We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Mykola Lomakin about their original and creative Book Illustration design work. Mykola Lomakin is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original book illustration works.
Mykola Lomakin ("ML") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Prince John Book Illustration. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
ML : The Book Illustration Prince John is part of a large project. The project objective is to convey the atmosphere of the book full of dramatic events: love and hatred, friendship and hostility, dignity and dishonor. According to my plan, the project should consist of 21 illustrations on a full page, including 3 double page spreads. In addition to the illustrations, the text of the book is going to be complemented with initials and small decorative elements in the same style as the illustrations. At the moment, I have done about 20% of the total project volume. There is still a lot of work ahead! I try to follow the classic examples of Hans Holbein, Albrecht Dürer, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn, whose artistic value is considered absolute. Work on the current project made me study more deeply the work of these great masters. And I will continue to get acquainted with their pictorial manner. The source of inspiration among modern artists is works of Ukrainian illustrator Vladislav Yerko.
ML : I focused on revealing the image of Prince John and on implementation historical authenticity in details. This illustration belongs to this lines of chapter 7: "The condition of the English nation was at this time sufficiently miserable. King Richard was absent a prisoner, and in the power of the perfidious and cruel Duke of Austria. (...) Prince John, in league with Philip of France, Coeur-de-Lion's mortal enemy, was using every species of influence with the Duke of Austria, to prolong the captivity of his brother Richard. (...) In the meantime, he was strengthening his own faction in the kingdom (...) he proposed to dispute the succession, in case of the King's death, with the legitimate heir, Arthur Duke of Brittany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, the elder brother of John.This usurpation, it is well known, he afterwards effected." With reference to the historical sources, the events described in the novel date back to 1194. At that time, Prince John was 27 years old. Later he became John, king of England. His nickname was Lackland. During his reign, the reputation of John Lackland was so bad that since then no one English monarch has ever named his successors with this name. In 1215 rebels made him sign Magna Charta Libertatum. As a hint to this historical document, Prince John holds the parchment in his hand in the illustration. He stands with the haughty face against the wall where the flag of his royal house of the Plantagenets hangs. The wall has two exits. This detail hints the viewer that when people run out of patience and rebel, Prince John and his followers will escape through them. There are soldiers in the foreground, who keep a close eye on a viewer. This psychological accent made the viewer involved in the events. Coin purses are depicted on the top of the illustration, these are for rich. Food wastes are depicted at the bottom of the illustration, these are for poor.
ML : The most important thing for me is to continue and finish the project.
ML : This illustration was completed in 6 weeks between April and June 2018. She is one of two completed illustrations of the project at the moment. I also have 4 illustrations in the process and at the stage of completion. I would like to recall the first steps of working on a project. the search process took quite a while, during which I quietly raised the bar of responsibility and quality of future illustrations. And when I finally got a satisfactory sketch, I decided to show it to my friend. He looked carefully and said: “Walter Scott wrote best chivalrous novel Ivanhoe. Maybe you will try to draw the best illustrations for this novel?" His words were totally unexpected for me. It was a challenge to a duel with yourself! Will I be able to do that? Do I have the strength to take such a height? And I decided to try. But it’s not up to me to judge how good are my illustrations.
ML : The readers from 12 years and older. Fans of the historical genre in literature and highly detailed illustrations.
