Vladislav Eduardovich Yerko (born in 1962) is a famous artist and designer, whose bright colorful illustrations for various fairy tales are loved by both adults and children. In terms of detail and overall decorativeness, they resemble the works of the Pre-Raphaelites; they do not contain simplification or excessive gaudiness, so characteristic of many modern children's drawings by other artists.
Illustration for the British chivalric "Tales of Foggy Albion"
According to Yerko, he loved to draw as a child and “corrected” all the drawings he saw in books and magazines in his own way. But it was important for him that the drawing was inextricably linked to the text. Pure painting did not attract him much, but illustrations were another matter, since this way the author’s thoughts could be displayed in graphic form, and not all young readers have a sufficiently developed imagination and enough knowledge to accurately imagine what knights or English soldiers of the 18th century looked like.
Illustrations for the fairy tale by G. H. Andersen "Tinderbox"
And at the age of 8, he first saw reproductions of paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Degas and Renoir in the Ogonyok magazine - it was the time of Khrushchev's thaw and it was possible to print not only the works of socialist realists, and he was impressed by them. It is not surprising that Yerko decided to connect his life with graphics and entered the Lviv Printing Institute.
There he began to earn extra money at the publishing house "Ukrreklamfilm", drawing posters for various films, often quite bold and controversial. He even received an international award, but a few years later this publishing house was closed for "excessive expenditure of public money". According to Soviet officials, if Yankovsky is starring in a film, Yankovsky should be drawn on the poster, and not some incomprehensible metaphor should be invented.
Illustration for the British chivalric "Tales of Foggy Albion"
The 1990s arrived. Yarkо began working for the Molod publishing house, where he illustrated various books, in the artist’s words, “terrible moralizing trash about farmers, metallurgists, and border guards that no one bought.” But the books needed to be sold somehow, and Yerko was told: “Draw whatever you want, the main thing is to find at least some buyers.” Yerko approached his work very creatively, which caused discontent among the authors: “I have a classic love story between proletarians there, and not this shamelessness that your artist has depicted.” To which the publisher responded: “at least there is a chance that some idiot will buy the book.”
Illustrations for the fairy tale by G. H. Andersen "Tinderbox"
But Yerko always wanted to illustrate children's fairy tales, so he drew several illustrations for "The Snow Queen" and went with them to all the publishing houses. Usually, everyone refused, citing the untimeliness of the topic and the lack of due demand.
Illustration for Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen"
Finally, the publishing house "A-ba-ba-ga-la-ma-ga" agreed to print his drawings. True, they said that its owner Ivan Malkovich was a real tyrant and made him redo the drawings many times, based on his ideas about a good children's book. But in reality, it turned out that everything was not so bad, Malkovich was simply a passionate person for whom making a quality children's book was a matter of honor.
Illustration for the fairy tale by Exupery "The Little Prince"
It is not surprising that Yerko and Malkovich began to collaborate, and it lasted for a very long time. There were some difficulties, for example, when Yerko drew illustrations for Exupery's fairy tale "The Little Prince", it turned out that this book could only be published with illustrations by the author himself - this was the wish of Exupery's relatives. However, 71 years after Exupery's death, this restriction was lifted.
However, Erko's illustrations were not limited to fairy tales. He created illustrations for Paulo Coelho's novel "The Alchemist" and this book was sold out immediately, despite the fact that it was not cheap. Even Coelho himself was delighted with Erko's illustrations.
Illustration for the novel by Paulo Coelho "The Alchemist"
According to the artist, he never thinks about the concept of his illustrations and never draws sketches. And creativity resembles a kind of dream, when he simply clearly imagines the necessary images in his head and tries to transfer them to paper. In the process of work, they change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. If everything goes well, the illustrations "fly out" easily and naturally, and this creative process itself brings great pleasure.
Illustration for Richard Bach's story "Jonathan Livingston Seagull".
And also, an artist should not explain to anyone why he drew exactly this way and not another, if he suddenly starts doing this, then he is simply a bad art critic or a graphomaniac. Everything can be said in drawings, which are self-sufficient in themselves, and unnecessary words are not needed.
Illustration for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
And indeed, one can only agree with this statement by Yerko.
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