Lida Varvarousi: Illustrator – Greece

I want the children to get in contact with their talents and their feelings. I want them to laugh, to search, to have interests, to feel, to love!

L. Varvarousi

illustrator and author Lida Varvarousi was born in Athens in 1961. She was introduced to art, and particularly painting, early on by her mother, who, a painter herself, brought her along to her atelier, as well as to museums and art galleries. She was thus from a very young age acquainted with painters such as Degas, Matisse and Schiele. Drawing and sketching became one of her favorite occupations, taking inspiration from the view of Acropolis from their Athens flat and trying to capture motion and light. She graduated from the Vakalo College of Art and Design in Athens and proceeded to work as an illustrator for an animated film company and, later on, in advertising as an art and creative director. From there, she entered the world of children’s literature and has since 1993 written fifteen books and illustrated around two hundred books.

Varvarousi has expressed how important children’s books can be for young children and has actively worked to promote reading. In 2006, she was commissioned by the National Pedagogic Institute to illustrate schoolbooks and teaching material for the first, second, and third grade in Greece’s primary school. She also collaborated with the Representation of the European Commission in Greece in 2009 to create the book A Group of Friends with Heart to promote values such as peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and solidarity for the achievement of common goals by depicting the story of a young boy travelling through Europe. Furthermore, in 2010, she created the mascot “Hope” for the Children’s Hospital of Oncology in Athens. Varvarousi collaborated yet again, in 2013, with the European Commission to illustrate the book The Stars of Europe.

Her work as an illustrator for children’s books is characterized by vividness; she uses a great variation of bright colors, often to create contrast, but she also makes frequent use of the pair black-white to create the effect of light versus darkness. Her images are created with an audience of young children in mind, mostly depicting animals. Her illustrations are characterized by the use of bold curves, sharp corners and hints of movement, and there is often a surreal quality to them. Since 2001, Varvarousi has run an educational program called “Ζωγραφηγήσεις,” or “Paintelling,” in which she uses theatrical methods to narrate or sing a story while simultaneously drawing it. The process is interactive, so the children in the audience can interrupt the story and insert their own ideas and thoughts. This project is another attempt to promote reading amongst children, and she has in this effort collaborated with schools, kindergartens, libraries, and municipalities.