MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian artist who specializes in dark and horror illustrations is using her talents to spread safety awareness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anastasia Panina, better known as Anastasia in Red, said the motivation behind the creation of her latest series stemmed from the frustrating news of the coronavirus, both in her home country and throughout the world.
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“I was just really upset by all of this news of COVID-19, especially when it came to my country,” Anastasia said. “I looked at various precautions and prevention infographics and these seemed terribly boring to me. I thought that it would be great to create my own anti-COVID tips which would be memorable and absolutely not boring.”
Of course, as an avid horror fan, Anastasia had to incorporate some of her favorite horror villains in her work.
“I hoped it would help me distract myself from negative thoughts and slightly improve the mood of mine and other horror fans,” Anastasia said. “At first, I wanted to draw illustrations only for the five main tips. But since these artworks got such an incredible response and spread on the internet, I decided to create more. So, there are nine pieces in this series.”
Anastasia said she wanted people to take away valuable safety advice from familiar faces in a time where people may be inundated with COVID-19 news.
Villains against COVID-19 is one of my popular series of works. They spread over the internet, including through posts without crediting me. But I'd prefer to see a bunch of retweets/reshares exactly from my page. Can you guys help me with this on Twitter?🎃#HorrorArt #horror pic.twitter.com/tIlWdnXit5
— Anastasia in red 🦇 (@anastasiainred) October 18, 2020
“This virus may still disturb us for a long time, but eventually, we will defeat it or adapt to it and it will no longer pose such a danger,” Anastasia said. “Until then, don’t mess with these guys from my Villains Against COVID series and do what they say.”
You can find all of this and Anastasia’s other works on Instagram, her TeePublic Shop, Redbubble, Facebook and Twitter.