Computer Arts - UK (2020-05)

2020 ILLUSTRATOR HOTLIST

Like many illustrators,

Slovakia-born and now

Prague-based Barbora

Idesová had been drawing

since childhood, but came to the

discipline through a meandering path:

studying ceramics, teaching art, then

working part-time at an ad agency.

Through grafting out-of-hours, she

was able to go freelance, illustrating

editorial projects, children’s books,

posters, self-initiated pieces and more.

Barbora’s ideas usually begin

as marker pen sketches in a

Moleskine notebook she carries

everywhere, drawing “micro-stories”

or comic-strips based on overheard

conversations, or the people and

animals she encounters just walking

around nearby villages or in nature.

These are then photographed, worked

up using a Wacom, and finished

in Illustrator. “Sometimes I don’t

feel like creating anything at all –

that makes it hard to complete an

assignment,” she admits. “I wait until

inspiration or last-minute panic kicks

in.” Barbora’s solution is to just start

rough pencil sketches or revisit older

sketchbook drawings.

This year already looks to be a

belter: the artist has been nominated

for the Czech Grand illustrator of the

year 2020 award for her Host magazine

and Lustr illustration festival work.

She’s also working on a children’s book

about animals, and aims to create

more personal prints. Her advice to

those starting out is “to keep drawing

and working and publishing your

work: people will eventually notice.”

barboraidesova.com

Barbora Idesová

DISTILLING A MICRO-STORY INTO A CONCISE PIECE OF ART