Yelena Bryksenkova never anticipated becoming a graphic design illustrator. But she found her passion after completing a vocational art program in her final years of high school. 

The Montreal-based freelance illustrator will lecture in the Shemin Auditorium on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. as part of Syracuse University’s Visiting Artist Lecture Series. During her lecture, Bryksenkova will share her experiences as a freelancer in the commercial art industry. She hopes to advise SU students about “the real world” of art as a profession.  

After completing a vocational art program in high school, Bryksenkova applied to Maryland Institute College of Art in hopes of becoming a graphic designer. Since then, she has worked with several companies including Anthropologie, ESPN and The New York Times. 

Bryksenkova said that after declaring an illustration major at MICA, she felt that she found a field that best suited her interests. She praised the institution’s curriculum because they gave her valuable knowledge of both the principles and business of illustration.  

“Just being able to draw is definitely not enough. You need to have some entrepreneurial skills,” Bryksenkova said. 

Bryksenkova uses an acryla gouache paint for many of her works, according to her website. This type of paint is an opaque, matte acrylic paint that allows for quick-drying and cannot be reactivated once it has dried. Bryksenkova said she takes pride in being adept at both digital and handmade art. 

With both skills, she typically starts with a painting or drawing and will then finish it digitally. 

“I’m so grateful that I know how to do things by hand,” Bryksenkova said. “Like, people really appreciate it. There’s an old-world quality to it, and it’s a bit more time-consuming at times especially when a job has a quick turnaround, but it’s very meditative to work by hand.” 

While Bryksenkova’s work mostly depicts everyday life, she said that she is more concerned in conveying a mood to listeners than being a mirror to the real-life appearance of the subjects. To achieve this, Bryksenkova added that she adjusts the color palette of a given work to “fit the illustration better.” 

Bryksenkova said her artistic inspiration stems from the beauty that life offers her, whether that be through household items, local scenery or even her dog. Courtesy of Boris Morin-Defoy

As for her inspiration, she said this stems from the beauty that life offers her, whether that be through household items, local scenery or even her dog.  

“Representing beautiful objects through my work helps me internalize them a little bit,” she said. “When something’s really beautiful, I kind of have a hard time dealing with it … I need to possess it somehow, and drawing it kind of relieves that feeling. It feels like possession, like somehow it’s part of me now.”  

Her artwork is also a visual timeline of her migrations from her country of origin, Russia, to several American cities. When she lived in Los Angeles, she incorporated many sun-bleached, terracotta colors into her work. Now, having relocated to Montreal, the style of apartments and life in Montreal complement her artistic vision, she said.  

One of her best friends and fellow illustrator, Becca Stadtlander, whom she met in a sculpture class in MICA, was last month’s guest lecturer for the series. The two did not know that they would be lecturing on the same campus a month apart from each other.  

When Ginnie Hsu, an assistant professor in the illustration department, found out the two knew each other, Hsu said she would have had the two speak together.  

During her brief visit to SU, Stadtlander had the opportunity to see students’ work. She said she was impressed with the quality of the work of the students in SU’s illustration department, and the fact that they knew what illustration career paths they wanted to pursue.  

Stadtlander told Bryksenkova of the caliber of the art projects at SU and said to keep in mind that the students are very receptive, very attentive and have a lot of questions. 

Hsu said Bryksenkova was invited to give the lecture because she has a decade of experience in the industry, where she has worked both as a freelancer and with an agent.  

Additionally, Hsu wanted SU art students to have an opportunity to network with illustrators that are in the industry right now, like Stadtlander and Bryksenkova.  

Published on March 8, 2020 at 11:15 pm

Contact Jade: jchung19@syr.edu