Снегурочка (Snow Maiden) Holiday Card

Happy last day of November!

I have some new work to show today, finally. This is my holiday card this winter. It's inspired by my Ukrainian and Russian heritage by way of stories of the Snow Maiden and the traditional Slavic headdresses. Hope you enjoy! Below is the creation process.

2. Detailed pencil sketch.

3. Ink drawing with micron pens.

4. Work in progress; painting with (diluted) waterproof coloured inks.

5. Nearing completion; further painting with the (diluted) inks and also gouache accents.

7. Printed holiday cards, almost ready to be mailed. I'm considering adding some flecks of silver, to make them really pop!

Some close ups.

For the original painting, here are the specs:

Size: 6 x 8 inches (paper size)
Materials: Micron pens, Koh-i-noor waterproof coloured inks and water soluble gouache on Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface paper.


The cards I had printed are 4 x 5 inches and are now available on my Etsy Shop {here}.
Other assorted prints and products are now available on my Society6 and RedBubble pages.

Snowy Fowls and The West Wind

Happy Wednesday all those who have wandered over to this blog!

Today, I've spontaneously decided to share some paintings and sketches that I've done for a project that began last year. The project is currently on hold, so I thought it would be nice to post up some of the work.

For the most part, I was working on the fantasy characters in the story our team was developing. They were all hybrid creatures, based on the species of animals found in Scandinavian countries. I won't be revealing all of the illustrations done thus far, just a few.

First up, there's The West Wind. I've shared a few teaser close ups of him a few months ago {here}
He is a forest dwelling spirit. He can't quite fly like a bird but he can leap distances and glide on the wind because he is a hybrid of a lynx and a flying squirrel.

Here he is surrounded by some 'action' sketches.

And here he is all by himself, enjoying his walk in the woods. He might look peaceful, but he can kick butt, I assure you.

(Click to see a larger)

And now we have "The Snowy Fowls". They're hybrids of snowy owls and foxes - get it? Kind of cute, no? *Don't look at me like that*
Anyhow, these guys were once an arctic fox and a snowy owl who were subjected to a witch's experimental spell. Now their task is to figure out whether this mishap is a gift or a curse, and whether to seek her out in the hopes of getting changed back.

Character painting with some of my favourite exploratory sketches.

Character painting with some of my favourite exploratory sketches.

Snowy Fowl 1

Here are what the sketches looked like, if you were curious.

Snowy Fowl 2

 (Click to see a larger)

Painted with waterproof coloured inks, watercolour, and gouache on Bristol Smooth paper.

I still have to figure out the names for each of these fowls. Maybe one day they'll come to me in a dream, or something. :)

Thanks for visiting!

All images are ©Mariya Olshevska and may not be used or re-purposed without the artist's consent.

Please give credit if you share the images. :)

Little Ida's Flowers

It's my 100th post. Yay!=)

The following illustrations are part of my first Children's Book Illustration class. The topic was fairy-tales and I chose to depict (mostly) character portraits of the flowers found in Hans Christian Andersen's story - "Little Ida's Flowers". I really loved that story when I was little.

[Ida]: “Can children go to these balls?”
“Yes,” said the student, “little daisies and lilies of the valley.”

"The two most beautiful roses seat themselves on the throne, and are called the king and queen."

"Hyacinths and crocuses which [are called] young ladies."

"I saw a long yellow lily [...] She was a court lady.”

"Large poppies and peonies had pea-shells for instruments, and blew into them till they were quite red in the face."

Materials:
`Bristol Smooth Paper
`Prismacolor pens
`Micron pens
`Koh-i-Noor waterproof colour inks

Size:
9x12 inches

Prints available on my RedBubble
Happy Sunday!

Princess and the Pea

Illustration Iconography project # 4: Create a 18x24'' poster for a well known character, ideology, or a school of thought. I chose the character/story: The Princess and the Pea and here it is:

Info:
Paper: Canson smooth bristol paper 18x 24
Medium: acrylic paints + gouache paints

Initial sketch: