Graphics

Meet Our Authors: Talented Illustrator – kaleriia

Elements illustrator Kaleriia Tverdokhlib started playing with watercolors at an early age. She has since developed her illustration style into a unique craft, combining realistic drawings with a touch of elegance and mysticism.

We chatted with the talented illustrator about how she’s carving out a career for herself in the illustration industry…

What’s your artistic background and how did you develop your creative style?

Since childhood, I’ve loved painting with watercolor. When I graduated from Fine Arts, I chose watercolor as my main medium. It’s my favorite material, you can create anything with it – from traditional paintings to modern abstract illustrations. My main niche is elegant realistic drawings with a touch of mysticism. I love to draw girls and women in any style! This is my favorite topic for both client work and my personal paintings. 

What does your creative process look like?

First, I think about the idea and discuss the color palette and style. Then I do a sketch, fill it with color, and clarify details. After that, I process the image and send it to the customer.

Where are your clients using your illustrations?

Mostly my customers use illustrations for wedding invitations, cards, and portraits. Floral illustrations are great for goods for children, as well as textures for clothes and textiles.

What inspires you as an Illustrator?

Everything inspires me. I love space, planets, universes, nature, and flowers. I like to think of unusual color schemes and come up with illustrations for them. In addition to this, the simplest and most minimalistic illustrations also influence me a lot.

As an Illustrator, what’s your advice for creating unique work that stands out from the crowd?

Find a niche that interests you and try to improve it. Experiment with textures, shapes and combine them with something else. Choose your palette carefully, and look at how other artists are doing this.

What are your go-to digital tools, programs, or techniques for creating your work?

Procreate and Photoshop are my two main programs. I rarely draw in a vector, so I avoid programs like Illustrator. If images for the customer need to be vectorized, I use Vector Magic.

What’s the biggest learning you’ve had from becoming an illustrator?

Hard work! Don’t try to copy more successful artists – develop your own style.  Do not neglect the quality of image processing in Photoshop. And again, do not abuse colors – carefully choose a palette: this is the basis of mood and style. 

What do you think makes a great portfolio? Any tips or tricks?

Restraint – don’t push all of your work on one page. In the beginning, I often did not know how to stop, overloading the decor of the cover to my sets. The ability to choose a font is also important! Spend some time selecting and comparing fonts.

How do you see the future of illustration in the digital era?

I think after some time we will return to organics, slight imperfections, and manual work.

We live in a super-digital world, which means that tons of projects look clean, neat and sleek. However, hand-drawn works have their own special beauty that you love even with all the flaws. I think this will be an absolute trend.

Feeling inspired by kaleriia? Head over to Envato Elements and start creating today! Or, for more creative inspiration, check out some of our other Q&As with quirky Illustrator IanMikraz and video whizz MStoylik.

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