My name is Yevgeniya – aka Zhenia – aka Pixie. Yes, Pixie. I was born in 1980 in Kiev , Ukraine . I remember spending many an evening frozen in awe at the wondrous stories that would pour from the books my parents read to me and my younger brother. These tales of lovely, mystical, unreal and far off places nourished my love for all things fantastic and magical. I learned to read at an early age – I loved hearing my parents read, but they couldn't do that all the time. The only way to satisfy my hunger for the enchanting and otherworldly was to read the books myself. Books would often accompany me to bed. I would slip them under my mattress or under the pillow after I was done, convinced that the dreams I would have that night would flow straight from the book into my head like gentle wisps of smoke. I loved this world as a child.
My family spent many summers closer to nature (this would account for my love of wood elves and sparkling little things living in tall grass, hidden from the eyes of those with no imagination and passion.) My father, a sculptor and artist, would always bring me and my brother paints and pencils as presents and watch us draw. I loved watercolor.
In 1993 we moved to the U.S. and I was very lonely. I missed my friends and the little things living in the tall grass, and so I retreated back into books. I started to put my feelings down on paper. They would manifest themselves in various colors and pictures as opposed to words, and I realized that I was pretty good at that. I danced professionally for 13 years before I considered being a visual artist, so emotion through movement and dance became an integral and natural part of my drawings. I could draw a complete and clear expression by depicting a body – it doesn't have to be a conventional sad face to convey a sad feeling.
The next step was Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, where I studied…yes, art. During the first three years there, through various classes and exercises I rediscovered my love of magical stories full of quests, gallant knights, castles, true love and the like. It was in my junior year that I seriously considered, for the first time, a career in illustration.
After high school, came Pratt Institute, where I majored in Communications Design/Illustration and honed my passion for those extraordinary and amazing things of my childhood. I ended up with a BFA, worked in the field for seven years doing various things like graphic design, backdrop painting, etc. It always came back to those magical books – regular ones and pop-ups alike. Fairy tales are still my favorites though because anyone can enjoy them in their own way. Children are fascinated by them because it is the beginning of a journey into a new and exciting world while adults appreciate them for the nostalgic memories they evoke. I also love the actual feel of books; their thick covers, colorful pages all add to the magic they hold within.
In terms of goals and interests, I love to illustrate books (of course!) I enjoy collaborating with others on interesting projects, work as a designer, create pop-ups, travel (helps me get inspired). I also love watching cats congregate on the roofs of buildings (that's in Ukraine – pigeons dominate that portion of real estate in the U.S. ) I enjoy good books, watching people dance, dancing myself, scuba diving, encountering surreal people, creating pretty things and eventually putting the world under a magical spell…