Igor Oleynikov
A patchwork biography of Igor Oleynikov: Growing up in Lubertsy, Russia — a small town outside of Moscow — his entrance into the art world was at the Russian animation studio Soyuzmultfilm in 1979. Since 1986 he has been illustrating children’s books and has done 25 to date.
Children’s book illustration is a lot like veterinary school — the common misconception being that medical school has a much higher barrier of entry, and yet the opposite is true. Children’s book illustration is a notoriously difficult nut to crack.
Oleynikov’s work is testament to the talent involved in the field. His paintings are lush and yet his tones are muted just enough to give everything a dream-like quality. In addition, they possess that air of danger and foreboding so often found in literature for young readers. Really, I could look at these all day. See more after the jump and even more here, here, and here.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Wow. Amazing stuff. I especially love the landscape work.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:25 am
So, so pretty! I love the show scene and the whale and the underwater scene. These are all wonderful.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
These are gorgeous! I’ll be pouring over these for days. That snow scene though is the winner of the lot though – so much emotion in that plus one can read it in so many ways.
Stunning work.
July 31st, 2010 at 1:22 am
Wonderful
August 3rd, 2011 at 10:14 am
Does anybody know which drawing techniques is it? It looks so amazing!
July 30th, 2012 at 5:00 am
Does anyone know how I can contact Igor Oleynikov please? I work for a children’s publishing company and would really like to contact him regarding his work.
Many thanks,
Jo Brown