Natka's Illustration

Lem Project Logo

2009-09-07T07:57:00.002-07:00

Lem Project Book Jackets

2009-09-07T07:51:00.001-07:00

Lem Project Illustrations

2009-09-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

masks

2009-07-03T05:32:00.001-07:00

These are Masks which I made recently. More is coming!

stamps revised

2009-07-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for a longish break in posting illustrations in here! I really WAS busy!
First update comes on the stamp project previously posted on the design blog, but I guess the real place of this competition job comes in the illustration blog. So...

A bit about the brief:
It was an RSA competition for creating stamps promoting energy efficiency...
My answer to that brief was a bit... unusual I guess. After researching the subject I came to the conclusion that in the area of energy supply we need new creative thinking, and we need to reinvent it all again. That's why I have created the inventors of inventions yet to be made incorporating a hint to their invention to their portrait! It was a lot of fun! And there they come:

Spread the Growth

2009-03-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

Empathy (1)

2009-03-16T17:33:00.001-07:00

Attraction (1) Revised

2009-03-16T17:32:00.003-07:00

Jealousy (2)

2009-03-16T17:32:00.001-07:00

Pleasure (4)

2009-03-16T17:31:00.001-07:00

Cover (1)

2009-03-16T17:30:00.001-07:00

Pleasure (3)

2009-03-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

Happiness (1)

2009-03-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

Attraction (1)

2009-03-01T15:31:00.001-08:00

Pleasure (2)

2009-02-26T17:49:00.001-08:00

Anger (5)

2009-02-26T17:47:00.000-08:00

Anger (4)

2009-02-25T16:21:00.001-08:00

Anger (3)

2009-02-25T07:37:00.001-08:00

Pleasure (1)

2009-02-25T05:50:00.001-08:00

Jealousy (1)

2009-02-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

This is Jealousy. The idea for now is to print it on a tracing paper which is half transparent. It should show through next page which is love.
I imagine this like below, although you never know what is really going to print until you try.

Anger&Dividing

2009-02-17T06:10:00.001-08:00

I am looking for anger shape. I look through different kind of bombs, something what will be powerful, showing willing to fight state, and also being intense. I have a problem with other shapes which I explored so far as I don't feel that it is a very good translation to my drawing style. As love is quite a good picture, it is passionate, a bit intimate, and bold, Anger seems to dillutate in different shades. I have a feeling that I have to go all the way back to a very first drawing which shows anger more powerful. Spiked Bomb shape is something inspiring.

According to my choice of emotions, I decided not to make any division between them. I feel that every feeling should be judged by it's outcome and impact on our life. That in turns indicates that I the weed/decorative plant division is gone from my book. I may want to point out that dealing with the feelings is crucial in our life, so we need to be aware of them. I feel that love can be bad, and anger can be good. It is taking away from the complexity of feelings, to label them with good an bad connotations.

Choices

2009-02-17T05:43:00.000-08:00

1. Anger is usually derived from sadness. Animals and humans for example make loud sounds, attempt to look physically larger, bare their teeth, and stare. Anger causes a loss in self-monitoring capacity and objective observability. Modern psychologists view anger as a primary, natural, and mature emotion - something that has functional value for survival. While many philosophers and writers have warned against the spontaneous and uncontrolled fits of anger, there has been disagreement over the intrinsic value of anger. Modern psychologists have pointed out the possible harmful effects of suppression of anger.
2. Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection and attachment. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction.
Psychology depicts love as a cognitive and social phenomenon. Psychologist Robert Sternberg formulated a triangular theory of love and argued that love has three different components: intimacy, commitment, and passion. Intimacy is a form in which two people share confidences and various details of their personal lives, and is usually shown in friendships and romantic love affairs. Commitment, on the other hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent. The last and most common form of love is sexual attraction and passion. Passionate love is shown in infatuation as well as romantic love. All forms of love are viewed as varying combinations of these three components. American psychologist Zick Rubin seeks to define love by psycho metrics. His work states that three factors constitute love: attachment, caring, and intimacy.
3. Envy (also called invidiousness) may be defined as an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another’s [perceived] superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it." It can also derive from a sense of low self-esteem that results from an upward social comparison threatening a person's self image: another person has something that the envied considers to be important to have. If the other person is perceived to be similar to the envied, the aroused envy will be particularly intense, because it signals to the envied that it just as well could have been him or her who had the desired object.
Bertrand Russell said envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness.It is a universal and most unfortunate aspect of human nature because not only is the envious person rendered unhappy by his envy, but also wishes to inflict misfortune on others. Although envy is generally seen as something negative, Russell also believed that envy was a driving force behind the movement towards democracy and must be endured in order to achieve a more just social system.
4. Surprise
5. Happiness
6. Pleasure
7. Sadness
8. Shame
9. Empathy
10. Fear
11.Loneliness is it an emotion? Rather state?

