#elena bansh

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Yokai, by Elena Bansh.

[dailydccomics]

prophet Harley art by Elena G. Bansh in a wild Harley Quinn #37 issue

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Harley Quinn #37

Harley Quinn #37 preview. It's a panoply of clown girl artist extraordinaires as they go across the clowniverse! #comics #comicbooks #harleyquinn

[why-i-love-comics]

Harley Quinn #37 - "The Brother Eyes Present: Surrender Harley!" (2024)

written by Tini Howard art by Logan Faerber, Sweeney Boo, Kelley Jones, Elena G. Bansh, Stefano Raffaele, Mindy Lee, Mariguerite Sauvage, & Jose Villarrubia

[cooladddy]

Humanoid fish and the passion for the east by Elena Garofalo Banish

Elena Galofaro 's love for oriental culture does not manifest itself, as one might expect, through the classic re-proposal of icons and stylistic codes borrowed from Japanese art or manga. Her style, on the other hand, is faithful to the search for her own personality and is the synthesis of her creative path and the experiences gained over time. Raised in Milan, she graduated from the National Film School (CSC) in Turin, where she studied 2D Animation, and then worked as an animator and character designer. She then moved to Japan for almost two years, doing an internship at an animation studio in Tokyo. She now lives in London, where she did her master's degree in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art, and works for clients such as Nature, BBC and Apple. We interviewed her for you.

Hi Elena and welcome to Picame. Do you want to introduce yourself to our readers? Hi everyone! My name is Elena, aka Elena Bansh, and I am an Italian artist born and raised in Milan, who however has lived/traveled in different parts of the globe (Japan, United Kingdom, South Korea...). By trade I am an illustrator and animator, but lately I prefer to define myself as a visual artist. Do you remember your first drawing? Not the first ever but I remember that when I saw some of my drawings from when I was 3-4 years old there was one that particularly struck me. It was that of an enormous insect, which covered the entire surface of the sheet. The teacher, in the bottom corner of the paper, had written 'a louse', ha-ha. Another memory is the collection of Pokemon invented by me, with more than 100 different Pokemon. I was 6-7 years old.

Is there one of your works that you are most fond of? I would naively say that I am fond of everyone. Until my 20s I always collected every single drawing I made with extreme care, cataloging them all. This has led to cultivating a somewhat obsessive feeling towards my works. Now I have improved but it is difficult for me to say which one I am more fond of… Probably the collection of portraits of my friends in Japan, also called Out of the Shell , is of great importance to me. Is your technique still that of freehand drawing, then integrated with digital color? Yes, always that one. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I can no longer draw well on a tablet. It always seems to me that the sign is too 'clean' and not expressive enough. Although I initially trained as a 2D animator using only software such as Photoshop, Toon Boom Harmony etc.

Elena's sketchbook Do you have any other passion or dream in your drawer? Traveling and eating. I really enjoy trying new dishes and looking for interesting restaurants, especially when I travel to Asia. Regarding my secret dreams... I think I have too many, and too ambitious ones. Maybe I can finally finalize a story about my humanoid fish and illustrate it, perhaps in the form of a graphic novel. Another dream I have is to travel to new places and get inspiration from them. I'm currently contemplating Thailand or Mongolia. Is there an artist or character from the past or present that you would like to meet in person? I think I would have liked to meet Utagawa Kuniyoshi to better understand the dynamics behind his imaginative works. As for the present, I would like to meet Watanabe Naomi (a Japanese model/comedian) and collaborate! Then of course I would like to meet all my favorite artists.

Can you tell us what you are working on these days? Lately I've been finalizing my lesson for Domestika, which I hope will be released between June and July. I just finished filming a few days ago. An incredible experience! Plus I'm working on a couple of projects for fashion brands. You have previously defined the dreamlike atmospheres of your drawings as a world “where no one is ever fully human, and no one is ever fully understood”. How did the idea of ​​involving the people of the sea come about? I began to develop this poetics while I was in Japan, even if unconsciously. Japan is an archipelago and has a vast culture based on the sea and the creatures that inhabit it. There I started drawing lots of fish, which then became characters and somewhat grotesque depictions of people I met on the street. During my Masters in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art, I began to investigate why I was drawing non-human beings. I thus came to the conclusion that not being able to express myself well in Japan created a communication barrier between me and those around me, transforming everyone into fantastic creatures. Not understanding what others were telling me, or simply not understanding the emotions and intentions of those around me (and still surround me in any city in the world) gave rise to my poetics. I too am non-human for you who are reading me!

