I am glad to announce that Little Bookshop is now going to be translated in English!

I will post translation here on my website, please like and comment so I would know you like it:)

The first transcription is already here, press "read more"!

This post is about amazing Beatrix Potter!

Little Bookshop is biweekly vlog about books with pictures by Olga Ptashnik and Prostaya Shkola.

I am glad to share this lovely project with a company Murs Clairs from the UK. 

We created a woodland series of stickers for the nurseries, featuring animals, trees, mushrooms and bees from the forest!

And now it is possibly to buy them on Etsy, have a look! 

Рубрика "Книжный киоск", где мы с Простой Школой говорим о самых интересных книжках с картинками.

В этом выпуске рассказываю о древних книгах на русском языке для детей!

This is a biweekly vlog about the most interesting books with pictures.

This episode is about old books for children in Russian.

For the last 8 month I have been living in Turkey. Having travelled 7000 km across the country, been in the desert, on salt marshes, in the mountains, in a snowstorm - I find inspiration in nature and history, and Turkey is full of both. A crossroads of people and animals, Asia Minor is a combination of many traditions, and an interweaving of many stories. That is what I wanted to share with my sketching diaries at the exhibition in the bookstore Maleviç in Antalya.

We had a wonderful opening day with a talk and workshop and I was really glad to see the interest and a lot of questions about the journey and drawing.

I wanted to share my experience in complex framing, so we had an engaging workshop and there were wonderful results.

It was a great event, I am very grateful to the owner of the shop, Victoria, for hosting us and for everyone who came for the opening, it was a perfect way to say goodbye to this adventure.

Tesekkulrer Turkey!

Рубрика "Книжный киоск", где мы с Простой Школой говорим о самых интересных книжках с картинками.

В этом выпуске показываю победителей Болонской книжной ярмарки 2023 года в категории «нон-фикшн» — то есть, в познавательной литературе.

This is a biweekly vlog about the most interesting books with pictures.

I am talking about Bologna Ragazzi Award 2023 winners in non-fiction category.

Мы с любимой Простой Школой начинаем что-то новенькое: рубрика "Книжный киоск", где я буду обозревать иллюстрации разных книг. В этом выпуске показываю победителей Болонской книжной ярмарки–2023 в категории «фикшн» — то есть, в художественной литературе.

Мне кажется, художественных обзоров книг категорически мало, особенно новинок. Так что давайте смотреть вместе на самые интересные книжки с картинками!

This year my work had been shortlisted by the jury of the Cheltenham illustration awards.

It has been exhibited in several exhibitions in the UK and going to be presented at the London Book Fair on April 18-20th! So if you are going to visit the fair, have a look at the exhibition:)

Manka series.

Manka is a name of semolina porridge in Russian.

All my friends had their own association with this porridge from the childhood. Mine are sleepy breakfasts in the kindergarden. This project is about a childhood, inner thoughts of a child and dreams. I felt pretty lonely in my childhood and this is a conversation with my inner child today.

It is a story about childhood and rituals. I love to remember those moments from childhood: how we went fishing with grandfather, how we would let fish swim in a basin at home - this was a ritual. To go to garage and pick old bamboo rod, to go on the tiny river.

Or to collect green sour apples in the garden and read a book late night eating kilos of this apples. Adult would always say that it is impossible to eat them, but I still remember one year when a big branch of the apple tree fall down in July with sour apples and I had a huge basket of green sour apples.

I remember how bright star were above the Moscow when I was little. One winter there was a big comet in the sky for many nights and I would watch it everyday.

My home was my fortress, surrounded by apple trees and lilac bushes, blooming in spring.

Childhood is a very magical time.

I am very touched that my work had been selected for the posters of the exhibitions, there is a home where I grew up on the drawing, and it makes it very special. I like how designers cut out stars to use them in the bottom part of the poster. 

Thank you, CIA!

I have been in Paris for many times, but unfortunately never had been to the Pompidou Center. And this is a story why you should go there, not in the Louvre.

Actually, it was quite a fun experience: I had only two days in the city, and decided that I MUST visit Louvre (though I've been there), and that probably, may be I will go to some museum I've never been to. Of course I've heard about Centre Pompidou, but never knew what it is about. So I decided that I will will go to Louvre and decide on the Centre later. And it was terrible! The Louvre was super overcrowded, very sultry, it was so difficult to navigate through the crowd, and the overall user experience was driving me crazy. Probably because the building was not meant as a museum and the collection is huge, there is no logic in navigation, there were Egyptian art halls on 3 different floors in different wings of the building, and I wasn't able to find any of them. So I suppose it is only possible to go there with an experienced guide, who will take you through the mess and crowds, who will tell you something interesting (because otherwise you will just float around through millions of sculptures, trying not to step on someone's shoe). Uh! After 2 hours I just cried and run to the "Exit" sign as fast as I could. 

So after that day I didn't want to go to museum anymore, but I couldn't let myself give up. I went to the website of the Centre Pompidou, looked through the collection, saw Matisse's works, and decided that it is a good reason to go.

