razorberries

“So, you’re a drawer?”

I was tying to understand if I was being asked whether I am a piece furniture. The question was rephrased:

“You like to draw?”
“Oh! Yes, I like to draw,” I said, while thinking:

And I like to hang out at the beach, and visit fun places, and eat good food, and sleep, and ride the Ferris wheel, and read, and watch movies, and listen to music, and so much more stuff than I could ever fit into a single run-on sentence. But most of all, I like to draw. So yes, I am a drawer. I’m a drawer furnished with habits and experiences.

I was born in and raised for the first part of my childhood in Ukraine. After moving to the U.S. with my family at age 9, I learned my ABC’s with a battery-operated “Talk’N'Learn” toddlers’ toy. When I started attending my new school, until I learned to speak English, I often drew pictures of what I was trying to say. Fast-forward to high school, I took every possible art class until graduation. Among all mediums I’ve explored, watercolor & ink were my favorite. Thanks to my great teachers and classes, I was able to learn a lot in a short time. In my final class for graduation, Portfolio Preparation, my portfolio was selected as the winner of the Jimmy Crown Award. The prize made it possible for me to buy my own art supplies and frames. It jump-started my personal work, so I continued to draw and paint, develop my work further, and started to display my artwork locally. Later, I worked as a photojournalist for a local newspaper for a short time. That led me to my first assignments to create editorial illustrations for that newspaper.

Today, I live and work in Chicago and write + illustrate IllustrArticles – illustrated articles about important stuff. I also work on freelance illustration and commissions, and peddle my paintings and prints online and at art shows and art fairs. My work tends to revolve around humans, nature, and human nature.

"Razorberries" is a word I made up to name my artwork. Razorberries don't grow on trees, they're the fruits of my labor.