Meet the illustrator Julia Gukova from Russia

 Image source

I watch a lot. I try to look carefully at everything I'm attracted to - interesting pictures, photographs - trying to grasp what I need in my work. ... By the way the less text the better - this gives more room for imagination.  

Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature Johns Hopkins University Press Volume 59, Number 4, 2021 p. 48

Today I am sharing the work of another illustrator nominated for the prestigious IBBY Hans Christian Andersen award. Yulia Valentinovna Gukova was born in 1961 in Moscow. She has illustrated more than 50 books that have been widely translated, including classics such as Thumbelina by H.C. Andersen and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, as well as The Magic Land of Oz and the Wizard of Oz by L.F. Baum. Here is her web site. And here you can see may examples of her art. 

Her five books submitted for judging for the Hans Christian Andersen Award are  “Velikiy Charodei strani OZ” (The Great Wizard of Oz) and “Chudesnaya strana OZ” (Wonderful country of OZ, both written by Lyman Frank Baum), “12 sov” (12 owls, written by Andrey Usachev and Galina Dydina), “Serena and the Wild Doll” (written by Philip Coristine) and “Puteshestvie v Novyi God” (A journey into the New Year, written by Eduard Uspenskiy).

"Often in her illustrations, she seems to break out of the book page, offering the reader to continue on their own, to extend in their imagination the panorama of a bizarre world that has become accessible to the human eye thanks to the talent of the artist."  Kircbs

Mouse is determined to figure out who stole his delicious collection of raspberries and starts by questioning Raven, but when Raven denies any involvement, 

Mouse has to follow other clues to locate his missing goods. Book Depository

See the art from this book here.

Luminous, lovely paintings illustrated this enchanted tale about the power of belief and 

the wonder of the legendary unicorn. Book Depository

Read more about this book in this Quill and Quire review

See some art from this book here.

Alice in Wonderland by Yulia Gukova stands out for its sharp modernity of approach, 

the geometrically clear alignment of the book space, a subtle understanding of 

the nature of Carroll's fantasy and Carroll's humour. Kircbs