1001 heroes

Several hundred weirdoes, some wearing spacesuits, others sporting twigs as hairdos or PC-shaped headgears, having a ball downtown Kyiv, making an orgy of it. No one is paying attention to passersby, as though saying you be grateful we aren’t storming any apartment buildings.

A good opening scene for a sci-fi story, but it is a graphic panel contributed by artist Illia Uhnivenko to the Orthodox exhibit organized by the Pictoric Illustrators Club. There is no main hero, but every creature can become one if s/he attracts your attention while scanning the panel of almost eight meters of Whatman paper.

Illia Uhnivenko takes part in all-Ukraine and international art exhibits, conducts workshop seminars for illustrators, and teaches at Kyiv’s Art School No. 9. I visited him when he was finishing the panel and my first question was where he finds the prototypes for his characters.

LEITMOTIF, DEPENDING ON YOUR MOOD

“At the Orthodox exhibit I demonstrated characters from my notebook… They’d never been displayed, they were all my own. I decided to promote them using a paper panel as a constantly changing display. I’d conceived the idea during the first Kyiv Comic Con Festival, when decorating a three-meter banner. At the time I used characters from my notebook. This time I’m spinning them out of thin air. The leitmotif depends on my mood. In one part of the panel the figures are in uneven lines, and in the second one they are in three rows, like a crowd marching in an organized manner. Here one finds systemic signs. Well, I was fed up with this and placed the central composition on the third wall.

“I didn’t prepare the entire composition in advance. First, it’s more fun doing it the way I do. Second, the bystanders are interested to watch the plot unfold as I work. Besides, framed pictures are the exhibit’s priority and this damages the plot done on a large [paper] panel. I didn’t want to distract the visitors from exploring framed pictures, so I used a carpet-like composition on the panel. This way you won’t find the main or ‘supporting’ hero; all images are equally important. One seems to be immersed in this world, wandering through it.”

CALMING IMAGE

“There is a big Grandpa Tree in the center of the third wall. You can see a Buddha-like old creature, but any other character can embody him if he is totally composed and thus way above the rest. It’s an imperturbable character. Sometimes you draw it to make yourself comfortable, to cut short an unwelcome train of thought. This character has been with me for several years. I’ve introduced him in some or other way, now and then.

“There are also characters in my notebook that are best described as being full of hot air. These are cartoons of ‘sages’ who can’t put two clever words together, but claim Buddha’s status.”

HERO IN A DROP OF PAINT

“The characters displayed at this exhibit are about one year old as I kept them in my notebook. Look at this guy. He is one of the main heroes. There are lots of characters and this one comes right from the palette. I cut drops of paint to make landscapes and some pieces turn into characters, depending on what I find. Here you see some fish (pointing to a selection of small colored sheets in his notebook), one of my popular themes. And here is an old man with a red beard. Sometimes I make a pencil sketch of an image, so I can remember what exactly I saw in that drop of paint.

“The three characters on the first wall are united by history. They come from the same palette. The group includes the main hero, his assistant, and an antagonist. Right next to them is another group. These characters come from a different palette, from a different notebook. They’re in a blue mood. There are also single characters. I tell my school students about how to figure out characters, images, how to work on shapes. While speaking, I draw small schemes. These schemes often come in handy later. One of my characters on display here was born only because I remembered explaining to someone how to work on shapes.”

ON METRO FLOOR, TOO…

“Sometimes plots seem to emerge of their own free will. I once remembered ABC illustrations and sketched a boy, using that style, only with steampunk hands. Then I thought the kid had to say something. So he says, ‘And then I’ll seize the planet!’ That was how a joke produced another hero. Later he was joined by a girl.

“I find some characters in patches and scuffs on Metro [Kyiv subway] floor. Other times they come from sketches, but mostly as social cartoons.”

SCENE CAUGHT AT A BUS STOP

“I think that characters aren’t the most important part of an illustration. The important thing is the atmosphere. Without it an illustration is good for nothing. It’s even better to make a cocktail of an illustration and an atmosphere, and immerse yourself into it, living with these characters. This time only characters are on display. The ones you see on the panel are like scenes caught at a bus station, with each busy doing something while all are waiting for the bus.”

CHILDREN’S STEREOTYPES

“My students are children. They start going to the [art] school at eight-nine years of age, having watched enough animes, so they tend to use cliches. Now their favorite hero is the Iron Man from My Little Pony. I’m doing my best to break these stereotypes, so they realize that each can make a character all his own. I even have to warn that no existing characters can be used when drawing fantasy pictures. Children’s creative imagination must encouraged in every way. At this age they start stiffening, copying what they see around them and what they believe is their ideal.”

NO VIOLENCE

“After I finish doing this panel, I’ll probably add a few little surprises, like ‘scattering’ toys. This would be a good motive, a charming touch to the whole frivolous affair. This would make all the characters look like playing a serious game, even believing it’s more than a game, yet leaving no doubt in the viewer’s mind that it’s just another game. A friend of mine said that these characters appear to be playing something like shoot-’em-ups, but no one, not even with a mouthful of sharp teeth can really hurt anyone else. Happy ending, of course.”