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Artist Profile: Nearchos Konstantinou


We are back with another returning artist, the multi-talented illustrator and animator Nearchos Konstantinou!

Nearchos graduated with a Master of Arts in Communication Arts (with Distinction) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Graphics (Cum Laude) from the New York Institute of Technology. He is the owner of Framerender Studio and The Froo Mug & Co.. He is also the creator and co-founder of the Current Comic Book Anthology series.

He is a multi-disciplinary creative artist, with the hybrid skill-set of an animator, a motion designer and an illustrator. He has worked for nine years as a Senior Motion Designer at Lumiere TV, a Cyprus premium cable television network and for two years as a 3D/Graphic Designer at Rolandos Enterprises Ltd. Meanwhile, Nearchos has been working as a freelancer and taught a series of seminars and short courses in the areas of Motion Graphics, Animation and Illustration. He has participated in several Art, Motion and Comic Book festivals in Cyprus and Greece. He is currently working as a Special Scientist in the Department of Arts at The School of Arts and Education Sciences of European University Cyprus.

 

Artist Profile: Anastasia Kozlova


The Cyprus Comic Con Artists’ Alley welcomes back illustrator Anastasia Kozlova!

Born in Latvia and raised on the shore of the non-freezing port of the Baltic Sea, Anastasia moved to Cyprus with her family approximately 6 or 7 years ago. As a child, around the age of eight years old, she attended private classes taught by a local artist. That did not last long – the artists’ dog was not quite as fond of an enthusiastic young girl as you would expect it to be. Therefore art became a hobby and English along with normal school subjects became priority. Fortunately, if art lives within you, it never leaves.

There were doodles in class notebooks, copy sketches from local shop supplies of W.I.T.C.H. magazines and finally, a music channel that showed “Chobits” and “Chrono Crusade” in the evening. Later came Internet and the wonders of Studio Ghibli along with more doodles in class notebooks. Anastasia can remember well, that no one could really figure out whether to shout at her, because her grades remained good, while half of her notebooks looked like manga! Somehow, it never became a job, though. She is completely self-taught in art and is now finishing her diploma in Communications while working in an office. Meanwhile, she established an Instagram profile and YouTube channel. She is currently working on a story with original characters and filming sketchbook reviews in Russian and English and is part-time designing tattoos.

Make sure to visit Anastasia’s profile on Instagram to see more of her work!

Artist Profile: Maria Christina Gantt (Nightwalker)


Cyprus Comic Con welcomes back illustrator Maria Christina Gantt (aka Nightwalker) to our Artists’ Alley!

Born in Cyprus, Maria has been pursuing her dreams in art ever since a young age. Her passion grew even more after being introduced to the world of video games and various animation series. The curiosity of what it takes to make a story come to life through the steps of concept art, character design and illustration, made Maria want to push her skills further in concept art and design. After graduating from high school, Maria studied Applied Multimedia Arts at the University of Nicosia Cyprus, completing also a Minor in Graphic Design and Illustration. After completing her studies, she continued to work as a freelancer multimedia artist and now has over 7 years of experience in the art industry.

You can find more of Maria’s work on Facebook, DeviantArt and Instagram.

Maria’s main goal is to someday work as an official concept artist for well-known animation and film industry companies, but until then, she keeps practicing in order to improve her skills even further. With an energy drink in one hand and a sketchbook and pencil in the other, this artist is always ready for any challenges the art world may bring!

Artist Profile: Hermioni Antarti


Talented illustrator Hermioni Antarti is the latest addition to this year’s Artists’ Alley!

Hermioni is currently still studying at school and is a self taught artist. She says she never really liked the idea of going to art school or having private lessons, but still had an interest in art and therefore started learning from a very young age with the help of her good friend, the internet! At first she got inspired from watching anime and cartoons and this reflected in her art style. Through anime, she learnt a lot about body proportions and proceeded on to creating more realistic drawings after that. What generally inspires her now is video games, cartoons, music, movies or the work of other artists! She likes to work with a great deal of materials, however lately she has been primarily experimenting with digital art.

Make sure to visit Hermione’s Facebook page to see more of her work!

Currently, Hermioni is working on a few projects including drawing Pokemon into human-like forms, her own comic book, various fan art and her own original ideas. In past projects she has also painted on walls in her school and done quite a few logo and poster ideas for some of her friends. She also tried taking animals and turning them into pin up girls, because why not? She doesn’t have any specific goals for the future just yet, other than creating art that inspires people (no matter how cheesy that may sound!). After completing her studies, she wishes to pursue art professionally, but is not sure in which field yet!

We wish Hermione the best of luck with her artistic endeavours and we are confident that she will grow to become a great professional artist one day!

Artist Profile: Elias Neophytou


Meet our next Featured Artist, young upcoming illustrator Elias Neophytou!

Elias is 22 years old and has been an aspiring comic book artist ever since he can remember! He has always been in love with art overall and even more so with the medium of comics. He is currently based in Limassol and is studying Graphic Design and Multimedia at the Technological University of Cyprus.

Elias draws and practices every day. He is primarily a traditional artist and prefers drawing by hand, using pencils as well as pen and ink, but also enjoys water-coloring and painting. Additionally, sometimes he likes to experiment with digital painting and colouring. More recently, he decided to take his work a step further by trying something new and collaborated with a friend on creating their own comic book story. They managed to complete and print the first issue of the comic and are now working on the second issue which will hopefully be ready for Cyprus Comic Con 2017!

To see more of Elias’ work, visit his art page on Facebook!