Archelon (2023) Painting by Katya Shiova

 Hello my dear guest.

My name is Katya, I was born in 1987 in the heroic city of Kharkiv, Ukraine. I am a Ukrainian illuwriter (illustrator + writer). At the moment I am working on an illustrated book about prehistoric animals inhabiting the territory of modern Ukraine. It will be called "When Ukraine was an ocean." Here you can buy original illustrations that I make for it.

I am in love with dinosaurs and everything related to them. That’s why huge part of my work is paleoart. I fell in love with the prehistoric world at the age of 6 when I first watched Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park on VHS.

My love for paleoart started in the first grade of school when someone brought stickers with illustrations by Zdeněk Burian. Obviously, at that time I did not know who it was, but it seemed to me  nothing could be more beautiful. Then I traded them for all my Barbie dresses :). After that, the dolls stopped to exist for me, dinosaurs and their neighbors on the prehistoric planet took their place.

I graduated the Kharkiv Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine. Unfortunately in the spring of 2022 a russian missile hit it.

I started drawing before reading and writing. As a child, nothing made me happier than paints and brushes. If there were no suitable materials for drawing, then I drew with everything and on everything - with a finger on the misted glass, with a stick on the beach sand, with chalk on the school blackboard at the break. The teachers liked it very much and they often did not remove it from the board until the end of the school day. This way I first got into the school drawing competition and participated in them every year until graduation.

Despite a very uncreative higher education, I never gave up painting. A few years ago, I made the decision to make drawing the main thing in my life. When we lived in Montenegro, I held charity meetings en plein air, where I painted with everyone for a donation for an animal shelter. For me, this is very important, because I picked up one of my two dogs on the streets. It seems to me that it is very important to give your care to those who are unlucky in life. 

Nature in general inspires me a lot. In 2019 I drew my first entomological illustration and the world of bugs, butterflies and moths swallowed me up. Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating on dinosaurs with them :)

While my country is fighting for its future, I will show you its past.

Influenced by: nature itself, because it’s the best artist, Zdeněk Burian, Charles Robert Knight, Georgia Totto O'Keeffe

• Nationality: UKRAINE
• Date of birth : unknown date
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Ukrainian Contemporary Artists