Outstanding Senior: Xen Naimushyna

LIHSA 3D Animation student Xen Naimushyna is not only cheerful, considerate, and creative, but he is also an Outstanding Senior.

Though Xen currently lives in Locust Valley, he was born and raised for most of his childhood in Kyiv, Ukraine. His family moved to the United States when he was 10, in search of a better education. “I learned English very fast when I came here,” Xen shared. “Funnily enough I thought I would be an engineer when I was young. But during the pandemic, I worked on my iPad and started drawing every day.”

When Xen was in eighth grade, his dad discovered a posting about LIHSA and Xen was very excited to pursue studying digital arts. “It was incredibly appealing to me. It’s a program that’s not available in normal public schools.” While he couldn’t enroll right away, he was able to study at LIHSA for his junior and senior years.

Studying with Mr. Fedorczak has been a joy for Xen, sharing “Mr. F. is my main teacher. We’ve bonded because he is also from Eastern Europe. Whenever I need aid with assignments, he’s happy to help. He helped by giving me advice for college too. He and Kira are my GOATs!”

Some of Xen’s highlights at LIHSA have included his capstone project that was a 3-minute 2D animation short as well as a field trip to the Museum of Moving Image. He reflects, “I used to be miserable in school, but at LIHSA I am always happy to attend. I get to go to an arts school for 2.5 hours a day so it’s something I can genuinely look forward to. I draw and animate and work on my dreams every single day. I’ve always wanted to create a full short film and I have gotten to do that!”

To overcome creative challenges, Xen is very forward thinking and aware of the big picture. He shares, “I keep in mind that every brush stroke improves the next one. The next drawing I do will be better than the next. LIHSA transforms every student who comes in to be a better version of themselves. Like a caterpillar to a butterfly.”

Artistic influences for Xen have included animated films produced by Animal Logic in Australia, especially Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole’s breathtaking animation. 

His childhood in Ukraine greatly influenced how he looks at animation. Rather than animated series like Sponge Bob Squarepants, Xen grew up watching Soviet cartoons that were 20 to 30 years older than him. Since censorship was exercised over all forms of media in the USSR, the cartoons often contained propaganda or hidden messages which made them visually unique and deeper in meaning than a regular cartoon. Xen saw them as art. 

Next year, Xen will attend Savannah College of the Arts to study animation. He hopes to have a career in the animation industry as a character designer in film. In the long term he’d also like to own a studio in the Ukraine. He shares, “I’d like to bring back the Soviet style animation without restriction of freedom.“

Xen’s message for LIHSA is to “Keep doing what you’re doing. Because what you are doing is incredibly important. It’ll evolve into more than you can even imagine.”

We can’t wait to see how your future evolves Xen! Thank you for all the creativity you bring to the world.