Illustrating The Corporation

As an artist, there is little that compares to seeing the finished product coming together and reaching the public, especially when the content of the articles and the intention of the publication is so close to my own world view and what I’d like my work to portray.

I’m an artist, illustrator, animator and general creative who worked in various fields before settling in the media industry. I strive to use creativity as a form of activism and to further my desire for social change. I was  lucky to join New Frame almost a year ago, which is a social justice media publication based in Johannesburg, South Africa. My daily work is varied – be it re-imagining  histories of struggle, depicting scenes and people in current news, creating concepts to highlight current issues and hopefully inspiring hope. It’s incredible work because of how much I learn, the people I interact with, and creating art with purpose.

It’s through my work I got introduced to State of Power and TNI. It was both exciting and daunting as a challenge. I found the material fascinating but translating it into concepts without cliches or shallow imagery was challenging. But I  liked the dynamic of vastly different concepts having to flow into each other and follow a visual theme. I tried to strike a balance between my usual messy arty style and a neater, more graphic way of showing concepts. I hope the messages of each article were carried across.

My most difficult illustration would have to be the Charming Psychopath – trying to combine the two words and sides of the corporation into an image which essentially represents the face at the epicenter of our times. I think lacked the “charming” dimension and had to rework the image a few times. My favourite illustration is definitely ‘The End of Corporation’. In most of my work I try to hide an element of hope, even if its a small personal symbol. Creating the image of a better world makes me realise how much I too need hope of positive change in the world.

The web designer putting it together did the final magic. I’m very honoured to have my name on this year’s State of Power.

Anastasya Eliseeva is an award-winning designer, illustrator and animator, who was born in Russia but grew up in South Africa.  She studied painting and design at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg and Fine Arts diploma at Wits Technikon. After starting out doing freelance murals, backdrops and illustrations, she moved into digital art, specialising in illustrating, designing and animating for social media, web, film, educational materials, online games, books, comics and news stories. She currently works at the digital social justice news network, New Frame. http://www.anastasya.co.za