Vitalia Gerenska

BA (Hons) Illustration and Graphics

Get in touch with Vitalia
For my final major project, I created a magazine publication about sex trafficking, aiming to awareness on an issue that is frequently overlooked, despite its severity. Through its experimental visually oriented design, the work aims to reach young, socially engaged people.

Hello, my name is Vitalia Gerenska. I am a digital illustrator and graphic designer, specialising in poster design, publication design, layout, and typography.
My goal as a visual artist is to ensure my work is well-rounded and diverse, balancing between provoking and functional, which is why I frequently combine a variety of softwares and media, including 3D modelling and texture generation, digital and analogue painting, photography, and more. The binding element throughout my portfolio is my signature post-processing style which features multi-color gradients, liquefied distortion, and blurs, giving the imagery a contemporary abstract feel.
If you are interested to see more of my work in detail, as well as some new exciting projects I am currently working on, including augmented reality and motion graphics posters, feel free to check out my online portfolio.

A start page spread for the first section of the magazine, which analyzes the victims of sex trafficking and the factors that can lead to vulnerability of certain demographics. The digitally painted collage of faces represents the similar, yet different stories every victim of trafficking has, while the liquified distortions and the arsenic green details are another reference to the horror of these real-life stories.
This page spread covers the severe and often physical and emotional damage caused by abuse, which is visually represented by a composition of soap bubbles and a procedurally generated corrosion texture.
These pages discuss external global factors such as cultural beliefs, insufficient government protection, poverty, and lack of opportunities, and how they are the main reason for the existence and thriving of slavery in certain regions.
It is no secret that Eastern Europe is a hot spot for illegal sex work and human trafficking. This is why the inspiration for the first poster in the publication comes from matryoshka dolls, which for me as a Slavic woman are the embodiment of beauty, but also delicacy and fragility.
For this diagram, I've gathered a variety of useful sources and contacts of institutions and organisations that provide help. It is designed to be detachable from the magazine and suitable to be put on display in places like schools, social service centres, rescue houses, etc.
The contents page, listing all the sections and topics covered in this issue of the magazine
The introduction page of the issue summarises the topic of trafficking and invites the reader to learn more in order to help to prevent it. The female bodies trapped in a barcode symbolise the trade with lives, while the arrangement of the text further emphasises the dynamic in the illustration.
In these pages, I am using a vector shape composition to explain how vulnerability can be turned into a tool for victimisation by the abuser.
These pages are about child victims of trafficking, so I wanted to create something that is reminiscent of a child's perception of the world, which is by nature hopeful and innocent. The cheerfulness of the illustration, however, is subdued by a cool-toned color palette, which symbolises the loneliness and lack of real childhood the victims face.
These pages shed light on one of the most common ways traffickers lure young girls- through fake promises and romance. The illustrations deliberately reference the early 2000s cheesy graffiti aesthetic, as this is precisely when talking to strangers on the Internet was introduced as a new form of communication.
These pages talk about the danger of job scams and how we can recognise them.
The original flatplan of the magazine
An example of my digital painting workflow, usually followed by multi-step post-processing
The artwork I made for the cover of the magazine is a reference to Henri Matisse's Blue Nudes cutouts. I played around with the 3D chrome technique, but in the final version, I am using a vector illustration that allowed me to depict a clean and dynamic silhouette.
A brochure I created as part of a promotional campaign for a university project about happiness. The campaign's purpose was to advertise a contemporary ballet festival and empower future professional dancers.
The design of the brochure and the campaign as a whole is about the symbiosis between classicism and modernism, which is the foundation of contemporary ballet.
A vinyl cover I created for EDEN's No future album
A collection of posters, incorporating 3D modelling and digital painting. The inspiration behind this project is the idea of natural and artificial, and their constant interlacement.
A collection of primary shapes compositions using negative space
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Vitalia Gerenska

BA (Hons) Illustration and Graphics

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https://gerenskv71ff.myportfolio.com/

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