A book of graphic novels titled "Tobolsk. Life’s Sense" got presented at the Nonfiction Fair in Moscow

13 december 2024

The history of one Siberian city contained in a single comic book features hundreds of drawings made by the participants of the Historical Comics Workshop in Tobolsk and compiled under one book cover. This collection of original historical comics dedicated to the city of Tobolsk, the first professional publication in creative careers of Tobolsk’s budding illustrators, ended up getting included in the short list of the Book of the Year 2024 National Competition under the ART Book category.

The book "Tobolsk. Life’s Sense " represents an important cultural milestone, a regional project that has long transcended Siberia’s boundaries. It comes as a manifestation of tactful treatment of historical memory and is the apex of well-coordinated efforts of a talented and enthusiastic creative team that had succeeded in creating a book that is astounding both in its form and contents fitting more than four centuries of the city's history on its pages.

The release of graphic stories about Tobolsk is the product of the Historical Comics Workshop that was held as part of the cultural project Siberian Seasons in Tobolsk implemented within the framework of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program. The project brought together many participants representing people of different ages and various creative professions including students and professors from the Art Department of the Tobolsk Multidisciplinary Technical School (TMT), students of the Alyabyev Children's Art School, as well as comic book artists, illustrators, painters, designers, writers and journalists, both young authors and seasoned professionals, including Alexei Kapninsky, Mikhail Wiesel, Askold Akishin, Alexander Kunin, and many other renowned names.

Elena Belskaya, ZapSibNeftekhim’s Director for Government Relations and Socio-Economic Projects:
"The product that we are presenting is a testament to our company’s mission as it seeks to advance development of local products in various distinct areas of activity including sports, culture, and education. Since 2016, SIBUR, as part of its Formula for Good Deeds social investment program, has been actively investing in the advancement of opinion leaders, in people who are enthusiastic, ready to grow, open to innovations and change, and, most importantly, want to stay in their native Tobolsk, so that they can create right here, as it the case with the young artists and their professors who took part in making this book happen."

The Historical Comics Workshop did not just serve to offer young artists an opportunity to try their hand at an unusual format, attend lectures, hands-on classes, master classes and plein air sessions, but also accorded them a chance to look at the history of this Siberian city from a completely new and modern perspective, i.e. through the lens of the art of comics.

The book features a series of graphic novels that recount stories about very different events spanning the long, exciting and complex history of Siberia’s capital. The book’s neighboring page spreads are interspersed with accounts of exploits by the city’s legendary founders, such as Kuchum and Yermak, with stories about Alexander Pushkin, Pavel Yershov and composer Alyabyev, and the tale of the tragic fate of Tsar Nicholas II and the emperor’s entire family.

According to the book’s publishers, the project grew out of the original art laboratory that had run for a year. As a matter of fact, this activity turned into a sort of school for comics artists that had been made possible thanks to SIBUR’s systemic support efforts. This mode of interaction was conducive to going through all the stages of book creation, from the initial sketches all the way to the book’s final layout that got taken to the printing house to produce an awe-inspiring result.

Mikhail Wiesel, editor-in-chief of the Year of Literature website, the project’s co-curator and mentor of the scriptwriting laboratory:

"The history of this project takes root in a place that is far from Tobolsk, on the other end of Eurasia. I was on a trip to the province of Lucca in Italy that was hosting a children's literature fair. What I saw there was an incredible mishmash of genres, views, approaches, aesthetics waiting to be invested in this new media of comics. The somewhat crude language of a graphic novel can be in fact used to make a statement about anything at all. And so, after I got back to Moscow, I came up with this idea that we had to do something similar to that. It was right at that time that an opportunity arose to put on a comic book workshop in Tobolsk which gave rise to the idea of creating this book. What you do when creating a comic book script is very similar to writing an opera libretto. In both cases, the output is limited by a large number of preset restrictions and conventions that have to be observed while striving to produce something really vibrant. At our workshop, I tried to explain to my students how it really works: that there should be a character’s story arc and a conflict. This turned out to be something of a novelty for many of the attendees. A comic book is not just a series of funny pics. One can use the language of graphic stories to cover a serious subject in simple terms."

Alexey Kapninsky, the project’s principal artist, the Workshop’s co-curator and instructor:
"Things that do not quite live up to the standards set by, say, Rafael or Michelangelo are in fact exactly the right thing for comics and book graphics." Incidentally, it is the very nature of the art series that are diverse and dissimilar style-wise, and yet equally vibrant and memorable, brought to life by both very young artists and seasoned professionals, that helped put together a bright kaleidoscope of art showcasing most lovingly some of the very distinct features of the city of Tobolsk and infuse life into the stories associated with its history.

Askold Akishin, artist, one of the workshop’s mentors:
"What really struck me was the city itself that rests atop a giant hill. As I was explained, it was this very hill that Pavel Yershov had in mind when writing a story about the giant "whale fish" for his celebrated fairy tale about the Little Humpbacked Horse. When I was offered to draw a comic strip based on my impressions of Tobolsk, this fairy-tale story immediately came to my mind, although the final version of the book ended up featuring a novella about the local prison castle, that once served as Tobolsk’s central prison."

Regina Nagumanova, artist, a TMT professor, a participant of the workshop:
"I had always liked images and texts, but it was here that I tried to put the two together for the first time. At the lab session, I came to the realization that I had never drawn such extensive graphic stories before, let alone about some remarkable individuals. And I was also reminded of how nice it can be when you become a student again! It is my dream that people in Tobolsk would become aware of the fact that we have a lot of good artists and novice comic art creators who are both young and original, and I really want there to be a place where this community of artists could make their creative ideas come true and grow together."

The language of the art of comics, as is the case with the book’s contents, is both unique and universal. The book could attract the interest of the broadest audience including adults, children, local residents, and guests of the city. "Tobolsk. Life’s Sense" will captivate not only those who are familiar with stories about Yermak and the unfathomable Whale Fish, but also those who are hearing about Siberia’s original capital for the first time.

The book was developed as part of the Siberian Seasons in Tobolsk project which is being implemented as part of SIBUR's Formula for Good Deeds social investment program. It was published in collaboration with the Kultpromo production group and Alpaca Publishing.

This is a great example of how one can promote the unique image of a city set against the general cultural context of the entire country.

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Mikhail Wiesel, editor-in-chief of the Year of Literature website, the project’s co-curator and mentor of the scriptwriting laboratory:

This is a great example of how one can promote the unique image of a city set against the general cultural context of the entire country.

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Mikhail Wiesel, editor-in-chief of the Year of Literature website, the project’s co-curator and mentor of the scriptwriting laboratory:

This is a great example of how one can promote the unique image of a city set against the general cultural context of the entire country.

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