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WorkIllustration

Marija Tiurina's highly detailed watercolour paintings of charming characters

We've long admired Marija Tiurina, a Russian-Lithuanian illustrator based in London who covers a wide range of creative fields, from children's books, concept and video games art to commercial illustration for web and print.

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Watercolour painting in progress showing a female character surrounded by intricate fantasy imagery, with paintbrushes and a watercolour palette visible in the foreground

But when it comes to side projects, she likes to take on a different approach altogether: "My personal work largely focuses on building complex and detailed watercolor compositions, however I don't feel like being tied to a single field just yet, and continue to explore other directions that involve modelling and sculpting, photography, collage, embroidery, murals and other things that don't really have a clear definition I'd know of."

We certainly enjoyed finding out more about her meaty backgammon set, where she used clay to sculpt meat-themed checkers, which were then painted with acrylics, dried and varnished. Here, we share some of her latest works, mainly watercolour paintings of fantasy-type characters. Discover more at marijatiurina.com.

A pale-skinned figure with white hair surrounded by lush tropical foliage in muted greens and yellows in a detailed watercolour painting
Woman with long dark hair wearing white clothing, surrounded by an intricate, layered composition of colourful fantastical creatures, objects and architectural elements in watercolour
Watercolour painting of multiple overlapping human hands in warm and cool tones, displayed on an artist's desk surrounded by paint palettes, brushes and sketches
Marija Tiurina's oval watercolour painting of a character with dark hair adorned with red roses, displayed in a brass pendant frame in front of stacked vintage books and comic strips
Detailed black ink drawing of densely packed buildings and architectural elements on white paper with three ink markers beside it
Marija Tiurina's watercolour character head studies featuring diverse figures with different hairstyles and expressions, alongside paintbrushes
Detailed sepia-toned watercolour painting of a whimsical fantasy tavern interior crowded with quirky characters, objects and architectural elements
Marija Tiurina's intricate watercolour painting of a stylised face filled with tiny detailed scenes of people, animals and objects in pink, green and brown tones
Painted wooden figurine of a small character holding a directional sign with destinations including Sweden, amongst mossy forest ground
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