Viktor Chizhikov - Russian children's illustrator, author of the Olympic Bear

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Chizhikov Viktor Alexandrovich - People's Artist, drew illustrations in Murzilka, Around the World, Funny Pictures, worked on books and in various periodicals. The author of the famous Olympic Bear - the mascot of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Amazing illustrations by Chizhikov

Victor Chizhikov's pictures have been familiar to almost everyone since childhood. However, this does not mean at all that the artist's illustrations are the same: they have a unique style, they retain their individuality and at the same time are full of affection and love.

Nowadays, children's books contain cruel drawings, and Viktor Chizhikov tried to make his illustrations not scary, and he, no doubt, succeeded. The world that he created was full of goodness and harmony, you can be in it without fear. Victor Chizhikov, an artist with a kind heart, often said that meeting with a cruel world harms children, according to him, the child's psyche must get stronger before learning about horror stories and horror films. He tried to make even the negative characters funny. Recall, for example, the illustration of the Wolf who ate Little Red Riding Hood.

Viktor Chizhikov, whose biography is full of amazing stories,often read Chukovsky, whose stories greatly influenced his work. One example is Doctor Aibolit. In the book that the artist got, there were a lot of scary pictures, especially those moments where the boy lost his father, and scenes with pirates. Chizhikov still keeps that same book and admits that it was scary to read it. He read a book with his own illustrations to his daughter, and she was not at all afraid! Of course, because there the terrible Barmaley sleeps with the Murzilka magazine at his side.

The beginning of the famous artist's career

It was for the illustrations for Doctor Aibolit that Chizhikov was later awarded the Andersen Diploma. The artist recalls that at the presentation he was given a diploma and a carnation, as it was supposed to according to the rules. And he remembered how he met Chukovsky as a child, and he gave him his bouquet.

It's no wonder that this event affected little Victor so much that he was fond of Chukovsky and adopted from him the ability to understand children, love for children's literature, a critical attitude to his work and sincere curiosity and admiration for the world around him.

Therefore, already in the 1960s, Viktor Chizhikov began illustrating children's books. He remembers this time with love: then fantasy was again allowed into the books and artists were allowed to take the initiative. His first drawings were published in such magazines as Krokodil, Vokrug sveta and Nedelya. Later, Murzilka and Funny Pictures recognized his talent. From the very beginning, Chizhikov's works were delighted, they were so bright.

Work inMurzilka

Once the favorite magazine of most Russians was Murzilka. Victor Chizhikov has been working there for over 50 years and often shares his memories of how it all began.

When he and his friends were young, they would often get together at work in the morning and brainstorm. Any ideas that came to mind were voiced without fear of being ridiculed. So they got original, memorable numbers. For example, Chizhikov's favorite number was called "Big and Small Rivers." One of the artists simply asked everyone to describe their favorite childhood river, and the team started working on the idea.

Like everyone else, Viktor painted Murzilka. Many probably noticed that this character always looked different: Murzilka lives on his own, and artists draw his life path. For example, in one room, Murzilka wears a scarf in the colors of the Russian flag, and in the other - just blue. The artist simply explains this by saying that the hero's mood often changes.

Restriction in creativity

Several times, however, Chizhikov was reprimanded for disobedience. For example, he was commissioned to draw an illustration for Agnia Barto's famous poem "Grandmother had 40 grandchildren." He drew 15, the rest just didn't fit. The magazine had a circulation of more than 6 million, and letters poured in with questions about the remaining grandchildren. Then the editor-in-chief came and said: "It was said 40, it should be 40." Now Chizhikov smiles, remembering this, and says that he completed the grandchildren and the dog to boot.

HistoryOlympic Bears

Chizhikov recalls that one of the leaders of the Union of Artists told him that there was a competition for the Olympic mascot. At that time, the creators of the competition had already received 40 thousand options and could not find the right one. However, children's artists did not take part. Chizhikov and his friends gathered at work and began to draw bears. At that time, they were just sketches, friends drew about a hundred pieces.

A bunch of sketches would have been lying on the table if the manager had not been called and asked to provide a job option to the Olympic Committee. And so he did. And when he returned, he said that the image of Victor was approved, and a month later he was put up for a vote.

Now few people remember that in the late 1970s a vote was held for the best talisman, and Chizhikov's bear almost caught up with the drawing of an elk. However, in the end, the work received the most votes, and Victor Chizhikov won. The artist did not yet know how this creation would turn out for him.

This image brought many problems to Chizhikov. After the Olympics, it was used everywhere without asking the permission of the author. For example, he even had to sue the NTV channel for exploiting the image. Chizhikov lost that court, his authorship was not recognized. TV people used the bear in a very extravagant way: sometimes as a tattoo, sometimes as an image of a stripper. In total, the mascot has been in 33 issues.

Chizhikov is the kindest artist

According to Victor, nowadays children, spoiled by a lot of toys and gadgets, appreciatesincerity and kindness. I would like to believe that he is right and new artists will continue his work, who will give children new good fairy tales.