Elves, dwarves and other inhabitants of Old England
Publisher: AST-Exmo Group, 2022
Illustrations: Yulya Shironina
Cover design and layout: AST
Cover design and layout: AST
In the spring of 2022, I received an offer to create illustrations for a new series of colouring books, 'Fantasy Worlds'. My topic was the folklore of the British Isles. I adore the myths of the people inhabiting this territory since my childhood, and working on the stories was a real pleasure.
I drew 13 square and 7 double-page illustrations in black and white for the main part, and 2 half-page and 6 portraits of writers and artists in colour for the preface. For the endpapers I also made a unicorn and thistle pattern in Morris's style.
In addition to pictures, the book contains short descriptions of the creatures presented on its pages and, thus, also becomes an educational publication.
I drew 13 square and 7 double-page illustrations in black and white for the main part, and 2 half-page and 6 portraits of writers and artists in colour for the preface. For the endpapers I also made a unicorn and thistle pattern in Morris's style.
In addition to pictures, the book contains short descriptions of the creatures presented on its pages and, thus, also becomes an educational publication.
I was inspired by the works of the Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris, illustrations of Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Arthur Rackham, Ted Nasmith, Jean-Baptiste Monge, N.C. Wyeth, patterns of the Art Nouveau era, photographs of mossy dark forests, plants and herbs, and so on.
All illustrations are hand-drawn with ink and isographs, then scanned in high resolution, cleaned up in Photoshop and coloured in Procreate and Photoshop.
At the beginning of the book there is a map of the British Isles with places significant for mythology and folklore and coloured vignettes of characters that can be found in the book.
