Meet the Phaidon Kids illustrator - Veronika Kotyk

When she was a little girl in Ukraine our Spooky Celebrations illustrator would put her finger on a map and imagine the adventures she’d have getting from her side of the world to another.

Ukrainian illustrator and designer Veronika Kotyk's first taste of spooky celebrations came when she settled in Vancouver, Canada.

"It was the first time I saw all these kids on the streets, and saw how excited they were about Halloween," the illustrator of Phaidon's Spooky Celebrations Around the World tells us.

Born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, Veronika displayed a keen interest in art from an early age, often drawing animals and scenes inspired by a world outside her homeland.

Her passion eventually led her to pursue formal education at the Publishing and Printing Institute of the National Technical University of Ukraine (NTUU KPI), where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2011.

To this day Veronika's artistic style is deeply influenced by her love for nature and exotic fauna. She draws inspiration from naïve folk art and the natural world, evident in her optimistic, keenly imagined illustrations.

Her work often features bold colours and sharp forms, reflecting her admiration for mid-century modern architecture, constructivist, and art nouveau movements. Her portfolio encompasses children's books, animated series, greetings cards, fabric designs, and even exclusive carpets.

Throughout her career, she's collaborated with a diverse array of clients, including Oxford University Press, UNHCR Canada, Georges Magazine, Zv'yazani rugs, and Hallmark Cards.

Notably, she illustrated A Nest in the North, a children's book sponsored by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), with all proceeds from the book supporting refugees and displaced individuals.

For her Phaidon book Spooky Celebrations Around the World, written by Matt Ralphs, and exploring global cultural traditions honouring spirits, Kotyk illustrated festivals including: Awuru Odo (Nigeria); Basler Fasnacht (Basel, Switzerland); Chuseok (South Korea); Correfoc (Barcelona, Catalonia); Día de Muertos (Mexico); Fastelavn (Scandinavia, Iceland, Estonia and the Faroe Isles); Halloween (North America and Europe); Khamis al-Amwat (the Levant); La Festa di Ognissanti (Italy); Mari Lwyd (Wales); Zhongyuan (China)and many more.

To celebrate 20 years of Phaidon Kids, we’re talking to a number of the illustrators and authors behind our brilliant children’s books. Once you've read our interview with Veronika, take a look in the Phaidon Kids store and check out more of her work at Kotyk.art.

Can you draw us a self portrait? Yes. How about this one?

What were the books you loved as a kid? I did not really like fairy tales! My book choices were quite limited, but I particularly remember non-fiction books with tons of highly detailed maps with annotations to what was going on in every part of the world.

I really enjoyed putting my finger on one part of the map and imagining what my route would be if I wanted to get from one side of the world to the other, the adventures I would have and who I would meet on my journey. That was my thing as a kid. I guess I would have been [between] age eight and ten.

How did Spooky Celebrations Around the World take shape? We started with the Halloween spread. It was super exciting for me because I hadn't really celebrated Halloween before. When we came to Vancouver, it was the first time I saw all these kids on the streets and saw how excited they were about Halloween.

And I thought, that's so smart. It’s the gloomiest time of the year – super moody, super grey – and they created something to cheer this mood up. This just wasn't part of my culture, and it was interesting to discover what it was about, what kind of treats kids expect – everything, basically. Everything was new.

So, when I read the manuscript for the book, I was hooked. I didn't even know that it had started from a religious thing and then just turned into something different.

What were the celebrations you particularly enjoyed illustrating? Oh my god, everything! I love the Mexican one, Day of the Dead. But really everything, because each celebration is very different in terms of costumes and celebration culture. It's so interesting.

If something was unclear or unusual, I investigated further. I gathered references as much as possible, especially when it came to sculptures and fine details. You need to see a lot of the things in three dimensions to really understand what is going on.

Your illustrations have folkloric aspects, but feel modern and fresh. Is that part of your style? Yes. That's what I like, and I think kids like that, too. I use bold colours and understandable shapes. I try to simplify everything for them so they can clearly see what is going on within each spread. That's what I love in children's books, spending time trying to figure out what is going on, but at the same time making sure everything is clear.

What were the hardest ones to get right? Awuro Odo (celebrated in Nigeria) and Fête des Masques (celebrated in Mali). I had to watch YouTube videos several times to understand who was doing what, and what kind of equipment they were using. There were so many variations of masks, which gave different meanings to each character. It’s not just an elephant or a tiger, it's really a symbol of something.

What did you draw as a kid? Everything. I enjoyed animals and people and safari scenes. I mostly enjoyed drawing things I saw on TV but had never experienced in my life, foreign worlds, and things like that. I was particularly bad with cars. I'm still bad with cars.

Was there a moment you remember from your childhood when somebody said, “That drawing is really good”? My parents used to say that, but you know, they’re parents, so it's their job to say that! So, I didn’t pay a lot of attention. But one time I was in art class and the teacher told me, “Wow, I really love this.” So I thought, if the teacher said that, and she has some experience, maybe it means something.

Did you go to art college? I studied in art school first. At the age when kids go to regular school, I went to art school. So, as well as maths, and other studies, we had composition and colour lessons. And then I went to a print and publishing institute in Kiev and continued my education.

Learning means a lot to me. Right now, I'm taking some courses just to learn something new. The last thing I learned was 3D and it helps a lot when I need to model something, to get more precise in composition in terms of perspective. Our world is changing so fast. When you learn some new skill, even small, you implement that skill. And even if you don't implement it, it gives your brain new material to think about.

What did you learn at college that you still draw upon today? I studied layout, design, composition, and illustration. But illustration was the most interesting for me because it involved and still involves a lot of emotional stuff, and hard thinking instead of brain thinking. So, I would say that.

What do books do that digital media doesn’t? The most important thing I think is that they give you a feeling of calm. A book gives your brain time to create images, to create stories. For me, a book gives you a practice of focusing, and that's very important.

What sparks your creativity and how do you get it on the page? It comes in waves. Sometimes I just read some passage and think, wow! Some images then pop up in my head. Sometimes I need to gather references and to dive deeper into the analytical side, to get to know the subject to create around it.

It’s like love. I need to fall in love with something to create, to build a connection. That's my process. Then I start with sketches and then maybe I can maybe sometimes create some funny twist. Sometimes it's a game of words and I can convert them into a fun image. I love that.

What are the things that kids notice that adults don't and how do you work with that? I noticed a curious thing. Even if I put some meaning in my illustration, they always continue with their own dialogue. They create their own stories based on what they see in the picture, and it's so interesting to see. You put a mouse or a cat in there and they figure out a whole story behind it. I also put things in so that when the child is older, and they look again at the book they see something they didn’t see when they were younger.

Who are the artists who have worked their way into your work? So many! I love the mid-century modernists because they were so creative and innovative.

I really think we should be very innovative. For me, illustration is not a photo. It's not just to reproduce something we see daily. It's to convert life into something interesting and exciting and to show a different side. The mid-century modernists really worked with form and shape and twisted those things to reveal something new.

Have you added any of the festivals in the book to your own travel list? Yes! I'm creating a bucket list based on the book. I’m working on Winter Celebrations right now and I'm thinking, wow, some of these celebrations are quite close to me and I definitely need to visit them, particularly the one in Montreal, and maybe in Alaska. I'm glad that by illustrating these books, I'm virtually travelling.

Buy Spooky Celebrations Around the World in the store.