Richard II / Hamlet

illustrated books, crowdfunded project (2013)

Richard II. The Book

began with a spontaneous post — I shared a few sketches inspired by Gregory Doran’s production with David Tennant, and suddenly an entire community of like-minded people formed around the idea of turning those sketches into something greater: a real book.

It became one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on. Every illustration had to reflect the mood of the play, the tension of the characters, and the emotional landscapes behind the lines. I redrew everything from scratch, testing how the images would work on paper — and learning along the way how different book production is from just creating images for the screen.

To see the book printed, to know that it traveled to so many readers around the world, and that it even reached Gregory Doran and David Tennant — that was overwhelming in the best sense of the word. I’m grateful to everyone who supported this journey, trusted us, and shared the excitement of bringing this project to life.

This book was born from love — for Shakespeare, for theatre, for illustration, and for the idea that even an independent, nonprofit project can connect people across countries, languages, and backgrounds.

Hamlet. The Book

Two-volume edition of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, created for a crowdfunded project based on Gregory Doran’s 2008 RSC production starring David Tennant. The book features parallel English-Russian texts, annotated scenes, and a unique collection of scholarly commentary. All illustrations were developed specifically for this edition, building on the style of the earlier Richard II book.