Jorge Mascarenhas Interview with Nadzeya Makeyeva
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What is illustration?
Illustration is a depiction on a notional paper of what you see inside yourself or what you want to see around you. For me, ability to create illustration is an ability to show in lines anything you want. It’s an ability to construct my own imagine world.
Unlike contemporary art, which is obliged to offer the viewer a textual concept and often neglects a high level of execution, illustration can focus on the visual part, as it almost always coexists in tandem with a certain story.
How did you get started in your professional career?
I remember how in my final years at the Academy of Arts, I got into post-punk and experimental music. It was then that I received my first commercial orders for album covers for Belarusian bands from Minsk. I guess you could say I was a fan, and I got the orders through friendship: they offered me to try simply because we all knew each other by that time. And this gave me some initial publicity in the end.
Which illustrators inspired you to pursue this career?
Since childhood, I have loved reading, starting with fairy tales and science fiction, and a series of illustrations in books greatly caught my attention. They were drawn by Valery Slauk, a Belarusian graphic artist who works in the technique of etching and ink with a pen. He has been drawing fantastical animals, mythical creatures, and Slavic folklore beings all his life. All of this is absolutely my thing!
Later, when I was studying in the Graphics department, Valery Slauk became my thesis supervisor in my final year, six years into my studies. I drew a series of Belarusian mythological creatures in the lithography technique.
Today, I am greatly attracted by the aesthetics of James Jean’s works. Among other things, he creates stunning movie posters (which is probably why I dare to call his art illustration as well). For example, for ‘Mother!’, ‘The Shape of Water’, ‘Pinocchio’.
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What keeps you inspired?
Cleansing my mind of unnecessary informational noise in the form of external references or examples of other authors’ works helps me. If I don’t focus, I’ll only think about wanting to try everything, and I’ll never be able to do something as well as someone else. These thoughts will cause fear. This will ultimately lead me to a dead end.
Do you think art fundamentals are still relevant in the new age of AI?
Possibly, soon art fundamentals may become the only thing that distinguishes art from generative creations…
Also I seriously fear that the art of realistic (and overall) hand-drawing may gradually be lost due to lack of necessity. This will become a tragedy that people will realize only when there is no way back. So keeping these pieces of knowledge is essential.
It’s important to note the current AI is not fully artificial intelligence: the result of its work is more of a compilation of works stolen by corporations from authors. Art, on the other hand, is something processed by the mind…
Do you think AI will obliterate illustration?
Yes. If we consider illustration as commerce – yes.
It is unbearably painful for me to realize, accept, and say this out loud, but it is already happening. All our current projects are a force of inertia that will run out in a few years.
Illustration will remain, but in much smaller quantities. Large and elite brands, having the ability to afford to pay for art, will occasionally do so, and hand-drawn illustration and art in general may become a kind of ‘rarity,’ so rare that people will look at it like a mammoth.
What advice you wish you had gotten as a young illustrator?
Believe in yourself, don’t look back at anyone (and simultaneously look for a backup option, just in case, lol).
What is more important concept or technique?
I don’t think there is anything more or less important here. Rather, there are people for whom the first is more important and interesting, and others for whom the second is. For me, the undeniable leader is technique. That’s just the kind of person I am.
Among other things, before the emergence of AI, I believed that the ability to draw well is harder to fake than an idea. It is much easier to borrow a concept from someone and call it your own…
Which project or event changed the course of your career?
I’m afraid I can’t mention anything, because I haven’t changed the course yet…I am just sticking to my path, hoping that everything will work out for me…Even in those moments when doubts arise. I hope for the best.
If we talk about a project that stands out or has changed me internally, it is undoubtedly the book ‘Faedom’ with my illustrations of fairies. It is my most serious and long-term project, which I worked on for almost two years. It will be released in this October.
What do you do when encountering a creative block?
I tell myself ‘You must!’
Or I tell myself, ‘The main thing is to start; the process will take care of itself!’
If you could go back and do something differently in your career, what would that be?
Courage, that’s it again. I would like to be bolder and more active. Not to feel insecurity and fear.
What advice do you give to future illustrators?
As I mentioned earlier, what I essentially lacked was self-confidence. And since everyone desires exactly what they themselves lack, I wish the same for the illustrators of the future. But something tells me that everything will change so radically that ‘illustrators’ will refer to people with entirely different skills.
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© no artwork displayed can be used without permission of the artist, Nadzeya Makeyeva
