Laura Ķeniņš' illustrations of thoughtful narrative

Laura Ķeniņš has a magic delicacy with a coloured pencil. Whether it be the minor details of a coat or a vast forest landscape, she applies the same intricate drawing technique to each element of her pieces. The result is a portfolio of thoughtfully composed illustrations with context.

Working in both comic strips and singular drawings, Laura layers coloured pencils in a way that maximises space and applies a vivid texture. The illustrator’s technique of leaving pencil marks on show creates an appearance of a sweet natured narrative, yet there is depth to the content of her drawings too. Throughout her works Laura deals with a varied group of subjects discussing divorce, anxiety and even aliens. Also a writer and editor, the Canada-based creative writes about “arts, culture and other subjects,” for both Canadian and Latvian publications.

A new comic by Laura, Steam Clean published by Retrofit Comics is available via Kickstarter and will be released at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival this month.