Anger (2)

2009-02-16T08:23:00.001-08:00

Publish Post

After looking at the first sketch of Anger, I realized that: it is not angry enough and looks a bit like a wooden piece of flower more of stupidity than anger. And also what strikes me about anger itself is that sometimes anger can be a good feeling. It can clear out the environment, so it needs to look unwelcoming but still have passion in it. So I added colour, leaves, and worked with slightly more organic shape.
What do you think?

References for the book

2009-02-13T02:51:00.001-08:00

These are some of spreads from a book by EMMANUELLE HOUDART titled "The Monsters are Sick"
I love her illustrations and also the layout of the pages and additional drawings composed in an interesting way on the pages.
Colour/shape play an important role in here.

This image is scanned from an ArtBook 2007. The author of these illustrations is JULIAN DE NARVAREZ, and he is represented by FolioArt London.
What I love is the quirkiness of the compositions, combination of old images with his drawings, hand writing and border pattern. The bird picture is my favourite.

Anger (1)

2009-02-11T18:35:00.000-08:00

I am not perfectly happy with this. The stem is too long and the leaf doesn't work perfectly well. I am thinking about the colour, something surprising and dark. We'll see tomorrow...
I think that there is a feel of the final one in this image though.

Love (1)

2009-02-09T17:51:00.001-08:00

There we are a first sketch to view for a selection of my Emotional Garden book. PLEASE COMMENT>
And also a very sketchy paragraph of the text for the plant.

Amores Spectaclores (Latin) usually called love, is a long living plant. Unfortunately conditions of modern living are often too harsh to keep Amores growing without problems. It is a connoisseur plant often replaced with a poor version of common annual: Temporary Attraction (Plate 1.1.) Still it can be met in some households growing and flowering though. When kept in good conditions it can flower throughout a year, although it needs feeding with the Organic Powder of Understanding and watering with Respect regularly. Intimacy Feed enhances stunning aroma of the flowers, and a Light of Communication brings best Red flower colour. Caution! Can be destroyed with common weed of Frustration (Plate x.x), or Jealousy (Plate x.x). Delicate petals of the flowers are often drying when exposed for Pain (Plate x.x). Lack of the Light makes it withered immediately.

Illustration 2. Creatures again.

2008-10-20T17:57:00.001-07:00

That was another lot of some summer afternoon. I guess you can see what I mean by simplifying a bit. There is always a temptation of those finishing touches which can never end. I mean at least for me this is the case.
I guess that it really is worth setting yourself
a deadline and being strict with it.
This were drawn quick on even heavier paper, with more visible texture to it.
It works for me better.

Illustration Plants Twice

2008-10-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Inspiration//

I wrote Twice, as I was drawing them in two days, quite disconnected from each other and spread across some big amount of time. The comparison of before and after attitude to both medium and the subject is very interesting for me. I guess that my latest works are done faster with more gesture and a bit less care for finishing the detail on the whole picture. I like the darkness of the later drawings and the fact that they are a bit... moody.The inspiration for those came from ERNEST HEACKEL's plates FLORA by KNIGHT, and THE BOOK OF PLANTS.

Latest//

Oldest//

Illustration 1.

2008-10-13T15:26:00.001-07:00

Ok these are from spring this year. I am fascinated by pencil now. It is so rich and so unlimited. I hated it at school, it seemed to be a very boring medium to work with.
Some of those I used on tinboxes which I sell occasionally and will update some photos with the tins later. Once I start drawing I cannot stop.