Eeva Nikunen is an artist and illustrator located in Finland. Eeva creates original paintings and illustrations with a fantastical twist. She combines her passion for design and storytelling to produce her distinctive style of romanticised imagery.
How long have you been illustrating and what made you start?
I’ve drawn ever since I can remember. I started my career in creative fields such as graphic design, game illustration and visual merchandising, but I’ve always had a dream of being a fantasy artist and working for myself. Fantasy art and classic book illustrations have always inspired me, and I decided to start my own illustration business eight years ago. Although working independently is a lot of hard work, and there are many moments of self doubt, I still think it’s the best decision I ever made.
Where do you get your inspiration?
The inspiration for my art can come from anywhere. For example a book I read, something I see during a walk in nature, a piece of music I hear, or perhaps from beautiful cinematography I see in a film I watch.
Where is your favourite place to illustrate?
I have a small home art studio. It’s a place I feel most cozy surrounded by all my art supplies, it’s my favourite place to create.
What are your illustrating/colouring material essentials?
My favourite mediums are oil paints and graphite pencils. I also like to use coloured pencils and watercolours from time to time.
What’s the piece of work that you’re most proud of or enjoyed doing the most?
I’m most proud of an illustrated journal I created called ‘Enchanted Valley’. The book has over fifty Victorian Fantasy inspired pencil illustrations. I’m also really proud of the two solo shows I did for a gallery called The Haven Gallery in New York.
I would recommend choosing a colour theme before you start a new colouring piece. I love to work with complementary colours, which means I choose two colours from the opposite sides of the colour wheel, for example yellow and purple. Another great way to get inspiration for a colour theme is to choose a painting that you love, and use the colours from that painting as inspiration for your colouring artwork.
