The Artist Behind the Cats – Denis Sazhin

Denis Sazhin

Cat Power

Denis Sazhin is a very talented and creative artist based in New York. His love for cats reflects into his amazing artwork and character designs. Currently, his Cat Power stickers are featured prominently on top of the App Store. Also, we were lucky enough to work with him to create Yuki Neko which is also featured by Apple in the “New Stickers We Love” section.

Where were you born and where do you live now?

I was born in Russia and now live in New York, USA.

Tell us about your background and how you got started.

How did I start… Well, it was a conscious and random choice. Sounds weird I know. The thing is, I studied for a totally different career, and worked for several years as a software developer. As time went by I started to realize it was a comfortable way of living however it was not my way. It took me some time to gain courage and start from scratch in a different profession, but I never regretted it since then. 

Of course there was a lot to learn, a lot to catch up with, and I can say I am lucky enough to live at the time where you can get any information, classes, courses in the internet – that helped tremendously.

What inspired you to create these cute cats?

If you look at my websites iconka.com or teodorthecat.com you’ll see there are quite a lot of cats in there 🙂 I am definitely a cat person, I relate to their temperament, behavior, emotions and thus it’s quite easy and natural for me to draw cats. Sometimes I think I’ve overdone it, if you put together all the cats I drew in the last few years, there will be a herd of several hundreds I’m afraid 🙂

What is your favorite stickers?

I adore Pusheen The Cat. (What? My favorite sticker is a cat? That’s the most unexpected lol)

Do you have any advice for new artists?

Not so much… But that’s because generally I try not give advice unless asked for it. There are so many different aspects new (and not so new actually) artists can struggle with, so it’s impossible to cover them all. I can share some advice I took myself, and if anyone finds it useful I’d be happy: 

• Prepare to be patient while studying and working;
• Trying to be great gets you up, but trying to be perfect brings you down;
• Learn to communicate.

Do you have any upcoming plans for stickers?

I go with the flow… I’m pretty sure there will be more cats though 🙂

Follow Denis Sazhin on

Twitter: @IconkaCom

Instagram: @teodor_thecat

Website: iconka.com