Illustrator Junona Balash (57 works)

Juno Balazs

Clients: British American Tobacco, MTS, Esquire, Snob, Afisha

I was drawing nuts and bolts at the Polytechnic and poring over descriptive geometry that was completely incomprehensible to me, when I realized that this was not my thing at all. I had a dream since childhood - to become a fashion designer. And, in fact, it all began with this dream. At first I left the institute, for which I was ashamed in front of my parents. Then, at twenty years old, I entered the first grade of art school. It was quite strange to go to classes with kids and at the same time see that they draw much better than me.

I pasted the resulting pictures onto the pages of large notebooks or onto sheets of thick gray paper and put them in folders. This was the first homemade portfolio that weighed about two kilograms. I thought that the more I showed, the better. There were sketches of dresses that were not fully developed, copies of works by Soifertis, Beardsley and Fechin, drawings of cans and poor, dirty-colored paintings from art school. In a word, quiet horror.

It was quite strange to go to classes with kids and at the same time see that they draw much better than me

When I then showed my portfolio to different academies, in one they could look at it for a long time and tediously, sometimes not reaching the best works, in another they began to yawn on the fifth page, and in the third they flipped through twenty pages in one fell swoop. And, as usual, we came across an unfinished sketch or not my best work. Every year there were fewer drawings, and instead of five folders there was only one left. The copies and cans disappeared, only the most beloved illustrations remained. However, another attempt to finally become a student was unsuccessful.

In general, you just need to accept the fact that art is a very subjective space. Not everyone may like your drawing style, line width, or you may simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The most important thing, when you give up, is to find the strength to move on. By the way, with this folder of clothing sketches, exactly seven years later I was accepted into Central Saint Martins for MA Fashion.