Art Transformation

Today is my first day of summer break from university.

I cannot believe I've completed another full year of school, especially during a worldwide pandemic! It's been an amazing opportunity and I am so thankful and glad I made the decision to return to academia to earn my degree. I've been loving the path I chose in Literature and I've learned so much already!

This blog will have nothing to do with my academic achievements though. I want to reflect on my favorite pieces of art I've made since last spring. My art has been a great outlet during the pandemic and I've improved a lot, but I have so many artistic plans I would like to achieve this summer. I won't reveal any of them, but there has definitely been a shift in my artistic expression from portrait art to illustration work. I'm continuing down this avenue but before I begin to release more art I want to take this moment to honor some of my favorite works I've made.

My first favorite piece has got to be my self portrait from 2020. This is one of my favorite works to look at and it's become a logo of sorts for my website and my Zoom! This is a very symbolic painting for me and it has inspired my work since. I am in the process of doing my 2021 self portrait currently but I think I prefer this one!

Another favorite of mine is an ink drawing I did of Lucifer. I took the longest time making this. I started it in September and finished it in April! That being said, I had so much fun researching hell-mouths and perusing the digitized archives of the Morgan Library for inspiration in making this. Lucifer looks exactly as I imagine him.

This is the happiest piece I've ever made. I love looking at it. I felt like my illustration style really blossomed during the creation of this painting and everything about it makes me joyful. The horned demon character is one that has appeared in my art since high school and I'm so excited that he's been featured in a lot more of my art lately. (If you check out my gallery on the Home Page you will find many variations of him!)

I'm putting these last two together because they were part of a series that I did commemorating our year of the plague. One represents the spring and one represents the fall and both were created during those times of the year, being influenced by my own experiences or interpretations of the pandemic. Both of these are being published in the spring issue of AmLit, American University's literary magazine. I'm very proud of them and glad I made some fun pandemic art!

So, where am I going from here?

I have some tricks up my sleeve but for now I'd just like to say that I'm planning on focusing more on my illustration work over the next few months. I'm amazed that I'm able to actually depict the characters in my stories and imagination now. It's something that I've been working towards for years, and I want to put in as much effort as I can into their creation. That being said, my art takes me on all sorts of adventures and it could take me in a completely different direction than what I've planned. Either way, I'm excited to create and to see what happens.

Thank you for your continued support. Keep a look out for new paintings, photographs, and written works coming soon!

~Nikolai Sergei Razumov