“How can you become a genius artist without any talent?” That's the title of a new book written by Russian artist Leonid Tishkov, famous for his caricature pictures.

So you're a talented artist, but not very sure about it? Leonid Tishkov's new book might help a young painter to overcome his or her doubts.

“An artist is not just a person who depicts reality. He lives in the world of fantasy and imagination,” Leonid Tishkov said.

And it seems that Tishkov's world is absolutely unreal, as he tries to turn everything he touches into an art object; for example, a book.

One of Tishkov's caricatures

Apart from his new book, Tishkov also presented a full collection of his caricature pictures created over the last 30 years.

It seems that every picture has its own great history.

“This is a clown. He's got a very high fool's cap and huge boots and makes people laugh and feels happy… But when he returns to the make-up room it turns out that he's got a long head and huge feet just like the size of his cap and shoes,” the artist explained.

When asked whether it's a little bit sad, Tishkov says he believes that real humour should be melancholic and poetic.

Maybe he's right and he knows some kind of a secret which helps him to be so popular. Even  pictures painted 30 years ago  might still bring a smile to your face.