I was born in 1974 in western Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. My mother was an actress and a drama teacher, and I pretty much grew up on stage, which eventually caused me to develop an intense dislike for the theater, and a passion for all other forms of art, especially visual arts and music. If I wasn't a die-hard skeptic, I would say that becoming an artist was always my destiny.

I've been drawing from the moment I learned how to hold a pencil, as cliché as that sounds. But, despite my love of art, I had never received any official art training, and had never considered the career of an artist while growing up. I was never serious about art, or good at it; I did it because it was the only sure way for me to escape the drab reality around me. As a child, I had very little exposure to western culture, and none whatsoever to fantasy art. Unlike most western artists, I did not grow up watching Star Wars and reading comic books. I was about 14 when I first learned about the existence of all those things, and fell hopelessly in love.

Still, the dire situation that followed the collapse of the USSR, forced me to forget about art and consider more lucrative career options. At 17, I entered college for a degree in international journalism, only to realize a mere year later that journalism was probably the last thing I wanted to do with my life.