Tatiana is a graphic artist (illustrator), lately teaching Art Management and Expressive Drawing at the State Pedagogical University of Moldova. She is not largely known by the public art scene, but she’s a hidden gem indeed. Her illustration style is distinctive by its sharp observation spirit and it gives you that emotional charge of the moment caught by the author.
We were surprised how quick and boldly Tatiana accepted our invitation, so we managed to record a bit of that energy into a brief discussion with this interdisciplinary talented woman.
Anna Vasina from Samizdat Podcast in discussion with Tatiana Lagaeva:
Where did you work before getting into the art field?
I worked in different places, firstly I worked at the Urban Design Institute, later in business, finance, economics, then I had a break when my child was born, after this I worked in applied arts — I made jewelry from beads and jewels, and somewhere around 2013, I started doing illustrations. Funny enough, I was always drawing, even during the meeting with the board directors. I was drawing at school all the time, in the 9–10th grade I got the 1st place in the city at the drawing olympiad, and I graduated some graphic design courses during the 90’s. So I was always drawing but I never thought it would get me somewhere.
Tatiana told us that her switch from construction and business to arts was led by the thought that the technical job gives her money but doesn’t bring that joy she would get while being an artist. She decided to dive into illustration after giving birth to her child, because she thought that if she doesn’t try it now, it will probably be too late. Tatiana decided to take a risk, even though everyone tried to dissuade her, and she never regretted it, despite the fact that the transition was harder than it was in business. It is part of her character to always change, search for new things, to be where the interesting things are and to leave where there are not.
Were your sketch/artbooks the first step to the book illustration?
Yes, it was the time when I just started doing illustration and it was clear that artbooks would help me with that. Its spread is similar to a book’s, so it makes you fill double pages with composition, working with different materials.
I adore artbooks (which I have a lot) for the freedom and privacy they give, and I suggest to anyone who draws, to have one, because it gave me the biggest freedom and growth in sketching and drawing.
Tatiana says she uses artbooks for experiments, relaxing, studying or for auto-reflection, and that’s why she has different types of them: for emotional notes, for art copies with detailed analysis and many others.
When she embraced the illustrator job she was quite surprised by the difficulty of the craft and by the amount of effort, time and work she needs to invest in order to reach the level she wanted judging by her collection of over 500 children illustrated books (Tatiana was aware of what a good illustrator she is, but she still thought she would never reach the level she desired).
She decided to give it a shot, having no clue about the insides of the job, the only thing she knew well was how to draw. It turned out that being an illustrator implies knowing how to use fonts, having an understanding of what a spread is, or a storyboard. She also had to learn the difference between a sketch and a finished illustration, and many other details.
What does a beginner illustrator need to know when going for a talk with a publisher?
You have to understand how to show your best sides as an illustrator, and for that you need to have a clear vision on how a good portfolio looks: can you work with a character; can you make different ones with diverse personality traits; can you draw emotions; can you take one character and show it in different situations and make the character recognizable throughout the whole story? All of these have to be present in a portfolio, moreover there’s a rule saying that it’s judged by the worst illustration, that’s why the worst one has to be very good, and the other ones have to be even better. (laughs) Less is more, that’s why let your portfolio works be less than 10–15 pieces, but they have to be some really good illustrations.
The international practice says that a portfolio has to have up to 15 illustrations, in printed version, it has to be a black folder with illustrations in it, same quantity in the digital form can be sent by email, accompanied by a cheerful/pleasant text, but be careful about the size of the file, cause if your portfolio file is too large, no one will open it.
Do you follow the news in the field of book illustration?
Sure thing I do, that’s part of my profession to be always informed. From Russian illustrators, I really like Elena Repetur and the way she draws is beautiful. I know all the contemporary Russian illustrators, with many of them I maintain a facebook friendship. I like Manon Gauthier and Adolfo Serra as well. I have lots of artists that I like, that’s why it’s hard to highlight only a few of them. I enjoy that in the contemporary world, art is very diverse and democratic, there are many ways for an artist to be and to create, and I like that many illustrators are able to have their unique voices.
Can you name your favourite personal published books?
The thing is, everything that I’ve created so far, aside from the layout and my last published fairytale book, comes as a single book series. However, these series have already thirty workbooks and study notebooks. I can be proud of these series because it’s already been four years since they are well sold all over the former Soviet Union countries like Estonia, Kirghizia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, etc.
