Digital Journal of Illustration |
Spotlight
I started drawing in my grandfather’s studio when I was 2 years old. He was an artist just like my father. After graduating from art school, I entered an architecture university at the age of sixteen and I thought to myself that this was the ideal profession for me because “I draw, after all!” I soon realized that this profession was more about designing than drawing and felt miserable. I then left the field of architecture and never looked back. For the next seven years, I traveled around the world, did a lot of drawing, reading, writing, studying history and the history of illustration. I also worked, discovered tango, danced the flamenco, and fell in love with the Middle East and its art… I was on a journey for seven years- a journey to discover myself. I came across an ancient Coptic fresco of Righteous Anna in Warsaw and I was just mesmerized by her eyes. They looked at me through time and space, I was struck to the very heart. Reality seemed to shake. Time began to slow down, stopping for a split-second then rushing backwards with an ever-increasing speed. For centuries, I stood in front of this fresco, forgetting to breathe. As a revelation of sorts, I decided to enter the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts to study medieval Coptic arts. All these years, I have been constantly looking, observing, evolving, and drawing, drawing, drawing.
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ANNA ZAVYALOVA I l l u s t r a t o r
