"Samokat" Publishing
2026
Alessandro Barbaglia
"Checkmate Among the Stars" (Italian: "Scacco matto tra le stelle") is a novel for children and teenagers by Italian author Alessandro Barbaglia, which won the prestigious "Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi Award".
I designed a vibrant cover for this novel, as well as 26 black-and-white illustrations.
"Polyandria" Publishing
2026
Valya Filippenko
I really wanted the illustrations to convey a sense of transparency, subtlety, and mystery. That’s why I chose semi-transparent textures and tried to leave a little room for interpretation in all the illustrations.
Masha is a teenager, so I tried to give her figure a certain awkwardness and a touch of clumsiness. But at the same time, I wanted to make her very beautiful.
Almost all of the illustrations are very metaphorical. They have many layers, and for the most part, they don’t directly illustrate the text but instead conceal various meanings. That’s probably what I like most about this work.
"Albus Corvus" Publishing
2024
Kirill Zakharov, Alexey Oleynikov
After studying the text and Scandinavian folklore, it became clear that the illustrations should be a little scary, yet touching and mischievous—and at the same time accessible to both children and adults.
To achieve the “wild” feel required for the characters, I used ink, a dry brush, black pencil, and a liner. In some illustrations, I incorporated techniques from comics and contemporary illustration, while preserving the classic compositions and ornamentation of folk art. Naivety and childlike innocence played an important role in the illustrations; this helped balance out the text, which was at times difficult for children to understand.
