Adventurous digital illustrations - CreativeMindClass Blog

My background

My name is Ekaterina Boguslavskaya. I grew up in Russia.

I attended college in Moscow However, I spent my summers out in the country.

The water was not hot, the house was heated with a furnace which was used by the neighbors to raise goats and cows. Wonderful times! Apart from nature and cycling, I was obsessed with animation. All my peers grew up and stopped liking cartoons, but I did exactly the opposite! I realized it could become my most-loved activity. This is how I ended up in film school at Moscow, Russia.

My personal style

I would like my artwork to always bring out some deeply emotional emotions. Like coming to warm up in front of the fire after your day or hiking in the mountains.

My method

I love drawing. It has something in common with meditation. When I'm working in the dark, it might get dark, and I'll become hungry, but nothing really matters while I'm working.

Now I am employed in the illustration industry as well as animation... and I even design board games. I truly love the work I do.

I've always been drawing a lot. However, it began to look more professional after I finished my degree. Since I started to think about what and how I draw.

My advice to doubtful visual artists

Consider what you enjoy and you will surely enjoy it. Try to listen less to others when you don't appreciate what they're doing. It will all work out! There will be those who appreciate what you've done.

My technique

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

The iPad really transformed my daily life. Now I work at home, in libraries, in cafes. I choose a place to work, I move around, I do not just sit in front of my computer. The iPad is a wonderful tool which combines traditional drawing with computer drawing.

The iPad has great brush brushes. For example, I got watercolor brushes in "The Watercolor MaxPack - Brushes for Procreate". It is a joy every time I make use of these brushes. They are very close to the real thing as is possible.

Some words on the way I conduct my job.

I attempt to draw an approximate outline of objects. As I find hard edges brutal and cold.

Sometimes I make my shadows cold bluish with the multiplier setting. Sometimes I employ overlay. It's a bit confusing for me. how it works.

Procreate comes with some great blur settings, try them out! There are several varieties, and they're excellent. But mostly I draw as I draw using traditional tools on paper or canvas.

I'm still searching, still learning about my subject while trying to move closer to the image I like by making personal projects.

About the Teriberka series

I went there after my trip (to Teriberka). Russian North, the Arctic. A town where people used to build ships and capture a large amount of fish. It's now a bit of a ghost town.

It is a beautiful image. Please google it! It's beautiful.

I always like the North.

I love the people, the animals as well as the multitude of colors of moss. The tiny berries have a lot of vitamin C, which is more than tropical fruits. This is quite impressive.

Northern cliffs look like the skin of giant elephants! These are the emotions which I have tried to portray through the photos.

About the Tiny Things series

This project came into my mind when I was very tired of work, the pandemic and the city.

I picked up the macro lens and headed deep into the woods. What a stunning beauty was right under my feet! Every inch of nature was breathtaking. It gave me a lot of creative energy. This is how the project was born.

Whatever happens it is possible to find a miracle right under the feet!

How can I plan my time for work?

The hardest thing is to keep your time and sleep in check and to answer 'no' to offers that are not particularly acceptable. Or to take on a lot of work and to try and never get bored by doing what you enjoy. All this I am still trying to master.

The creative blockages

The hard aspect is actually the procedure itself - sometimes it doesn't come out as expected. I don't like the result. You can go through up to eight hours and get angry. After that, just a few days after, you can redo it in an hour and it looks great. What's that? Magic.

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

When there is some kind of task - do not sit down immediately to draw (if it's possible). Allow your mind to think as you go along engaged in other activities. That's how I think that the most effective solutions will come.

My view of my work

If I had to rate my own work , I'd never rate myself the grade of "excellent". It's exhausting, and I do my best to make myself miserable. But on the other hand, it drives me forward.

Drawing is like an adventure!

Tickets are available to another country. You already know something from Google and something else will be surprising you right on the spot. It seems to be an exciting adventure to me.

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