Figures in Bloom: The Illustrations of Tania Yakunova

There’s a specific kind of longing that resists language. Tania Yakunova has spent years learning to draw it instead.

The Kyiv-born, London-based illustrator works in graphite, digital, and paint, building compositions where human figures dissolve into plant life: bare feet lost in dandelion fields, bodies shaped like greenhouses with flowers straining at the glass.

Illustration of a large orange face blowing a bubble with a small figure inside, set against a pink background.

A stylized illustration of a human figure with a transparent frame, filled with vibrant flowers and plants against a dark background, symbolizing growth and nature.

The botanical entanglement isn’t decorative. It’s biographical. Yakunova relocated from Ukraine to London in 2023, and the work made since carries the weight of that distance.

Landscapes remembered. Growth contained. Nature as the thing that outlasts borders.

A stylized illustration of a nude figure seated among vibrant foliage and flowers, featuring tropical elements and a bird perched nearby, all set against a blue background.

Her mark-making is grainy and gestural, shapes that read as bold from across a room and intimate up close. Vibrant palettes ground the emotion without softening it. The figures are expressive but unresolved, caught somewhere mid-becoming.

She also works in ceramic sculpture, which feels right. There’s something in the hand-building that connects back to the illustrations, a similar attention to surface and form.

Follow her work and upcoming print releases on Instagram or through her website.