Nadia Ilchuk: "Drawing has always been my hobby, and I have illustrated over 200 books."

1. Can you start by telling me a little Bit about yourself.

My name is Nadia Ilchuk. I live with my family in Kiev, Ukraine. I've always loved to draw. When I was a child, I loved going to kindergarten only because there were a lot of paints and pencils. Drawing has always been my hobby, and later became a profession.

2. When did you first realize that you wanted to be an illustrator and how many years of experience do you have? How many books have you illustrated so far?

After school I decided to become a chemist-technologist and graduated from the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky KPI". After the birth of my kids, I returned to art again. And for over 10 years I have been an illustrator and artist.

I have illustrated over 200 books and stories, created about 50 art objects and murals, and also many oil paintings.

3. Where do you get your inspiration from and could you tell me about your schedule? Like how many hours do you spend per day on illustrations?

First of all my beautiful daughters inspire me to create lovely and cute illustrations. And I really love nature, animals and traveling.

My schedule depends on the orders and and other tasks, and on the inspiration of course . But I have been drawing really a lot lately.

4. Could you tell me a little bit about the type of illustrations you do and how much do you usually charge?

I draw digitally on the graphic tablet mostly, and I paint by oil on the canvas.

The price depends on the complexity, details, size, number of characters, and so on. However, I ensure that my clients and I, agree on the price for each order before I begin.

5. What do you like to do when you are not working?

I love to spend time with my family and friends, I travel and do sports .

6. What advice would you like to give to other illustrators?

Just do what you love and what your soul feels. And draw, draw and draw.

7. How do you market your illustrations and other work?

Through my friends and acquaintances, social networks and Fiverr of course.

8. What are your plans for the future?

My little daughter loves to come up with cute fairy stories, and so, one of my dreams is to create and publish our own books.

And my other big dreams include: to have the opportunity to travel around the world freely, visit beautiful places, meet different people, draw kind and lovely arts, and make the world around a little better and happier.

9. One last question: Did you enjoy working on the illustrations for the series of Jasper The Island Hopper? I was happy to illustrate the beautiful books of Jasper the Island Hopper. I really love to work with projects that teach kids and adults to be kind and helpful. It’s very important and makes us better. And of course I enjoyed the amazing views of Seychelles and when I draw these spectacular sceneries, I feel like I have been there:)

I believe one day I’ll visit this amazing place for real!

The five books in the series of Jasper the Island Hopper, all illustrated by this beautiful lady, Nadia Ilchuk.

Nadia, I would love to take this opportunity to thank you again for those outstanding illustrations for my books. They are breath taking and they do bring these islands to life, and my Jasper looks exactly the same as he does in real life.

Not only are you very talented but you are a very easy and nice person to work with. I wish you all the best in any projects ahead and I will definitely work with you again.

And one more thing, when you come to Seychelles, I will gladly Host you and your family.

I highly recommend Nadia.