Fairytale illustrations: Vladislav Yerko

[alexandral]

I was looking for some fairytales for my daughter. One of my forever favourite fairytales is "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen; it is my special winter holidays story. We used to watch it as children, year after year and never get tired of it. I was searching for an English translation of this story and I found one Here, with breathtaking and thoughtful illustrations by Vladislav Yerko, a famous Ukranian illustrator.

Vladislav Yerko was born in Kiev in 1962. He graduated from Kiev's Polygraphic University. He is famous for his outwordly beautiful illustrations to fairytale books but he is known to be a quiet man who avoids media attention. Vladislav received the main "Book of the year 2000" award for his illustrations to "The Snow Queen".

My favourite illustration from "The Snow Queen" is below. It captures the essence of the character of The Snow Queen for me, her beauty, cold and emptiness.





"The Snow Queen" illustrations. All my favourite characters are there!

Kay and Gerda in the Snow Queen's palace:


Kay and Gerda, happy friends:



The Snow Queen abducting Kay:



The old woman sorceress



Robbers:



The Lapp woman and Gerda on Bae-the-reindeer:



Gerda, Kay, their roses and their books:



The Snow Queen:



Kay and Gerda's city:



The Snow Queen's palace:



The Raven



The Prince and the princess:



Illustrations from children's "Tales of Foggy Albion" book. 0

"Foggy Albion" is the way Britain is called in Russia. :D This is because it was named like this in one of Pushkin's poems but I may be wrong. The correct translation of the book's title is : "British Knight Tales". Many knights and ladies whom I don't recognise at all. The guy with a green clover leaf in his hand must be St. Patric, I guess.. It would be great to know who the rest of the knights are, if anyone has any idea I'll be eternally grateful. I am particular mesmerised by the green-faced lady with a big dog..























Illustrations from children's "Ukranian fairytales" book.

Similar to Russian fairy tales humour and satire play a big part in the traditional Ukranian fairytales. And big mighty warriors, of course!












I have made some icons, preview:

.. .. .. ..

They are free to share but please credit the artist!


..01 ..02 ..03 ..04

..05 ..06 ..07 ..08

..09 ..10 ..11 ..12

..13 ..14 ..15 ..16

..17 ..18 ..19 ..20


Credits:
http://logrys.net/Map.htm

http://illustr.narod.ru/html/queen.htm

http://nataly.nnm.ru/hudozhnikillyustrator_vladislav_erko

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, no! I am sorry , it was me jumping few steps in my logical chain..

Yes, I mean Andersen's mermaid too. The Green Lady looks .. hmm.. green, as in some evil mermaid-like creature. But at the same time she is pretty and sad so I liked your suggestion that it could be Andersen's Little mermaid and NOT an evil creature..

[himmapaan.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see! I wasn't refering to the green lady, I'm afraid, though I'm just as intrigued by who she could be as you are. As she is in the second set of illustrations, she must figure in some English folklore, though I'm ashamed to find I can't think who she ought to be! She may bear some relation to the myth of the Green man, perhaps. She also made me think of the lady who tried to seduce Sir Gawain in the legend of the Green Knight, though her dog seems to suggest some other significance...

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am so ashamed! I only now realized your meaning. :D My sincere apologies! Andersen's Mermaid was one of the biggest impressions for me as a child. ( I cried for a long, long time after reading it :D)