в детстве книга со сказками Пушкина, где были красивые, сложные, сказочные иллюстрации Билибина? :) ). Помимо этого, Иван Яковлевич был художником, театральным декоратором. Он считается одним из первых русских деятелей, который смог успешно сгармонизировать иллюстрацию и текст в одной книге. Обложки, заставки и прочее можно было встретить в оформлении журналов "Мир искусства", "Золотое руно". Во время революции 1905 года он создавал революционные карикатуры. Даже делал рекламный плакат (а может быть и не один? больше я не нашла) пиво-медоваренного завода. Билибин хорошо разбирался в шрифтах разных эпох, особенно древнерусской, что широко использовал в оформлении книг - названия сказок он писал славянской вязью.    


Основной темой работ художника (и иллюстраций, и оформления театральных постановок) были русские сказки и былины. Его талант ярко проявился в изображении сцен, где был показан быт Руси - одежды бояр, крестьян, самобытные наряды русских красавиц, богатыри, деревянные избы, терема, палаты, внутреннее убранство комнат, природа средней полосы России и многое другое. Дополняя образ, показанный в самой иллюстрации, он подчёркивал и поддерживал его рамкой с активным славянским орнаментом. Билибин всегда стремился быть предельно точным и правдивым в изображении деталей, т.к. серьёзно интересовался культурой Древней Руси и имел о ней точные представления. 


Famous book illustratior and graphic artist (i guess lots of russians had Pushkin`s fairy-tales book in childhood, with illustrations of Bilibin? :) ). Also Ivan Jakovlevich was an artist, theatre decorator. He is regarded as one of first russian persons, who could manage to come to harmony between illustration and text within one book. Covers and other parts of journals `World of art`, `Golden Fleece` were decorated by him. At times of revolution of  1905 Ivan Jakovlevich drew revolutional caricatures. He even created an advertising poster for beer/honey factory. Bilibin had good understanding of fonts of different times, especially old russian and he widely used this knoledge in book decoration - titles of fairy-tales were written with old, slavic ligature. 


The basic theme of artist`s works (of illustrations and theatre plays as well) was russian fairy-tales, epics and bylinas. His talent is fully expressed in scenes where shown live of Russ - clothes of boyars, russian beauties, villains, heroes - bogatyrs, wooden cottages, chambers of princes, decoration of houses` inner spaces, Russian nature and so on. To complete picture`s image he stressed it`s idea and theme with frame, ornamented with rich slavic deco. Bilibin always tried to be as truethful and accurate as possible in drawing details, because he had deep interest to culture of Russ and had precise knoledge of it. 


Sunday, July 1, 2012

Alfons Mucha


In first post i`d like to tell about master who influenced on me a lot and gave me an impulse to taken seriously with graphics. Falling in love with his art i aknoleged i have to find my own style, and `mucha - style` was my first, really serious and mature step in developing of skills.

В первой записи мне хотелось бы рассказать о мастере, который сильно повлиял на меня и дал импульс в том, чтобы я серьёзно занялась графикой. Полюбив его работы, я поняла, что мне нужно искать свой стиль и "стиль Мухи" был моим первым, действительно серьёзным и осознанным шагом в развитии навыков рисования.

Alfons Maria Mucha
24 july 1860 - 14 july 1939



...is a Czech painter of Art Nouveau epoch. Was not only painter, but decorative artist; illustrator; designer of interiors, furniture, dresses and jewelry for women and for theatre plays; sculptor; for a while he was 
a teacher in USA.


Альфонс Мария Муха - это чешский художник эпохи Ар Нуво (Модерн, Югендстиль и пр.). Он был не только 
художником, но и декоратором; иллюстратором; дизайнером интерьеров, мебели, одежды и ювелирных украшений; 
одежды для театральных постановок и оформителем сцены; скульптором; и даже некоторое время был 
преподавателем в США.

Testdrive

This first post - is only testing of this blog :)
My basic internet-pages are:
http://vk.com/id9682740
http://www.facebook.com/alexandra.starostina.3
http://himura-mechniza.deviantart.com/