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Nashmin Valadi

@illustart_nva

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Illustrator & Concept Artist
Characters | Visual Storytelling
Books • Games • Visual Development

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"Little Clown" (final version)

Last month, this character began as a simple sketch.
Light studies, color experiments, hesitation.
Then a gesture changed everything.

Sometimes we move
to distract from what we’re hiding.

#nashminvaladi #character_design #creepycute #Illustration #art taken in Turin, Italy by @illustart_nva

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8 months ago

#NashminPictureBook
A character from #MoonBrow 🌘

#nashminvaladi #character_design #DarkFantasy taken in Turin, Italy by @illustart_nva

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4 months ago

The Blue Boy 💙

October horror is often made of ghosts, cobwebs, and monsters.
But for me, fear can come from something much more ordinary.

A child.
A still face.
A gaze that lingers too long.

What scares me most is that I don’t know what Blue Boy is looking at. Most likely, nothing at all.
And that’s exactly why this frame feels so unsettling.

The melting ice cream in his hand tells me he has been staring for a long time, long enough to forget the sweetest thing he was holding.

For me, horror begins when the ordinary becomes unreadable.

This is one of the scariest frames I’ve ever made.

Inspired by Thomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy (c. 1770) and the unforgettable crying boy in LAIKA’s Coraline (2009).

#october #illustration #nashminvaladi #blueboy #character by @illustart_nva

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a day ago

People often ask me, “Why did you study painting? Aren’t you an illustrator or a character designer?”

The truth is, I find it hard to define exactly what I do. But one thing I know for sure:

I consider myself a painter.

To me, painting has never been just a medium or a technique. It’s how I experience and interpret the visual world. And I find it unfair to rigidly define what painting is, or who gets to call themselves a painter, based solely on traditional art historical definitions.

I also work as a graphic designer, illustrator, and character designer. But regardless of the medium or the purpose, painting has always been at the heart of my creative process.

As for this piece, inspired by The Blue Boy (c. 1770) by the 18th-century British painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), and the stop-motion animated film Coraline (2009), I have to say that painting those fabrics was a real challenge!

Gainsborough’s mastery of satin and delicate lace is incredible, and even with modern digital tools, I struggled to capture that same beauty.

You can watch the initial creative process in my previous reel! 💙

#illustration #nashminvaladi #bluboy #laika #coraline by @illustart_nva

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3 days ago

I’ve wanted to join @inktober for years, but every October something always got in the way.

This year isn’t really any different, but I finally decided to stop waiting for the “perfect October” and just go for it anyway.

All of these sketches were made today, October 4th. I’ve been sick lately and don’t really have the energy for long, detailed sketches, so I’m keeping things simple and enjoying the process.

I’m honestly just really happy I finally started. 🖤

BIC pen on paper.

Which slide is your favorite?

#inktober #inktober2026 #nashminvaladi #penonpaper #illustration taken in Turin, Italy by @illustart_nva

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15 days ago

This piece was an exercise in lighting and in exploring how an environment can influence color.
I learned a great deal from the process, and I consider it one of my most valuable studies.

On the sketch page, the main sketch and the front-view character study were created in Photoshop. The smaller sketch at the top was drawn quickly with pen on paper as an initial idea, which I later developed into the larger sketch below using Rebelle 8.

#nashminvaladi #illustration #characterdesign #fantasyart #fishing by @illustart_nva

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22 days ago

A little one-hour study inspired by a quick sketch from the other day. ✍🏻

#nashminvaladi #dailyartstudy #sketch_daily #Illustration #fantasyart taken in Turin, Italy by @illustart_nva

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a month ago

Color testing and playing with the color palette.

My goal with this project was to achieve a cool tonality with muted, yet dreamy colors. Now that I’m happy with the result, I’d really love to explore the lighting, shadows, and colors further in another illustration of this character.

What do you think?

#illustration #nashminvaladi #CharacterDesign #colorpalletes #colortest by @illustart_nva

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a month ago

Meet Pari 🌕

A little collection of sketches and explorations while figuring out her character design.

Playing with shapes, movement, feathers and all those tiny details that slowly made her feel like her.

I think I’m getting a little too attached to this one. :')

Swipe for more sketches →

#CharacterDesign #character_design #FantasyDesign #fairytail #nashminvaladi by @illustart_nva

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2 months ago

A personal character design project developed between August 9–12, 2026.

The Crow Queen started with a traditional sketch and gradually evolved through a series of traditional and digital explorations. I focused on developing her shape language, silhouette, values, color palette, and overall visual identity before bringing everything together in the final illustration.

This project was a short but intensive exploration of letting a character develop naturally from the initial idea rather than defining everything from the beginning.

Character Design · Visual Development · Traditional & Digital Art

#Legends #character_design #nashminvaladi #shaman #fantasyart taken in Turin, Italy by @illustart_nva

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2 months ago

Goblin character design study ⚔️

Started as a 3-hour practice and somehow turned into a full character exploration, shapes, expressions, sketches, color and all the little ugly details that made him him.

Here’s the whole process together.

Which part is your favorite?

#Goblin #characterexpressions #characterdesign #Illustration #nashminvaladi taken in Turin, Italy by @illustart_nva

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2 months ago

Wip.

#colorillustration #FantasyCharacter #CharacterDesign #nashminvaladi #digitalart by @illustart_nva

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2 months ago