Adventurous digital illustrations - CreativeMindClass Blog

My personal background

My name is Ekaterina Boguslavskaya. I was born in Russia.

I attended college in Moscow, but I was a summer camper outdoors in the countryside.

The water was not hot and the home was heated with a heater, and the neighbors raised goats and cows. Wonderful times! Besides nature and bicycles I was obsessed with cartoons. All my peers grew up and stopped liking cartoons, but I did the opposite! I realized that this could be my most-loved activity. It was how I got into film school located in Moscow, Russia.

My style

My drawings should always provoke some profound feelings. Like coming to warm up by the fireplace after your day through the forest.

My procedure

I enjoy drawing. The process has a lot in common with meditation. When I'm working in the dark, it might get dark and dark. I may also become hungry, but it doesn't really is important while working.

Today, I'm employed both in the animation industry and illustration... And even for board games. It is a joy to do my job.

I've always drawn often. But it started to look more professional after I finished my degree. Because I began to decide which and how to draw.

My suggestion to skeptical visual artists

Find something you love and you will surely enjoy your time with it. Try to listen less to the opinions of others who you don't appreciate what they're doing. All will be well! You will meet people who are going to love what you do.

My technique

I draw almost everything on my iPad in Procreate. I sometimes finish something using Photoshop.

The iPad has really improved my lifestyle. Now I work in my bed, at libraries, in cafes. When I pick a location to work. I also move around, I am not confined to sitting at my desk. The iPad is an amazing tool that blends traditional drawing and computer-generated drawing.

The iPad has great brushes. For example, I purchased watercolor brushes through "The Watercolor MaxPack - Brushes for Procreate". I get excited every time I try the brushes. They're the closest to watercolors as they can get.

A few thoughts on what I do for job.

It is my goal to create a rough outline of the objects. Since I find hard lines harsh and cold.

Sometimes I turn my shadows cold bluish with the multiplier setting. Sometimes I use overlay. However, I'm not sure much about it.

Procreate offers some excellent blur settings, try them out! There are several varieties, and they're excellent. The majority of the time, I do it with classic materials on canvas or paper.

I'm still searching, still studying my subjects while trying to move closer to my image that I like by making personal projects.

Information about the Teriberka series

I went there after my trip (to Teriberka). Russian North, the Arctic. It was a town that built ships to catch a lot of fish. Today, it's a little abandoned.

It is a beautiful image. Please google it! It is very beautiful.

I'm always drawn to the North.

I love the people, the animals as well as the multitude of colors of moss. Small berries are packed with nutrients, and are more nutritious than tropical fruits. It's very impressive.

Northern rock formations look similar to the skin of huge elephants! This is the feeling that I tried to show through the photos.

About the Tiny Things series

The idea came to my thoughts when I was very tired of my job, the flu and the city.

I picked up a macro lens and went into the forest. It was amazing how beautiful was right under my feet! Every inch of nature was breathtaking. It gave me a lot of creative energy. That's how this idea came to be.

In spite of everything no matter what happens, there's a wonder right under the feet!

How I organize my work time

The most difficult thing to do is manage time and rest, to answer 'no' to requests that aren't appropriate. Or to take on lots of tasks, in order to stay afloat without getting tired by doing what you enjoy. This is all I'm still trying to master.

The creative blockages

The hard part is the process itself - sometimes it doesn't come out as expected. It's not what I like about the outcome. You can go through up to eight hours and get angry. And then a couple of days after, you can redo the task in just an hour, and everything looks good. What's that? Magic.

This is my little piece of advice for how to conquer creativity blocks

When there is some kind of work to do, you should not sit down immediately to draw (if it's possible). Let your brain think in the background while you're working on other tasks. That's how I think you can find the best solution.

What do I think of my work

If I had to rate my own work , I'd never rate myself an "excellent". It's exhausting, and I am a slave to myself. However, on the other side, it drives me forward.

Drawing is like a great adventure!

If you have tickets to a country, you have a knowledge of it from Google, something will surprise you on the spot. It seems as if it would be a great adventure for me.

Find other works by Ekaterina on and keep an eye out for an extension of this series on Instagram , Artstation or Behance.