Black Coffee II: The Complete Series

Inquisition II has concluded the Black Coffee II series, but I still have left a whole bunch of "coffee sketches," as I call them, so I'm planning to begin the third installment of the series next year. Meanwhile, I'd like to showcase some of the best (in my opinion) works from now completed series. But before that, a brief history of my "coffee artwork" -- and what on earth has coffee got to do with it, in the first place.

The answer to that question is simple: all the drawings from Black Coffee series are based on the actual images seen in dried coffee grounds, inside the actual coffee cups drunk by the actual people. I did these coffee drawings on a regular basis since 1993 through 1996, using only black ball-point pen. Most of them were drawn on the pages of a math copybook, properly titled and numbered, but later I started to make just quick drafts on random pieces of paper. Presently the copybook drawings are gathered into the series called Black Coffee With No Sugar, while the quick coffee sketches are collected as Coffee Drafts. On the left you can see my very first coffee drawing, called Golgotha.


The first colored version of a coffee drawing appeared in 1995. It was Mate to the Queen, loosely based on 1993's Regal Execution, seen on the right. It's probably the only case when I have changed the original composition so dramatically -- all the later color remakes follow their black-and-white predecessors as close as possible in that regard.

Mate to the Queen (1995)

The Black Coffee series, based on my earlier black-and-white coffee drawings, was among my first surreal portfolios, along with Body Language and Paranoia. It contains 15 pieces in total, dated from 1995 to 2000. In 2002 I started a new series called Black Coffee II, which has been completed only a few days ago. It also consists of 15 pieces and has some remade titles from the previous series. Here are a few selected works from the now complete series, as promised in the beginning. You might have seen some of them already in my previous blog posts.

Mate to the Queen II (2002)

Mermaid's Dream (2003)

Bride & Widow (2004)

The Original Sin (2004)

Shadows of the Memories (2006)

The Blue Cloud (2007)

The Moonstone (2009)

Nude Beach Dreaming II (2009)

You can see the rest of the works from this series at my website, or my deviantART gallery.

Inquisition II

This is another remake of my earlier artwork, only this time the gap in time is significantly smaller than it was with previous "coffee remakes" -- the original Inqusition, seen on the right, was made in 2004 and is from the same Black Coffee II series, as its new version.

The concept behind the artwork is quite simple: a woman, presumably accused of witchcraft, is about to be burned. There's nothing much to say here, except that the representation is utterly stylized and theatrical -- the lash-marks are the only "real" details here.

The original version followed the image seen in the coffee grounds as exactly as possible, hence the anatomical irregularities. In contrast, the remake features a live model, which brings more sense of realism, although the setting still stays the same (the only difference is the stump which replaced the table-like pedestal). The torn white dress, exposing the woman's semi-naked back, was changed to something more resembling a peeled-off human skin.

Like all my recent works, Inquisition II also features Diana as the model, but this time I had to change the natural color of her hair to red, as required by the new twist in the concept, according to which the hair seamlessly transforms into the flame. But you can still fully enjoy the view of her gorgeous amber hair in the model study made just before the remake.

Nude Beach Dreaming II

As you could have guessed, Nude Beach Dreaming II is another remake of my older artwork. Like Maria Magdalena II, it's also from Black Coffee II series, and it also features Diana as the model (doing the double job actually, because she poses for two figures in this one). On the right you can see the original version, made in 2000. It's the last drawing from the first Black Coffee series (1995-2000). Conceptually, it represents the inner conflict between the desire of sexual freedom and the constraint developed during the years of moralistic upbringing.

In the remake I tried my best to leave the composition and the basic elements intact, because all my "coffee drawings" are based on the actual images seen in coffee grounds and I consider it important to retain the original feel and atmosphere in their remakes. But drawing from life brings its inevitable corrections, so I had to follow the rules of anatomy and make certain modifications.

Combining the realistic and semi-realistic visual elements has always been one of the trademarks of Black Coffee series. With Diana's appearance as the model the contrast between these elements became even more pronounced. From purely artistic point of view it might be considered as a threat to the visual and stylistic integrity, but I'm willing to take that risk just to see how Diana's body fits into the various, often harsh and difficult surreal environments -- and from what I've seen so far, it does just perfectly...

Maria Magdalena II

This is another "Dianization" of my older artwork, this time from Black Coffee series. You can see the original version on the right. It's been done in 2000, but the concept draft has existed since 1996. It was my take on Mary Magdalene, one of the most important women in Christianity. According to Eastern Orthodox belief, she had been a virtuous woman all the way from the beginning, so chaste that the devil thought she might be chosen to bear Christ into the world, so he sent seven demons to sway her from the righteous path.

