A kind of illustrator from Saint – Petersburg, whose artwork is filled with a mix of moments from her own life with elements of Japanese culture.
Polina, your style: textures, sustained range of colors, gradients, characters and their emotions in the illustration are really something new, having its own character, immediately makes you stop, consider and delve into the plot.
PO: Thank you, I am insanely grateful for your words! Probably this is one of my main goals, to hook the reader, to interest. I know how important it is for some people to find themselves in the work of other people, in music, in drawings, comics, it helps a lot to live and not think that you are alone or something is wrong with you, many also start to create, and it’s very cool! Therefore, she created such a world herself, just a place where someone can find something interesting, absurd or even funny. Emotions, that’s what’s interesting to see!
Do you find inspiration in Japanese graphics, I noticed correctly? Tell, what fascinated you about Japanese culture?
PO: Yes, you correctly noticed, almost every illustration has at least a little, but it has Japanese motifs. Signs, streets, heroes’ clothing style, food of course! I can say thank you to the cartoons of Hayao Miyazaki, his talent to convey to the child the mood, the traditions of Japan, and all the kindness and easy naivety of people. It all started with him, no matter how typical it may sound, but it’s not for nothing that he and his wonderful team are geniuses in their field! Japan’s traditions, architecture, food, and people’s lifestyle have sunk deeply into the soul. The totality of antiquity and wild modernity. I’ve never been there (except for a walk in Google Maps ahah), but I often hear statements like “Take off your rose-colored glasses, this country is not like in cartoons, everything is too romanticized, there is enough shame there.” At such moments I smile, because that’s what attracts me, the “dark” side of people’s lives. Such moments slip through in the illustrations, the characters openly smoke, look defiant, and not all are cute and good. Naturalness is the main thing. Without hatred and aggression, which is a lot in real life, but with its own character, this is the world of my guys. The very concept is that everyone can be themselves, everyone expresses it in different ways, through cartoon costumes, scenery. Let’s call it the “Caricature World of Imperfect People”, although it’s hard to say if they are people.
Another reason why the heart lies to Japan and Asia in general is mysticism and mystery! Everyone knows the myths, from kind to scary to hell, it’s very inspiring! If you look closely at the illustrations, you can see small messages, strange shadows in the windows, some rustling in the field. So the mystery of events and a bit of mysticism are also present in the works, especially if you look closely.
Hayao Miyazaki, I completely agree, that’s who created our idea of Japan. What is your favorite cartoon of his authorship?
PO: Without any doubt, “Spirited Away” is in the first place. Great work in terms of graphics, characters, and of course the plot, hidden symbolism and music. Again, loneliness and mystery! It was as if he was able to convey this feeling, even rather a desire to be alone. In some moments there is silence, in some the noise of continuous work, even the smell of food, an old building, the smell of the sea. The feeling of experiencing yourself, in this case, in a mythical and fairy-tale world, where, again, kindness and understanding saves and helps even demons. That’s why I sent my heroes from one comic book to such a place to test them or myself. I’ve watched a lot of cartoons, but this one has undoubtedly left its mark!
Is comics your passion? Is every story a reflection of moments from your life?
PO: Yes, you are right! It took time to overcome the fear and start posting comics. This is already something more than just an illustration, it becomes exciting. Through the comic, I try to reveal at least a piece of the hero’s soul, his manners, behavior, strange habits and manner of speech, interactions between each other. Everything is like in life, only in separate moments. Then only animation!
Of course, moments from life in comics are clearly present, perhaps in a more amusing or veiled form. After all, this whole world goes out of my head, it becomes uncomfortable when I think that every hero is a piece of my character or even personality ahaha! But I want to say that many moments are what I would like to experience in life, but of course not everything is so simple, so you can draw them, and experience this moment to the fullest with the heroes! It sounds pretty lonely, but I advise everyone!
Check out some arts below for some insight in this projects.
