Ukrainian artist Anatoly Vasilenko died at the age of 84. He was a cartoonist and illustrator.

Anatoly Vasilenko died on June 8. He was 83 years old. No cause of death was given.

From sugar factory to artist and editor

Anatoly Vasilenko was born on November 7, 1938 in the Poltava region in the village of Nizhnyaya Lanna, Karlovsky district.

He drew from childhood, and created his first caricature of his cousin Ivan.

At the age of twenty, working for sugar factory, began to create satirical sketches for the newspaper of the local union. In 1959 he studied at the Mirgorod Ceramic College, in 1960-1961 at the Kiev School of Applied and Decorative Arts.

At the same time he began to collaborate with the magazine “Pepper”. He was the chief artist of the Perchonok children's magazine. Collaborated with the newspaper “Derevenskie Vesti”, also worked in the magazines “Barvinok”, “Kid”, “Funny Pictures”, “Fatherland”, “Dnepr”, “Morning”.

Based on the plots of two author's books by Anatoly Petrovich made puppet films “Petrik in Space” and “Timko-Zverelov”.

Illustrated about three hundred books for children and adults. Among them are illustrations for the popular children's book by Vsevolod Nestaiko “Toreadors from Vasyukovka”.

Cartoons of politicians

The story about Anatolia Vasilenko was also told by the editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent Olga Rudenko. When she worked at the Kyiv Post, they commissioned cartoons. They did this once a week – on Wednesday they called him and passed on ideas.

“Anatoly Petrovich had principles. Caricatures should not have been humiliating. For example, people could not be depicted as animals,” Olga Rudenko said.

Cartoons by Anatoly Vasilenko for Kyiv Post/Illustrations by Kyiv Post

Anatoly Vasilenko did not use a computer, so they printed out photos of politicians who were supposed to appear in cartoons this week and sent him to the studio by driver. The next day, the driver brought fresh watercolor drawings on sheets of thick paper.

“The original drawings were returned to Anatoly Petrovich. But once John Tefft, then US Ambassador to Ukraine, asked for the original cartoon with his participation and hung her in her office,” Olga Rudenko said.