Prapim's Inspirations: Phobs

Haven't done one in a while.

Today's influence: Phobs

As far as I know Phobs is a 21-year-old (I know, right! 21! That's super-depressing) Russian female with a penchant for the WWII-era, men in uniform and women in nice hats and gloves. While I don't always agree with the subject matter she draws - she draws a lot of Nazi-garbed men, which makes me a little bit uncomfortable (although she draws so beautifully I could overlook it really!)...

Just looking at her work, you can probably see why I like it - beautiful and quirky characters, a brilliant combination of colours (she favours glowing washes of warm colours, giving her characters a perpetually rosy hue) and bold, confident line and brush-strokes, and a vein of wry humour running through all her work. Even her doodles are better-drawn than what I could hope to do!

The atmosphere of her work alternates between quirky, sarcastic humour and bittersweet nostalgia. Most of the time it's a mix between the two.

Her characters are all so interesting - just by looking at them, you can in most cases tell their personalities. You want to learn more about them - their lives, relationships, struggles, triumphs, and so on. I probably am gushing a bit too much here, but many of her drawings tell such complex stories - a lifetime of a character, the hardships as well as happiness they've experienced.

(It certainly helps that they've all got immensely beautifully defined, sharp noses and chins. And it doesn't hurt that most of them do cut very fine figures in uniform...now you see the main reason I like her stuff. Once again, I've revealed my shallowness...I really must learn to restrain myself...)