Alcantara miradouro in Lisbon urban sketch by Tatiana Vovchek Print

I am Tatiana Vovchek, an artist, designer, and commercial illustrator from Odessa, Ukraine who currently resides in Lisbon, Portugal. I have worked as a commercial illustrator for clients worldwide since the 2016 year. During this time I illustrated more than 30 children's books and was an author and illustrator of 2 children's books, I have worked with small and big brands among which was 4 Seasons Hotel Montreal. Before focusing on my artist/illustrator career for 10 years I had been working as a web & graphic designer in IT companies in Odessa, Ukraine where I gradually reached the position of an Art Director. Later in 2015, I gained a job as a web designer in an IT company in Paris, France. In parallel with my full-time work I started taking online & offline painting classes and searching for my artistic voice. In 2016 year I switched from design to illustration and returned to Ukraine. I always create illustrations outside in the fresh air. I do not like drawing in the studio as for this I have commercial illustration projects. Watercolor sketching is my way to distract from digital work and observe the beautiful scene for at least an hour. We are always in a rush while traveling. Usually, we take a photo of the beautiful scenery and hurry up next. But watercolor illustration captures so much more! With each painting, I remember the story behind it, the mood with which I was creating it, the weather, the sounds of the city, and the noise of the people around. Life in Paris inspired me a lot! I made my first watercolor illustrations of top sightseeing places in Paris - the Eiffel tower, Charles de Gaule square, streets of Montmartre and it was a huge success on my Instagram back in the 2015 year and since then I have actively drawn on each journey I have. Travelling is my big passion. You can see many of my works and places I visited on my Instagram: www.instagram.com/tati.urban.sketcher. I have been an active member of the art community in Odessa called “Urban sketchers Odessa” for the last 5 years. I participated in 6 group exhibitions with fellow artists. Also, I am still a curator of Instagram of the community @urbansketchersodessa for almost a year. Because of the full-scale war in Ukraine, I decided to immigrate. I visited Portugal in past and loved this country and because of this, my choice was to relocate here. I feel like Lisbon and my native city Odessa have similar vibes.