It’s another year and Russian artist Anton Gudim is back on Hiptoro. Today, we have shared a few of his works from the “YES, BUT” series.
Anton Gudim is mostly known for the quirky short paneled comics he shares on Instagram, which now has more than 1 million followers. His newest project “YES, BUT” is similar in the topics, but is different in style, because here, unlike in his other works, Anton posts only two-panel comics.
Scroll down to see his work.
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Anton Gudim has been drawing for as long as he can remember. However, his profession has nothing or little to do with art. The artist graduated from a technical university since he had a talent when it came to mathematics and began working as an engineer. Throughout his career, Anton changed a few jobs, but he felt that something was missing. It was then that he realized that he would like to return to drawing, but “with a more formed worldview.”
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Anton’s ideas come from observing everyday life. As the artist mentioned in previous interviews, over the years he has trained himself to notice something and to be in a constant search for ideas. Since he has formed an absurd surrealistic style, Anton looks at the world through the prism of it. “This is the way to fight the boredom: to see something new in the regular surroundings.”
“I am not doing anything on purpose. I am not out for a ‘safari’ with a camera on people to see them in their habitat. I just live my life: and my life is both everyday affairs and social networks. As soon as I started the ‘YES, BUT’ project, I began to notice examples of this format literally everywhere. So I just live and take notes.”
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The idea of creating “YES, BUT” comics came to Anton in 2016. This format was inspired by reflections on how people get along with a lot of contradictions in their lives. The artist found the actions of some people very contradictory: hence this “BUT” appeared. “In fact, this format is the destruction of expectations, that is, a fairly standard humorous technique, but the signature ‘yes, but’ brings all disparate situations under one ‘template,’ showing how comprehensive it can be.”
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We got curious whether Anton feels the need to return to his works after some time in order to improve them. The artist shared that he tries not to devote too much time to each work (we are talking about several days of revisions) because after finishing one work, his mind is freed up for a new idea – and this is the main engine of his creative process.
“Sometimes I return to my works 3-4 years ago and slightly correct them. My drawing skills are getting better, but for some time some ideas remain relevant, so I want to refine some ideas in terms of presentation, to show that I can do better. However, some figures do not require revision after years.”
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After being asked whether the artist realizes ideas suggested by other people as well, he replied that he has no strict rules. “I take notes regularly and can get an idea for a future drawing from there. Some ideas are offered to me by close people or followers on Instagram. If the idea seems good to me, then I will gladly try to translate it into a drawing.”
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