Minni Havas
Sometimes admiration of a parent’s artistic mastery can be a valid driver for a magnificent career for the child itself. This is the case of , freelance illustrator from Helsinki that, after spending her childhood contemplating her own father’s manual abilities, graduated from the University of Art and Design Helsinki and then made her first steps in the world of visual design. She’s young but her peculiar talent is already breathtaking.
Her drawings are mainly iconic fashion illustrations, composed through analytical processes of study of every single detail, which result in extreme realism of subjects portrayed (in most cases charming solitary women), in sharp contrast with their look and the environment surrounding them. As a matter of fact, despite their hyper realistic appearance, which reaches the apex in the detailed mouths (Havas’ favourite part of the body), usually characters are portrayed in such not conventional positions that they seem to be perfect protagonists of a modern cosmopolitan cartoon story, another big source of inspiration for this young artist, who has always loved Roger Leloup’s Yoko Tsuno. Any observer could perceive this constant amalgam between realism and imagination, between dream and reality.
Maniacal cure of detail goes hand in hand with a openly declared love for fashion: every character’s outfit is never chosen by chance, and a careful reproduction of current metropolitan fashion trends can be traced in every drawing.
From a technical point of view, each composition is the result of quite a complex work: after drawing by the window, the best way to exploit the power of natural light, using water solvent colours pencils, a rubber and a set of small brushes, Havas turns to modern technology to complete her work. A scanner and later Photoshop are the final steps for completing her perfect drawings, even if this artist is reluctant when it comes to make a massive recourse to automatisms, since her open intention is to generate in the observer that childish feeling of enchantment, of surprise that someone was so able to compose such a perfect piece of art.
If manual abilities are the main priority of this young talent, her dream is to explore the world of photography and of fashion editorials, and the fashion sphere itself: she is starting up a clothing collection, the best way to contaminate with her manual powers other dimensions that, so far, she has just explored through her infinite imagination.
