Kazakh artist designs album covers for Western stars

Drake, SAINt JHN, DaBaby and DJ K.i.D - Album covers for popular foreign artists are drawn by a 24-year-old artist from Kazakhstan. His first Western customers were two rather extraordinary bloggers from the United States - BoonkGang and FunnyMike. And then others reached out. For six years of work in this field, Zhumadil Yelyukenev has collected hundreds of interesting works in his portfolio.

“It all started with New York rapper Snoopy Dinero. This is the man in whose competition I won a thousand dollars. After that, I continued working on small singles. I designed covers for them. And then I started working with bloggers. Many stars wrote to me and offered to work with them. Currently, I continue working closely with my old customers, who are the rappers from New York, or Californian streamers. I also worked with the rap artists from the Interscope Records label,” Yelyukenev said.

The artist receives the offers for the projects of this kind mainly from abroad. In Kazakhstan, Yelyukenev works on larger and more serious tasks. He is the author of a mural in support of medical workers in Almaty.

“The mural was created in 2020 with the help of city administration to support doctors in the fight against the coronavirus. This was one of my first murals. I think I will do something new this year. I already have ideas about what could be painted on the walls of the city buildings. I think I will definitely make something this summer,” the artist shared.

The talented artist has big and ambitious plans for the future. He dreams of achieving great success in illustration. Yelyukenev is also a tattoo artist. He began his training in this craft in 2019. Now he wants to gain more experience there. He is also a graffiti artist. In the coming years, Yelyukenev plans to build a reputation in these two new areas.

 

Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova

Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova