Russian-born, New York City-based illustrator, Toma Vagner, is influenced by both Japanese and Soviet visual cultures, making for unique combinations. Her illustrations often look like technical manuals, but it’s hard to tell what exactly it is they aim to teach you.
Each illustration begins with a hand-drawn sketch that is then scanned, with the aim of maintaining that handmade, somewhat imperfect, quality. “Drawing and expressing myself through images has always been my passion,” said Vagner in an interview with Communication Arts. “I’ve been working with many different people and also making a few personal series of illustrations.”
Growing up on the remote island of Sakhalin in Russia, she says she was influenced by Japanese and Korean culture because of the island’s proximity to those countries and the Japanese occupation of the territory before World War II. “We have some architectural and cultural remnants,” she adds. “While growing up, I was interested and influenced by Japanese visual culture as well as Soviet Union visual culture.”
Though based in New York, she often travels back to Russia and continues working from there. “I want to travel more in the future and bring these experiences into my images, and keep developing my work and visual language,” says Vagner. “Other than that, I’m happy with what I’m doing right now.”
Her aim? To create timeless pieces that move other people. “Even though I work in the illustration field, I never think of my work as being one-time disposable images that only serve the purpose of being illustrations,” she stresses.
Take a look at some of her work.
