Svetlana Kostina is a concept artist/illustrator from Kazakhstan. She's been drawing since she was a girl and has a specialist degree in design. She works as a freelancer for Nuare Studio, Creative Assembly, and more. 

In her free time, she works on personal projects. Her goal for the near future is to study 3D sculpting. Here, we got to interview her about the making of Bear Shaman. 

Biggest inspiration when you started as an artist:

To see on paper in front of me the characters and stories that I came up with in my imagination. When I was a child, it seemed like pure magic.

Coffee or tea:

Tea, I have over 30 flavors of black tea at home

Good habits:

I write down ideas; I think I am responsible 

Worst habit: 

Procrastination; taking on too much

Favorite movies: 

"Spirited Away", TV series "Dark"

Favorite games: 

"Harry Potter" and "Atlantis" for PlayStation 1, the witcher

Music while doing art:

Something very neutral so as not to be distracting 

How to bounce back from a bad day: 

Do something that will bring positive emotions and relax

What is a good day:

When you wake up and fall asleep without anxiety and do everything with pleasure and without forcing

Favorite quote:

I will think about it tomorrow

Future goals:

Find work-life balance and be happy 

Can you introduce yourself?

Hi, My name is Svetlana and I am an illustrator and concept artist from Russia, I work as a freelancer. Most of the time I draw illustrations for card games for work.

I like to draw digitally and with traditional materials in sketchbooks and sculpt from plasticine. I love walking my dog and growing plants

What got you into character art, when did it all start?

It started when I was a child. I loved coming up with my own personal stories and drawing the main characters from there. They were mermaids, princesses, vampires, and so on. I also loved to draw myself in different costumes, imagining how I would look if I lived in other worlds. Then, as a student, I learned that I can get money for this.

What influences were the most responsible for your current art style?

It is hard to say. Perhaps other people know better, but I don't know if I have any recognizable style. It seems to me that personal style is a combination of our preferences and our unconscious mistakes that we make over and over again. Style is something that I have no control over in my personal works. I just draw what I like the way I can.

How did you get to the level you are at today? Did you study in any particular way you would recommend?

As a child, I went to art school. Then I entered the university as an industrial and graphic designer, and in parallel with this I was engaged in self-education. A couple of years ago, I went to the courses for the first time and studied human anatomy.

I think now it is much easier to educate yourself - there are many courses, books and free lessons on YouTube.

How did you begin the process of creating your piece? What was your inspiration?

As soon as I heard about the competition, I immediately wanted to make a Russian character. At first I thought to make it as a joke, using funny stereotypes, but when I started work, I got very carried away and decided that I wanted to take this project more seriously. I was always inspired by Slavic images, images from fairy tales and epics, I consider them very emotional and magical ideologically and visually.

What was your biggest hurdle during the process? What did you do to overcome it?

The Bears! It was difficult for me to draw bears! I redrew them until they stopped annoying me.

If you had to do it over, would you do it differently? Why?

I would add more dynamics to the illustration. Would slightly change the poses of the characters and make them more alive

Why did you choose that specific country?

I live here and I love this culture. This is not the first time that I have used Slavic images in my drawings.

What do you think the Art War 5 experience taught you, and would you participate again next year if you could?

I realized that contests are fun. This is a good opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and make a couple of pictures for your portfolio. Yes, I would like to participate next time. Hope I have some free time!

Do you have any tips or advice for aspiring artists out there who might be looking to get to your level one day? What's your recipe for success?

I wish I had a recipe for success, hahaha!

I think that everything is quite prosaic here - you need to find your weaknesses and try to improve them with practice. 

And in the race for skill, do not forget why you generally fell in love with drawing.

Any final thoughts?

Don't forget about hobbies and walks. And eat more vegetables!

Follow Svetlana HERE. 

Bear Shaman