Dariia Kovalova and Oleksandra Yesipenko are two talented Ukrainian artists, illustrators and graphic designers that recently moved to Toronto from Kyiv, in hopes of finding a safer place, away from the war.

They are both fun and positive, despite the horrendous events that they’ve experienced back home.

They joke that they’ve missed the beginning of the war, as they were painting all night and overslept the next morning (February 24). When they woke up and saw messages from their friends and family about bombings in Kyiv, they started frantically searching for their documents and gathering their belongings. They also went to buy a pet carrier, as leaving without Dasha’s cat wasn’t an option.

Then they embarked on a 15-hour long car ride to Lviv, the largest city in Western Ukraine, which was considered safe at that time. It’s also the city where both girls went to art college for 4 years.

The trip to Lviv was through Chernovtsy, because there was no other way for them to get to Lviv. Kyiv was closed, except for the cars living the city, so the girls’ parents couldn’t come to pick them up. They caught a ride from a friend of a friend that, luckily, was visiting Kyiv that day.

I’ve never seen cats sweat, but Dasha says that her poor cat was drenched in sweat when they finally arrived in Lviv in a smelly car packed with suitcases.

The next day they had to travel even further, to Borislav, staying there for a while in a rented apartment and hiding in a small bathroom during air raid sirens.

To apply for Canadian visas and work permits, they went to Warsaw, Poland, thinking they’ll be there for a few days, but got stuck there for a month, living in 6 different places, pet-sitting cats.

These are just some of the things that the girls experienced before arriving at my place in Toronto in the beginning of July.

Currently, they are both looking for design-related jobs.

Dariia loves creating illustrations, avatars and characters for video games, books and brochures for print and digital. Her portfolio of select artwork – https://lnkd.in/gJes6J2W

Oleksandra does illustrations, drawings, paintings, and graphic design for promotional and educational purposes. She also has experience copying and painting orthodox icons, as well as artwork restoration from the modern day back to the 15th-century creations.
Her portfolio of select artwork https://lnkd.in/gFXqHtwp

Both girls also love creating comics and storytelling through illustrations.

If you are hiring graphic designers or illustrators, or know someone who does, please contact the girls directly on LinkedIn.