Artist Elena Zarubina has an unusual specialization. She hand-paints cartoon backgrounds, literally creating a fairy-tale world from scratch. In 2020, the animated fairy tale "Ogonyok-Ognivo" will be released, for which Zarubina invented a drawn universe. It's time to get acquainted with the work of the sorceress artist.
Artist Elena Zarubina has an unusual specialization. She hand-paints cartoon backgrounds, literally creating a fairy-tale world from scratch. In 2020, the animated fairy tale "Ogonyok-Ognivo" will be released, for which Zarubina invented a drawn universe. It's time to get acquainted with the work of the sorceress artist.
Biography facts
Elena Konstantinovna Zarubina is an animation artist, painter, graphic artist and book illustrator. The heroine was born in 1977 in the city of Alexandrov. Elena has been drawing since childhood. At the age of 13, she entered an art school, where she studied under the guidance of teacher and artist Olga Varava.
After school, Elena became a student of the Ambramtsev Art and Industrial College named after I. Vasnetsov (department of ceramics). The course was completed by her with honors.
At the age of 19, Zarubina entered VGIK, where she graduated with a degree in costume designer. In her student years, the girl began her career as a book illustrator, collaborated with foreign publishing houses.
After graduation, Elena worked as a costume assistant on the set of serial and feature films. Her projects include the comedy series Mines in the Fairway (2008), the drama Once Upon a Time in the Province (2008).
In the early 2010s, the artist was invited to the Soyuzmultfilm studio as a costume specialist. Elena participated in the creation of the cartoons "Ritag", "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia" (2017), "Fire Flint" (scheduled for release in 2020).
In parallel with her work in animation, the artist was engaged in painting and graphics. Since 1992 Elena Zarubina has taken part in more than 10 exhibitions in Moscow and regions of Russia. The artist's personal exhibitions were arranged three times. The first, small exhibition was called "The City of Gold" and was held in 1997. In 2012 and 2017, 2 large expositions were organized in the city of Aleksandrov. Zarubina showed the public pictures and drawings, preparatory materials for cartoons: sketches, storyboards, backgrounds.
Since 2008 Elena has been a member of the International Art Fund.
Since 2019, Zarubina has been maintaining an Instagram page @back_painter. The artist publishes sketches for animation, samples of paintings and graphic works.
Works for animation
The cartoon "Ritag" in 2012 became the first project of Elena Zarubina in animation. The plot is based on a philosophical parable about a secret world that is located between earth and heaven and was created from human thoughts - good and evil.
Ritag was a unique undertaking, as the animators drew frames by hand, without the use of computer graphics. This is a complex and expensive technology, which nowadays is used only by the famous Japanese cartoonist Hayao Miyazaki. The work on "Ritag" was carried out for more than 3 years and was not completed. The project was closed due to lack of funds.
Elena Zarubina created the backgrounds for the cartoon "The Tale of Peter and Fevronia". An animated fairy tale for the whole family was released in 2017. The cartoon told the story of Orthodox saints who became a symbol of love and marital fidelity.
Work on Peter and Fevronia took 7 years and required a budget of $ 5 million. The cartoon received the award of the festival "Radiant Angel" and the prize of the children's jury at the competition "Scarlet Sails".
In 2019, Elena Zarubina developed graphics for the cartoon "Fire Flint", which is scheduled to premiere in 2020. The creators follow the classic traditions of hand-drawn animation in the style of Disney and the Soviet "Soyuzmultfilm".
Zarubina made 3 cartoons on her own, drawing sketches and "animating" them on the screen.
"Magic Winter" is a screen version of the fairy tale by the Scandinavian writer Tove Jansson. The cartoon "Angels and Demons" grew out of the author's applications by Zarubina. The artist sent paper compositions to a competition in Munich, and later made animation based on them.
The fairy tale "Mistress Blizzard" is Zarubina's family work. The artist came up with the graphics; her mom voiced the characters.
Elena Zarubina's author's cartoons were shown at a personal exhibition in 2017. The artist removed the videos from free access on the Internet after she faced cases of theft of ideas.
Book illustrations
In 2007, Zarubina illustrated the novel "Crime and Punishment" by F. M. Dostoevsky. The book was an adapted version for children and was published by the Korean publishing house NCF. Later, Elena designed a collection of Dickens's fairy tales for the same customer.
Zarubina's graduation work at VGIK consisted of sketches for the story "From the shadows into the light" by Ekaterina Sadur. Elena, as a future costume designer, showed her interpretation of the characters - the girl Zhenya, her mother and grandmother, living in a Russian town in the 1970s.
In 2017, the book "Silver Tree" was published - a collection of children's stories and poems by Sasha Cherny, designed by Elena Zarubina. The stories tell about winter joys: carefree fun at the skating rink, making snowmen, anticipating winter holidays. The artist's drawings add to the positive mood of the book.
Painting and graphics
Zarubina works in the technique of oil painting and watercolors, copies the works of old masters. The artist's paintings and drawings can be purchased in online contemporary art galleries.
Elena depicts everyday objects and scenes from life: people in public transport, winter landscapes seen from the window of an apartment, flea markets. In Zarubina's paintings, the usual plots are devoid of a shade of gray and melancholy. Written with kind irony and attention to detail, everyday scenes look like dreams or stills from a dream - romantic, sometimes funny or sad.
Creative hobbies
At her leisure, Elena Zarubina travels, is engaged in photography and modeling, is interested in handmade techniques: mail-art, quilling, scrapbooking. The artist's hobbies are associated with her career as an animator and painter.
On her travels, Zarubina paints landscapes in the open air. Clay figurines and handmade cards are later turned into characters for animation. Creative hobbies help Elena see beauty in everyday things and create fabulous worlds where there is always a place for miracles and good triumphs over evil.