The workbooks are created and produced for the purpose of teaching maths or a new language, finding out more about our surroundings, there are also logic tests, you can work on your motor skills. My pride is a workbook on Romanian language that comes as a two way learning, meaning Romanian speaking kids can learn Russian by it, and Russian speaking kids can learn Romanian.
Tatiana confessed that, as a kid, she was very strictly educated and was a well-rounded student. Today, she is a hyper responsible person, knowing how to manage her work process and being a passionate person as well, she felt challenged by the drawing issues. That’s why when Simion Zamșa appeared as her graphic teacher and she noticed some positive results, that revealed a high work aspiration in her. Going from the state of being totally helpless and not knowing how to solve artistic problems, to a state of understanding how it all works, Tatiana manifests big gratitude for her mentor.
Do you keep the same rhythm of constant work now as when you were beginning to learn the skill?
No, it’s much lighter now. Sometimes I take up the matter and produce a lot of works, but since I started teaching at the university, I don’t have enough strength (drawing takes a lot of it) and I didn’t draw for half a year already. Anyhow, I like to participate in all kinds of marathons and to create side by side with other artists, making it more fun and motivating. It is quite easy to feel lonely in the profession of an illustrator because all your questions can be answered by the internet, leaving you socially inactive. That’s why I prefer online groups where artists interact with each other, and I managed to make friends all over the world.
I’m very sociable and I really love to have company, but drawing is a deed where you’re always on your own.
Are these marathons helpful? Could you recommend some courses and schools to the young illustrators?
It all depends on the task and the person whose school you are taking. Now that I have some experience I can set my own task, but you might be pleasantly surprised by the tasks set at the marathons.
Besides art marathons, I have a rule to buy at least one art course per year. The courses give me a lot of knowledge on illustration, on expressive drawing, composition, perspective, and I just generally learn a lot of things I didn’t know before. It is really cool to have different teachers/personas because you get inspired by their powerful visions that are so different from one another.
I think that we have such a great load of information that you can easily get lost in it and it’s great to have somebody to suggest the right way to go. Some schools and courses I would like to recommend are:
- Concerning illustration, it is undoubtedly Elina Ellis! She opened her school Уроки иллюстрации (Illustration lessons) and I buy all her lessons that come out;
- Простая Школа (The Simple School) is a must, because it’s an intellectual platform with a mass of information and anyone they invite as a quest, are really cool people. The only question that stops me is money, but I’m always trying to buy at least one course from them.
In these courses it’s very important to know how to ask questions in order to get the best feedback. At Простая Школа there is a principle when you pass a course — they only answer the questions you give, meaning they don’t give feedback on your work if you don’t ask for it. So if you don’t know how to set the questions right, you might only get some theory which you can find for free on the internet, and nothing more;
- I really like Elena Tarutina and her school called Быть Художником (Being an Artist). She sets really interesting and unexpected tasks in changing the materials and the objects we use and it’s a really absorbing approach. I have already bought more than one course from her school and I am grateful to her for helping me believe in myself, for opening my eyes and for teaching me how to evaluate my work at the end of a marathon;
- I also follow the students of Alexandr Livanov, it’s a bit of a separate direction of Moscow’s graphic school. I’m attracted to those artists who are not only skilled at drawing, but are also great thinkers;
- Of course, Victor Melamed and everything he publishes — my love (I recently bought his book on portraits). He is very cool, a thinker, hyper attentive, and he also taught me how to see things I didn’t notice before, especially in contemporary art and illustration.
Our discussion went on about Tatiana’s new book “Papagal și Chițcaval” that was written and illustrated by her, and published during the pandemics at ARC Publishing house. It is a long awaited children’s book, with colourful and skilful illustrations, furthermore it has some nice morals on how to accept yourself the way you are.
We went with questions on how the life of an illustrator is, on Tatiana’s teaching method of TRIZ in art, further on her love for Chișinău city, our local nature and flowers that appear beautifully illustrated in her artbooks.
Tatiana energized us and inspired us through the whole conversation, capturing us into the world of illustration and artbooks. It was our pleasure to talk with her and we hope to hear more about her art and the future books.
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