You are Russian-Milan, you have lived in Japan and South Korea, now in London... Do you also feel a bit alien? Yes, but it's a pleasant feeling. I like to come into contact with different cultures and try to understand them. Perhaps the fact that I grew up in an extremely multi-ethnic environment gave me an extra push. Lately your sea creatures are in good company with their land cousins. Is the audience of incommunicability widening or can we hope for a common Esperanto? I'm trying to broaden my themes more, but sea creatures are still my favorite at the moment! Lately I have also been interested in frogs and amphibians. I still don't know exactly why, but in Korea I feel that people are more amphibian than fish, so I think the appearance of other creatures is due to the fact that I have been traveling a lot in South Korea lately. As for England at the moment I don't I have yet to have any artistic stimulation… perhaps because I see England more as a place to work, rather than one to be inspired. I don't think I'll stay in England much longer.

You have condensed your work from the last two years, including your Royal College degree thesis, into the book “Behind the fish head” : is this a way to put an end to your career and your life and start a new path? I think it was a way to define who I am as an artist. I wanted to collect all my works and share them with my audience. Posting an image online doesn't have the same visual impact as seeing it printed in a book. Furthermore, the digital image tends to vanish over time, submerged by new 'posts'. I wanted all my work, my experience, the stories behind my illustrations, to re-emerge from the depths of digital and to be kept inside a book. This is why my art-book is titled 'Behind the Fish Head' . You also published your 2018 Japanese diary, do you want to tell us about it? Certain! 'Watashi to Karera – Me and Them' is a diary that I started writing as soon as I moved to Yokohama, Japan in 2018. At the time, I moved to Japan to study the language at Yokohama Design College. This school also gave the opportunity to participate in extra lessons such as drawing. I was already quite advanced, so my teacher just told me to draw whatever I wanted. So during those six hours a week I focused only on writing my Japanese diary. With this project I even won a prize at school! Unfortunately the diary does not cover my entire stay in Japan, but it certainly talks about the most exciting moments which are the first months of my Japanese life, my first friendships, my home, the supermarket... The last pages of the diary are very personal, and drawn in the form of a comic. I didn't really plan to print 'Watashi to Karera' , but since I already had more than 60 pages ready I decided to do so, together with my art-book. The final result was very pleasant, and I also had a lot of positive feedback!

Cover for The Milaneser project

Cover for Nature magazine

Read the full article

[paonepita]

Elena Bansh

[wevortex]

By Elena Bansh

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Art by Elena Bansh

August’s Theme: #WrestlingBattleRoyale

Presented by CDQ Magazine

Discover the artists of the Character Design Challenge community and the current Theme of the Month in our Facebook Group! And when you repost your design on our Patreon page, you can also win awesome prizes every month and choose the future themes!

RULES | WINNERS | MAGAZINE | BOOKS

[lowcountry-gothic]

The Dolphin, by Elena Bansh.

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Nature, by Elena Bansh.

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Octopus on the Beach, by Elena Bansh.

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The Tokyoiter, by Elena Bansh.

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Harley Quinn #37

Harley Quinn #37 preview. It's a panoply of clown girl artist extraordinaires as they go across the clowniverse! #comics #comicbooks #harleyquinn

[why-i-love-comics]

Harley Quinn #37 - "The Brother Eyes Present: Surrender Harley!" (2024)

written by Tini Howard art by Logan Faerber, Sweeney Boo, Kelley Jones, Elena G. Bansh, Stefano Raffaele, Mindy Lee, Mariguerite Sauvage, & Jose Villarrubia

[why-i-love-comics]

Harley Quinn #37 - "The Brother Eyes Present: Surrender Harley!" (2024)

written by Tini Howard art by Logan Faerber, Sweeney Boo, Kelley Jones, Elena G. Bansh, Stefano Raffaele, Mindy Lee, Mariguerite Sauvage, & Jose Villarrubia

[why-i-love-comics]

Harley Quinn #37 - "The Brother Eyes Present: Surrender Harley!" (2024)

written by Tini Howard art by Logan Faerber, Sweeney Boo, Kelley Jones, Elena G. Bansh, Stefano Raffaele, Mindy Lee, Mariguerite Sauvage, & Jose Villarrubia