1. For people who may not know you, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
"So my name's Mykola, I'm 24 years old, I live in Kiev, Ukraine, and I do various visual things... illustrations, videos, etc. I guess I'm supposed to call myself a graphic designer or something, haha."
2. How did you get into graphic designing, and is there anyone who inspired your decision?
"Um.. It was really random really - I never set out to become one at first, because I never thought I had the talent to, honestly.
I was just drawing different stuff as long as I remember myself, and I also had a computer since like 1993, and in 1999 my dad gave me Photoshop and all these graphic design and web design tools, and I started playing with it, it was just fun.
In highschool and uni I had some small-ass gigs involving Photoshop and Flash, but I never figured that's gonna be my "main" job, I thought I'd become some sort of computer specialist (fact: I have a bachelor's degree in computer science! lol).
However the first ever job I got was making graphics for video games in 2005, which I did for about three years and still do occasionally.
That's how I technically got into it, and once I realized that ths is actually the thing that I'm not that bad at, I figured why not go on!
As for inspirations, eboy (eboy.com) were my main inspiration for working in a style few people seemed to care about (pixel art), and Kanye's College Dropout was the inspiration to actually think different for a bit and explore options other than what your education tells you you're supposed to do."
3. You recently created the intro for Levi Maestro's "Maestro Knows" Tour Edition, explain how did that come about?
"Ahhhh that was pretty surprising to me.
I've been watching the show since ep. 1, I remember seeing it on Kanye's blog - the 1st episode with the Yeezys and basketball court.
Of course I loved it, not only because I play ball outside alot myself, but it was just so well done... needless to say I quickly became a fan.
Me and Levi exchanged a few emails and tweets, and that was it, but I kept watching it.
Then fast forward a few months, season 1 was wrapping up and I was in Moscow at that time and all of a sudden I get an email from Levi asking me whether I could help him with the intro. I was excited as hell, trust me!
I had only like a week to really knock it out, but I think it came out pretty cool."
4. What would a normal day in the life of Mykola Dosenko consist of?
"Ahhh... checking email in the morning (lol!), breakfast, looknig at the post-it's on my wall and doing my errands and design shit.. I like to work in the morning I'm more productive that way.. then after lunch it's whatever, maybe basketball, maybe take the dollar cab or train downtown to get inspiration, see friends, etc, then get back home in the evening to watch Discovery and finish up the work I didn't do in the morning.
Pretty boring I know, no late night adventures and no getting wasted, I don't even smoke lol."
5. When you're not designing, or taking on a work project, what might we find Mykola doing?
"Playing basketball outside, playing some video games, goofing off, picking my nose, eating food I shouldn't eat, etc.
Tweeting (twitter.com/myk31)? lol
Oh and watchnig Mythbusters, most definitely, I'm a crazy fan of the show. Seen every episode at least 2 times. lol"
6. Is there anyone who you would like to work with in the future and why?
"A lot of people man! I'm not even sure if I wanna mention them here because people might say I'm buggin' and getting ahead of myself lol.
(I should probably mention that I actually have a list of people "that I wanna contact when I'm good enough". Yeah I know, you're shaking your head right now haha)
I'll just say that I'd love to work with some of my favorite music artists. And not out of seeking fame (if anything I'm kinda weirded out by attention), I just find this type of work the most exciting, challenging and rewarding."
7. With music being such an huge influence on fashion, art, and culture, whose your favorite artist?
"I should add that music is my personal #1 inspiration as well, I listen to music every single day non stop, I have like almost a thousand albums in my playlist and I have actually listened to them at least once haha.
I can't single anybody out, but I listen alot to Kanye and Jay-Z - these guys inspire me no matter what kinda day I'm having, good or bad.
De La Soul and ATCQ are still my favorite rap groups to this day, I know almost all of their songs by heart haha.
DILLA! no comment
I'm also a huge jazz fan, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Pharoahe Sanders, Robert Glasper... etc... I can go on forever, so I guess my last.fm account (last.fm/mykola31) answers this question better haha."
8. You have one of the illest websites i've seen myk31.com, from the quotes to the layout, explain how it came about?
"I was really not pleased with the previous version of my website. It sucked, it was too bulky and not easy to navigate.
For about a year I was thinking about different layouts... And then it so happened that last november I had some spare time and I jsut threw ALL of those layout sketches away and designed it from total scratch in 10 days or so. True story.
I guess I just borrowed my favorite elements from websites I've seen before, such as the randomizer, the sticky menu, the pictures page layout etc.
I kinda wanted to make a website that I personally, as a random dude, would enjoy visiting and going back to. The randomizer plays a big role in that since it keeps the website from being too repetitive on return, without making it too flashy. And its just a fun feature to play with! haha.
I also think that the quotes and backgrounds make it easier for people to understand what I'm about, they're straight out of my mind really, from the Roots and Tribe quotes to the Jenna Jameson and NASA moon landing backgrounds - there's only the stuff I really like and am into."
9. What are your future plans and projects in the world of graphic designing?
"Not a lot of plans, just trying to grow and get better with each project, and hopefully more god things will happen. As for projects, can't really discuss none in public yet, but expect to see a music video or two, and maybe some other random collabos."
10. What advice could you give to anyone who wants to follow your footsteps and become a graphic designer?
"Practice practice practice.
And a thick skin.
There will be a lot of bullshit guaranteed, and that's the only guaranteed thing you're gonna get in an oversaturated industry like this.
Everything else - you gotta work and practice to get it, no handouts.
Simple, but true."
