Back to 4Talent PETRA STEFANKOVA
Calling upon visual styles from the early 20th Century, Petra Stefankova, 29, uses cutting-edge techniques to create surprisingly rich and characterful illustrations.
Style has always been an all-important ingredient in illustration, and young artists and designers are always encouraged to develop their own. One day the look and feel they've evolved will become their own signature in the creative industry. For the past couple of years there's been a hand-drawn backlash against the clean digital look, decorative swirls and organic prettiness have been popular alongside the tiring flat-vector silhouettes with obligatory rainbows and butterflies. But what's going to be hot in 2008?
Perhaps the young Slovakian illustrator Petra Stefankova has the answer. Normally working in a funky and humorous vector style suited to light-hearted communication for advertising and editorial, behind the scenes she has been developing a fascinating, fresh and very rich second style that she calls Yet Another Face. It's stunning - you won't have seen much contemporary illustration like this before.
"I draw the background and philosophy for my work from surrealism, the visual approach from cubism and even from Russian constructivism. All of these three historical sources are mixed into a unique contemporary result," is her way of putting it.
Petra's Eastern European background is a source of inspiration for her, and it comes through strongly in her style. She studied graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts & Design in Bratislava, and then animation at the Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague. Although aware of the contemporary illustration scene, classic Czech and Slovakian drawing and animation are what she loves. Her influences include Jan Svankmajer, Adolf Born, Viktor Kubal and Albin Brunovsky.
The illustrative style itself has been in development since 1999. Petra sketches the world around her, trying to capture both the external and internal aspects of what she sees. Last year she began using her drawings as the basis for 3D forms created in Softimage|XSI, while Photoshop gives her added control of the balance and feel of the images. "The visual refinement is very important as illustration is about communication, and as such it needs to have a relevant form," she explains.
While Yet Another Face looks mature, serious and intellectual, it is also a style that Petra can imbue with fun, plenty of character, and feeling. The finished look is often very rich, but judging by the range of images she's produced so far, she has been experimenting with varying levels of scale and detail.
Now based in London, Petra thinks the next stage of development for this unique style is to begin animating the images, and this is something she's going to get into during 2008. "I'd like to get into production on my short film, based on the aesthetic of Yet Another Face style, which I am working on with my colleague, 3D artist and animator Roman Vrbovsky," she says. "A stronger focus on the motion picture is my biggest ambition in general."
No illustrative style is universally applicable, but there's every likelihood that creative directors will pick up on Petra's bold imagery in the coming year. Although the influence is recognisably early 20th Century, this clever reinvention has energy and feeling that'll catch the eye - it'll be interesting to see where and how it crops up.
CONTACTS
www.yetanotherface.coms
info@petrastefankova.com
Judge: Garrick Webster, editor, Computer Arts
Illustration: Petra Stefankova
Petra was one of 20 4Talent Award winners in 2007, our hotly tipped young creatives to watch, to hire and to collaborate with. To meet the other 19 click here
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