Ilya Kazakov is an illustrator and digital artist from the Sakha Republic in Russia who draws cartoonish characters, from contemplative cats and wide-eyed bat skeletons to repeated depictions of Santa Claus. Sakha extends deep into the Arctic Circle, and it was there that his grandfather taught him to draw and introduced him to local mythology that still surfaces in his imagery.
He worked as an art director in UI/UX design after moving to Moscow in 2005, before turning to illustration full time as 2019 gave way to 2020. In 2023 he received a French talent visa and moved to Paris, where he lives and works.Since 2021 he has also explored digital art. That work has been shown in galleries in Paris, New York and Montreal.Earlier commercial work included a set of Santa Claus installations for the Avenue South-West shopping centre in Moscow in 2020, made with a team of sculptors, and the opening titles for the OFFF Festival in Moscow in 2021, animated over six months with sound design by Daruma Audio.
His NFT projects invite his collector community to help shape the work.Holders of his Fake Trading Card Game project, launched on the Base network in 2024, can trade packs of five cards and request specific characters from Kazakov.,Selected requests are drawn, minted as one-of-one editions, and distributed at random among token holders.“The unique feature of my NFT projects is that they are built on collaboration”, he has said, noting that requests from hundreds of people produce more variety than he could invent alone.