I bought tickets online, got a little bit upset that I missed an opportunity to register for a guided tour in English (every Saturday at 11.30, but there were no tickets, as I was looking for them on Friday evening), and prepared headphones as I found some podcast on their website. I wasn't sure it is going to work, but still.

Is it possible? Our little swallow landed in the Saint-Petersburg Puppet Theater!

The premiere was today and I wish I could visit it, but still it is a big dream to be a part of the play in a real theater. If you are in Saint- Petersburg, you can buy tickets here: https://puppets.ru/spec/165

I was really glad that the director of the play read the book exactly with the idea we put in, here is a desricption of the play:

We are born free beings, we can fly wherever we want! Children and birds share an incredible sense of freedom. "Swallow's Diary" is a story about how important it is to keep that feeling, how through difficult decisions, difficulties and obstacles to continue, to keep flying!

It is a very important message right now and I hope to bring it trough my art.

_________________________________

Pavel Kvartalnov and Olga Ptashnik

Director – Ksenia Pavlova
Artist – Daria Lazareva
Light artist – Ksenia Kozlova
Videoart – Daria Pika 

Performer – Ekaterina Lozhkina-Belevich

В 2020, после начала карантина, Простая школа провела цикл интервью с художниками. Дима Горелышев, арт-директор школы и мой учитель, поговорил и со мной. Два часа болтали про то, как меня вообще занесло в рисование, какие у меня любимые упражнения и вообще за жизнь.

Почему-то я ужасно серьезна.

Инжой!

Запись лекции в Институте бизнеса и дизайна, Москва, 2019 год. По-моему, очень полезная штука получилась,  пересмотрела и сама для себя открыла заново забытые моменты.

Спасибо институту и Маше Титовой за приглашение.

В издательстве "Самокат" книга "Дневник ласточки" вышла в мае 2021 года. С тех пор книга получила награду XIV Международного конкурса книжной иллюстрации и дизайна «Образ книги» в номинации «Иллюстрации к Non-fiction».

In Russian the book "The diary of a swallow" had been published by the "Samokat" in 2021. Since then the book has been recognised by national competitions and festivals.

На Папмамбук вышла статья, посвященная нашей книге: https://www.papmambook.ru/articles/5018/

Видео обзоры https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmN86L85yIA

The Diary of our Swallow had been published in Germany by Insel Verlag and the books are already in the beautiful bookshops of Germany.

I am very grateful to have the opportunity to be published in so many countries!

Translated by Kathrin Köller.

'Diary of a swallow' is published in Italy! By publisher Caissa Italia, translated by Tatiana Pepe.

Davide Cali, writer for many wonderful books translated for 20+ languages, asked us with Pavel Kvartalnnov, the author of the 'Diary of a swallow' about the book, our first meeting and about the nowadays life as a russian citizens. I am grateful for the opportunity to be heard. 

Read in Italian or use google translate here: 

https://www.frizzifrizzi.it/2022/03/30/diario-di-una-rondine-intervista-doppia-a-olga-ptashnik-e-pavel-kvartalnov/

On the photo Tatiana Pepe with a book at the Bologna Childrenbook Fair 2022

the book in Italian here: https://www.caissa.it/378-diario-di-una-rondine-9788867291335.html

Hi everyone, it is Eraserexpertise vol 11.

I found these Playcolor art gouache solid paints at kids section in artstore. Something new and unusual, let's check!

Meet Lena - a ceramist, maker and Spanish speaker.

Lena's ceramics is bright and seems to be minimalistic, but I was really surprised to realize all the layers of personal thoughts behind. Combining gentle flowers, simple shapes and aunt's jokes in an old family house, Lena going really fast from yesterday student to professional artist.

Lena believes she is a lucky person and it is important to be lucky in ceramics because of all the factors of technology.

He everyone, it is a second part of series of posts about Comic continent residency for illustrators in Germany.

You can read the first part here: http://olgaptashnik.com/blog/comic-continent-1.

Though everyone was overwhelmed with a lot of work to do, we were excited about Berlin day. As you remember (may be) the residency itself was located in small town on the border with Poland. So there was a special day at the residency when we were visiting some important places for illustrators in Berlin:

1. Jaja publishing house

2. Modulor shop

3. City library visit with Sarah Wildeisen 

5. International Children's bookstore in Berlin

Also I will include review of another art store in Berlin called Boesner.

Hi everyone, it is Eraserexpertise vol 10.

This time I compare precise mechanical erasers from Tombow and Factis.

Hello everyone.

I didn't post for a long time, but it was worth waiting for this text: I will tell about residency for illustrators in Germany!

So make yourself comfortable, it will take at least four posts to try to describe great atmosphere and results.

1. General information

2. Berlin day

3. Exhibition day

4. My work

5. Surprise post

Meet Nastya Smirnova - illustrator, art challenger and morning runner.

Nastya is the second person to let me into her wonderful house to talk about illustration, life and all around. Thanks, Nastya, for being so generous on your experience!

Nastya’s work is full of light, it is bright and gentle. Everyday sketches or book illustration - full of life, motion and color. Nastya says that her nickname is krasiver and when translated into Russian it means a person who creates beauty. I totally agree.