Antoana Oreski is a freelance illustrator from Istra, the Croatian peninsula. In her artist introduction for Elena Essex, she describes nature and childhood memories as important sources of inspiration.
Her recollections of bedtime stories, seasonal scenes and childhood camping help explain the attention she gives to atmosphere. She also describes enjoying experiments with texture, line and pattern.
Memories as a starting point
For Antoana, inspiration includes remembered feelings as well as things she has seen. She describes recalling particular scenes and smells when making Christmas-related work, and memories of camping when illustrating summer subjects.
Those details give us a way to approach her work without needing to guess a story behind every object. Her own account points to a connection between the natural setting, the season and the feeling of a scene.
Our Antoana Oreski collection brings together Snowglobe and Rainforest Runway, two different settings to explore through her illustration.
Taking a closer look at Snowglobe
In Snowglobe, a winter scene sits inside the curved outline of a snow globe. A red cabin, trees and woodland animals give the snowy setting distinct details to find and build.
The curved outline gives you one visual structure to follow. Within it, the cabin, tree shapes and animal markings offer smaller areas to recognise. As they connect, the illustration’s winter setting becomes clearer.
The interest is in both scales: the complete scene on the box and the small printed details you handle while assembling it.
A contrasting scene in Rainforest Runway
Antoana’s Rainforest Runway offers a different natural setting. Looking at it alongside Snowglobe shows how a change of subject can create a different experience at the puzzle table.
Compare the shapes, colour changes and separate details you could use as starting points. Even with the same piece count, the arrangement of the artwork changes how you might approach the puzzle.
Following the details at your own pace
Antoana’s interest in texture, line and pattern is a useful invitation to look closely. You can pause over a small section before its place in the wider design becomes clear.
You don’t need to turn that attention into a race to finish. Choose the setting you enjoy most, find a detail that gives you somewhere to start, and let the rest of the illustration come together around it.
