Meet the Artist: Ekaterina Zagorska

How did you become an artist?

This sounds like a cliché, but I have been drawing since I was a little girl. I really loved looking at my grandparents’ old postcards. We also had a Larousse Encyclopaedia with very beautiful illustrations that I loved to look at and re-draw. I studied fine arts from high school to my master’s degree. Since then, I've worked as a designer, a graphic designer and as a UI/UX designer. At one point I decided that I shouldn't abandon my drawing skills and I set a goal for myself to make something new every day and every week.

Can you describe how and where you work?

I don't have a special studio. My favourite place to create is on a couch in the living room or in bed. I can position myself however I want, which gives me a great pleasure when I'm drawing. I don't have a special studio – this is the freedom you have when working on a tablet.

 

Can you describe your artistic style?

I would say my style is narrative, cheerful and colourful. Although I use the modern way of painting with a tablet, I have the kept the watercolour technique which gives my work a lightness and calmness. I try to keep the realism in the painting.

 

And can you describe what your creative process looks like? 

A big part of my creative process is when I'm browsing images on Instagram, Pinterest, old books, photos of places that I have been. The magic comes when I start imagining all these beautiful things together and I start to create something new.

What is that your favourite material? 

Watercolours are my favourite material. I started with them, but in the last three or four years I started working more digitally – with digital brushes and watercolours. I have a set of digital brushes which can be used in different moments. For example, I have a brush with which I add colour and another one which does the blending, just as you add more water in the illustration. It looks the same as a watercolour brush on paper, but you skip the part when where you need to arrange everything around you and to put out the water, paints and everything.

 

Who or what is your biggest influence?

I'm very impressed by the work of Christo:  Christo Yavashev. First of all, because of his artworks themselves. Secondly, how he holds on to his work and creates what he wants without considering anyone or anything. This is something that I want to achieve, because I when it's completely yours, the work is you.

I really love modern art, the American modern especially – the painter Edward Hopper and the pop art artist Roy Lichtenstein.

What do you love most about being an artist?

To have the freedom to create whatever I feel. Each illustration has a story that I want to share with people. This is one of the reasons why I don't do commissioned artworks.

 

How do you get in the zone for being creative?

I should be calm and happy, and it must be morning because I cannot work in the evening or in the afternoon. At that moment my batteries are empty. Honestly, I don't have a trick. I never stop observing and enjoying beautiful things, and that's where my inspiration comes from.

 

Can you tell us about specific influences and perhaps the creative process behind one of your Desenio artworks?

Yes, here I maybe I can get a little sensitive. The painting that is extremely close to my heart is Always Been There for You, which was made for The Art Therapy Project. I painted it while I was pregnant with my daughter Margarita. She was born very early, she was very small and spent over 100 days in the in NICU. I was there every day holding her hand. It's hard to talk about, but the painting is related.