These besties send adorable drawings to each other of their fave friendship moments!
First, there was passing scribbled notes in class to your bestie, then there was sending Snapchats with goofy selfies, and now these 20-something besties have upped the level yet again by sending each other LEGIT ART. Friendship goals: Exceeded.
Joana Avillez and Dasha Tolstikova met in grad school, and by year two, Dasha says, it was “Like, okay, we’re going to be friends now, forever.” (It was art school, so don’t feel too intimidated by how profesh their drawings are.) They send each other the pics via the Internet and old-fashioned snail mail. The drawings are always of the two of them, together, either in fun memories from the past or imaginary situations from their future. Their styles are both very different, but also fluid. It’s so fun to get a little peek into the intimacies of their relationships through how and what moments they choose to draw.
The two ladies are killin’ it career-wise, too, with Joana’s drawings published in lots of magazines (including The New Yorker and Vogue), while Dasha has found consistent work illustrating books.
Check out their heartfelt and humor-filled drawings and the explanations from Dasha and Joana (titled by yours truly). Maybe you’ll be inspired you to send a little doodle to your BFF! I know I am.
Scarves and Sardine Picnic
“The first day of grad school, we had a writing class together and I wrote a poem about eating sardines on toast with my mom in the forest. It’s something I did as a child in Russia… Joana was like, “Oh my God, I love sardines and toast, it’s the best thing ever.”” – Dasha
Alterna-Dasha and Anti-Joana
“I’ve been working on a book and thinking a lot about the way that girls interact with each other, especially when they’re younger, and how people get into these terrible fights … This is me feeling really grateful that we don’t have that kind of relationship to each other, or to the world.” – Dasha
Secrets, Secrets Are So Fun
“Even though it’s not a specific moment, I can hear us giggling. And I feel like anyone who looked at it could hear themselves giggling with a friend. The expressions with their hands over their mouths make a very specific kind of laugh.”
DAWG LADEEZ
“We’ve been talking about adopting dogs forever. I actually did adopt a little dog in January, and when Dasha moves out of her apartment where there are no dogs allowed, she’s going to adopt one, too. We’re constantly talking about dogs.” – Joana
“Joana made me a little book of different scrappy dogs and what their names would be. It’s wishful thinking of the future for me.” – Dasha
Good Hood Friend
“In New York friendships, you do a lot of walking around. You’re having a really intimate moment, but you could be surrounded by a bazillion people. I feel like this one could be somewhere as awful and crowded as Union Square, but you’re having a really special conversation on the street.” – Joana
Post Lunchem
“I drew this on a tablecloth.” – Joana
“We really like drawing together. We’ll have a big piece of paper, like in a park, and we’ll doodle together and create little scenes. The lines aren’t clear about who’s drawing what.” – Dasha
