Aleksei sends us back in time to seek and discover lost civilisations in his exciting new non-fiction project.
We have been absolutely fascinated by Aleksei Bitskoff’s illustration work for Ancient Kingdoms and Lost Empires, a brilliant interactive, educational series for young readers. This new project perfectly showcases the work of Aleksei and his exceptional talent for creating highly detailed, enthralling and absorbing work. Initially exploring the Americas and Africa these books have echoes of Where’s Wally, featuring incredibly intricate spreads with infinite details to spot, puzzles to solve and ancient civilisations to explore and learn about.
From clothing, weaponry, transport, food, daily life, animals and homesteads these books faithfully re-create factually correct scenes from days gone by in a comical ‘seek-and-discover’ format.
Aleksei has been a compulsive doodler for as long as he can remember, fascinated by the world around him, his travels constantly influence his work. Now based in the UK but he grew up in Estonia and spent a considerable period of time in Nepal where he became immersed in the Buddhist culture. Alongside his constant companion his sketch book Aleksei also works digitally on his Wacom Cintiq and has worked for many clients including Aardman Animations, HarperCollins and Penguin Random House.
Here are a couple sneak peeks at this mind-boggling project which Aleksei has lovingly researched and continues to develop.
These books are currently looking for a publishing house, with a huge amount of potential in terms of series expansion. We can’t wait for them to find the perfect home, so please do get in touch to find out more.
You can find Aleksei on Instagram, or you can view his online portfolio. See more of Ancient Kingdoms and Lost Empires HERE.
If you are interested in collaborating with Aleksei or any of our Arena Illustrators, please email info@arenaillustration.com
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