Iuliia Zhukova
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About
I'm Iuliia "Julie" Zhukova, a Brooklyn animator specializing in 2D animation, both traditional and motion graphics. I started my art career in 2009 in Odessa, Ukraine, by drawing comic strips for a local newspaper.
In 2020 I graduated from Pratt Institute with BFA in Animation, with Highest Honors. My thesis project, an animation short in 2D, won the Best BFA and Best Story awards at Pratt Institute. In 2016 I had an internship at Plympton’s studio, and later I continued my education at Plymptoon’s University.
I love to challenge myself with different mediums, and am particularly interested and enjoy stop motion animation. I am inspired by a creative process for all kinds of animation projects, while documentary and educational content is my particular passion.
I'm also doing stop motion projects, with a particular interest in documentary and educational topics.
Please feel free to contact me for work, or just to chat about the weather and a season!
Honest Art Makes a Difference
On my view, the crucial value of the creative process is the attempt of being honest to yourself as an artist and as a conscious person. Looking for your own voice, not for the sake of being original, but to be able to build something that matters, something that makes difference. And perhaps, not only to yourself.
Though I do respect skillfulness in art generally, however, I appreciate an ‘unschooled’ voice of the artist for whom the creative process hasn't turned into a production process. It may have a bitter taste of dilettantism, yet that's how the true art grows against the 'mainstream', giving way to more diverse styles, movements, approaches, and philosophies.
I create my animations using a variety of media, from 2D digital drawings to the cutout puppets setups. Making choices about the media, the technique, and the contest, I'm trying to follow the same principle of honesty. I'm asking myself: what is the point to create another animation? Will it make someone think? Will it make someone's day better? In other words, will it make a difference to someone except for me? I'm trying to preserve the liberal spirit of the creative process and to avoid following a way of someone's expectations, even my own ones. Honest art has to challenge the expectations about itself, for the sake of true art and for its benefit.