Aleksei Bitskoff

Aleksei Bitskoff was born in Estonia in the former Soviet Union in 1979, he always loved to draw as a child, covering his exercise books in doodles. He studied language and literature, preparing to be a school teacher, then moved to England to study English. After travelling around Russia and Europe his love of drawing brought him back to study illustration at LCC, then onto Camberwell for his Masters, graduating in 2010.

His influences include Russian illustrators and animators and Tove Jansson and the Moomin Trolls. His work has a unique sense of humour coupled with his spontaneous subconscious background doodles, drawn in dip pen and ink which include Tibetan Buddhist symbols.

Alex is recently married to Anastasia and lives in London.

His illustration for the AOI's Transport For London competition was exhibited in the summer and his story Me and You gained 3rd place in the Macmillan Prize. He has also been highly commended in the Cheltenham Illustration Award.