Writing about artists is always interesting, especially about such extraordinary as Ilya Tikhomirov. This young guy became known to St. Petersburg for a series of funny pictures dedicated to his hometown. Ilya's comics cover a number of topics that are close to every Petersburger: metro, trams, rains, music and architecture of his beloved city.
Illustrator Ilya
Artist Ilya Tikhomirov burst into the Internet space this year, with his series of funny comics. He is rather an illustrator who draws funny color sketches from the life of the city, accompanying them with funny poems. This all looks like an endless story about Petersburg, its inhabitants and the oddities of life in the northern capital. You can get acquainted with all the paintings of the artist Ilya Tikhomirov on his page "VKontakte", there are also photos of the artist.
Ilya graduated from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in 2007. And the idea of creating vivid illustrations arose only in 2016. Now the artist Ilya Tikhomirov and his paintings are known to many lovers of contemporary art.
Ilya and Anya
Throughout his career with Ilya was his faithful companion. Ilya Tikhomirov and Anya Bogatikova have been married for 7 years. The girl came from Kazan, where she graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Lyceum. Then she graduated from St. Petersburg European University.
Now the family lives in St. Petersburg. The young wife supports her husband’s work, and together they went all over St. Petersburg in search of interesting routes. And their main route - through the St. Petersburg metro - Ilya sketched in his series of illustrations.
In the photo, the artist Ilya Tikhomirov and his wife
Spouses are always together, they are “on the same wavelength,” which can be seen from joint photographs and joint projects. No matter how, walking around the whole Petersburg, sketching all this and adding comments, takes time, joint efforts, and most importantly - love!
Petersburg metro
Agree, visit 67 stations and find something special in each - an interesting lesson. From this fascinating journey through his native city, the artist drew a lot of funny stories, the heroes of which were ordinary citizens. As Ilya himself admitted, for one online publication:
Pictures of this series are not so much about the metro as about the city, people, events ... The metro is a structure on which this whole set of phenomena is strung. This has become completely clear now, when all the pictures are finally ready. Metro is not only a station. You are asked: "Where do you live?" You, for example, answer: "On Ladoga." They say to you: “Ah, I see!” None of you think about the station in such a conversation. Of course, most of the stories from my project take place in the subway itself. At the stations, at the lobby, in the transitions. This is part of the daily life of the city, I wanted to talk about it.
It turned out to tell! And captivate the mass of Petersburgers and visitors. It’s interesting, funny, fun to read Elijah’s comics, drawing a parallel with his streets and familiar stations.
The works they talk about
But Petersburg is not only the metro, it is museums, theaters, streets, and most importantly, people. Separate Petersburg class - fans. You can not say about the city, and forget to mention the native “Zenith”.
Football fans will be reflected in a series of illustrations about forgotten things in the subway. This is the fourth artist’s comic strip. Each picture carries a semantic load, and, like all illustrations by the author, they are accompanied by funny poems.
Ilya Tikhomirov also created an amusing series dedicated to music called “To make everything sound” from 31 illustrations. Here are collected funny expressions of music educators and answers to their students' comments. The series turned out to be very fun and close to everyone who studied at a music school, conservatory and institute.
A series of works "12 signs of the zodiac" also fit into Petersburg landscapes, architecture, and even in the faces of surprised citizens. There, crayfish swim along the Griboedov Canal, and cats chose the statue of Leo.
"Into someone else's metro with its tokens" - 7 illustrations dedicated to the Moscow metro. They continue the theme of the metro - the artist also visited several stations of the capital. But whether there will be a continuation is still unknown, because there are 215 stations in the Moscow metro.
Kazan, the hometown of Ilya’s wife, was depicted in eleven pictures with captions telling about the city. This is something like a mini-tour of new sights and traffic interchanges.
Speaking about Kazan, one cannot fail to say about Veliky Novgorod, 9 illustrations of which you read about as a book. In fact, these are all comics, with its own story, which has a beginning and an end, and most importantly - all the pictures are informative.
Anniversary of the St. Petersburg Tram
Another well-known comic book series was painted for the anniversary of the St. Petersburg tram. Ten vivid pictures tell the history of this transport since 1907, when the first car began its movement from Vasilyevsky Island. In honor of the 110th anniversary, this comic was created.
Riddles of urban architecture
Another interesting work of the artist, dedicated to his beloved city, concerns unusual St. Petersburg buildings and their informal names. One cannot but recognize in the author’s illustrations the familiar architectural mistakes that cause both indignation and laughter. By focusing on this feature of his native city, the author gives us the opportunity to laugh and once again admit the obvious - alas, they exist.
The funny rhymes accompanying the pictures are not finished, although the ending is obvious. Riddles of city buildings were found in six illustrations.
What is the phenomenon of Ilya Tikhomirov, and how did he make him talk about himself with his illustrations? Somewhere, he grasped the essence of his beloved city. Such close things at the same time seem funny and sad, but always relevant. He talks about ordinary things that we encounter every day, but he talks with humor, and this is fascinating. Metro, trams, architecture, on the other hand, unusual for us, are reflected in the bright small works of the artist.
We used to see Peter different, no less bright, but different. This is Isakiy, Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, roofs, Nevsky, rain. By the way, the artist didn’t pass the rain either, in his works there is a series of paintings, also not without humor, dedicated to the St. Petersburg rains. Six illustrations with the title "Rain for St. Petersburg is always a holiday" will also cheer you up.
And what kind of Petersburg will be in a hundred years? The author reflected this in a series of fantasy illustrations, where bizarre heroes from the animated film "Corporation of Monsters" carry banners, and aliens issue passes to the Field of Mars.
As shown by interest in illustrations by Ilya Tikhomirov, comics can be very informative and funny.