Interestingly, I wasn't aware of such interpretation back when I did the drawing (inexcusable for an Orthodox Christian, I know), and the connection with it came out completely unintended. But that's the way these "coffee drawings" work -- everything about them is spontaneous and happens on subconscious level, because they are all drawn from the actual coffee grounds, which are supposed to be completely random.

You might ask, what the dog has to do with it. Maybe that's the question for the person who actually drank that cup of coffee, but since I can't really remember who it was, I guess I'll have to answer that myself. Well, in my art (and in life, generally) a dog is a symbol of loyalty and faithfulness, and the chain here should not be considered as means of restraining Magdalena's freedom, but rather a way to keep her feet "on the ground" -- something everybody needs when standing on the edge of a crumbling rock.

So here it is -- the brand new version of Maria Magdalena, featuring Diana as the model. I must say, it takes some courage to pose for such a tough theme, with its controversial and somewhat disturbing imagery. But for me there are no forbidden themes in art, and I'm happy that Diana shares my stance on it. Maria Magdalena II is the first artwork to feature her full frontal nudity, and she managed with grace, beauty and the complete understanding of the subject, for which I'm very grateful.

The Moonstone

The Moonstone is the first title from the upcoming Black Coffee With Some Sugar series. Like all the other "coffee" titles, it's based on a sketch drawn from the actual coffee grounds, but it's been modified more heavily than I usually do -- mainly because it features a live model, which is quite rare for the Black Coffee series.

I intended to use a live model originally, which is clearly noted in the draft: "Draw Tanya from life," indicates the Russian inscription. Tanya is the name of my ex-wife, which means the draft has been made somewhere between 1997-1999, when I was married. Naturally, drawing my happily re-married ex-wife from life, all the more topless, as required by the draft, was not an option anymore. But luckily, I had no need for such drastic measures -- earlier this year, in a traditional photo-session with Diana, among other things, we made some photos especially for this project, and I had everything I needed to begin the work.

As you can see, there are significant differences between the original draft and the final layout of The Moonstone. Originally, the torso was meant to be turned rather forcibly, breaking the laws of anatomy, to bring a sense of tension. In the "final product" this approach has been discarded in favor of a more realistic and relaxed representation. The basic concept has been maintained, but the factor of a live model made its inevitable corrections.

Originally, the skirt was meant to be pitch-black, to match Tanya's dark hair, so I followed that scheme when I started to distribute the basic colors and shades -- you can see that the skirt is black at this stage of work. But in the process it became clear, that such a scheme didn't look too good with Diana's amber hair, so I needed to revise my decision. As a result, the skirt turned dark-brown, which, in fact, proved to be a turning point on a much larger scale than I could have imagined: the overall "sepia" feel, established by this new color scheme, made The Moonstone so distinguished from the other Black Coffee titles, that I decided to start a whole new series, as described in my previous blog post.

At this stage, I still had no clue on what to do with the background. The original draft was rather vague in this aspect, so I had to improvise. Thus, the idea of the "shadow throne" was born: a grotesque, distorted shadow, forming sort of a backrest, combined with a stump-like base in order to imitate a throne. The picture started to develop its final shape and it was time for the last stage, when ball-point pens enter the show. Only a couple of days and it would have been finished, but that's when I stumbled upon the unforeseen circumstances -- I caught a nasty flu, which rendered me unable to work for almost two weeks.

When I started to come back to my senses, I made a little lyrical digression in the form of Her Childish Smile, just to get back into shape. After that I continued the work and finished The Moonstone as intended.

Black Coffee with Some Sugar

The birth of a new series is always interesting -- especially, if the child was unexpected, like in the case of Black Coffee with Some Sugar, the brand-new direction in my "coffee" artwork. The idea popped up in my head when I was drawing The Moonstone, another project based on my prehistoric coffee sketches. In the middle of the process it became obvious, that The Moonstone didn't fit into the mainstream Black Coffee series, being too monochromatic. On the other hand, I've always wanted to make something in the spirit of Black Coffee with No Sugar -- a series of old black-and-white coffee sketches made in 1993-1996 -- only a little more refined. The sepia tones of The Moonstone pushed me to the right decision: something between the "hardcore" Black Coffee with No Sugar and the colorful Black Coffee, closer to the brownish palette of the actual coffee grounds, from which these sketches originated in the first place. Black Coffee with Some Sugar has been chosen as the title for the new series, to emphasize its roots.

The new series will "feed" mainly from the three sources: the old stash of "unpublished" coffee drafts, the "remastered" versions of some of the Black Coffee with No Sugar titles and the "sepia" remakes from the Black Coffee and Black Coffee II series. As for the latter, the beginning of the new "coffee" series doesn't mean the end of the current series, quite the contrary -- Black Coffee will continue to grow and flourish as one of the major series of my artwork.