We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Roo Guliyev. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Roo below.
Roo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
I’ve actually always had a soft spot for cooking. There’s still a part of me that imagines going to culinary school one day, running a little café, or even working in a professional kitchen. But more often, when I think about “another life,” I picture something steadier, maybe like an office job, or even a medical career, especially when I understand my major interest at first was genetics.
Just recently, I was working on a new book idea for days. As part of my process, I browse Pinterest, Instagram, and even DeviantArt, old-fashioned as that might sound, for inspiration. Seeing that nearly 40 percent of what’s uploaded now is AI-generated hits me hard. I spend hours, sometimes days, creating something meaningful, while others can generate an image in seconds without fully grasping the effort, frustration, and persistence that artists put into their work. Moments like that make me wonder if I should have gone into pharmaceuticals, medicine, or even the genetics fields, where, hopefully, AI won’t take over so quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against progress; science has always been a huge part of my life. But if Jurassic Park taught us anything, it’s that we need to understand science before we unleash it. You can’t just package and release something that impacts people’s lives so deeply without studying and testing it, or one day the dinosaurs will be out eating tourists.
That moment left me seriously thinking about my place as an artist in this new landscape. It might be easier to leave the uncertainty of art behind for a stable, conventional job. But in the end, I realized I’d be leaving the part of me that thrives on making worlds, telling stories, and creating something with my own hands.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m an illustrator, writer, and world-builder, now based in New York. I grew up in a family of scientists in a post-Soviet environment, surrounded by books on history, paleontology, and anthropology, while spending my summers at my grandparents’ farm listening to folktales about forest spirits and mythical creatures. That mix of science and folklore shaped my creative DNA, and I’ve always been drawn to designing imaginary worlds and creatures, but grounding them in biological and anatomical logic so they feel truly alive.
I create fully illustrated books, comics, and narrative artworks that blend fantasy, speculative science, and social commentary. My flagship project, The Ark of Oominor: A Traveler’s Handbook to Another Earth, is a 40+ page illustrated world guide that I completed in less than nine months as my MFA thesis. The work uses fantastical species and settings as allegories for political, social, and ecological issues, many inspired by my experiences growing up in a country with limited freedoms, homophobia, and indifference to environmental crises.
I’m known for building worlds that feel immersive and coherent, where even the most outlandish creatures have believable anatomy, ecosystems, and cultures. That level of detail sets my work apart, I’m not just drawing a creature or a scene, I’m designing the history, the politics, and the science behind it. What I’m most proud of is turning my personal escape, the imaginary world of Oominor, which I started at age 18, into a complete, tangible book that now connects with audiences far beyond my original intent. For potential clients, readers, and fans, I want them to know that everything I create comes from a place of deep curiosity, research, and storytelling. Whether it’s a single illustration or an entire fictional universe, my goal is to make the fantastical feel real and to leave people thinking about the worlds they’ve visited long after they’ve turned the page.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
Personally, I’ll never create or sell NFTs, it goes against my moral code, you could say. But I’m also open-minded enough, and have studied anthropology enough, to understand human demands and why people are drawn to them. People will always do what they want to do, as long as it doesn’t directly harm others, I cannot judge that.
That said, I’ve heard enough to know NFTs have recurring issues with intellectual property rights. Coming from a post-Soviet environment, I can tell you that the concept of “intellectual property” is still relatively new to many people where I’m from. On top of that, the anonymity of blockchain transactions can make it easier to launder money or engage in other illicit activities, though I’ll admit I’m not an expert in that area to fully assess the scope.
No matter what, I’d prefer my art and NFTs to stand as far apart from each other as possible.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I’ll be honest, and maybe this will make some people raise an eyebrow, but I don’t believe “non-creatives” exist. We love to put people into neat categories like “talented” or “not talented” because it makes the world feel simpler, but creativity isn’t a switch that’s on or off. All humans have the capacity for creativity; the difference is simply that some choose to engage with and develop it more than others.
We humans love labels because they soothe our brains, they help us divide the world into black and white instead of accepting all the shades of grey. Yes, everyone can draw, cook, or write. But just like someone might train their body for a sport, some people train their creativity more intentionally. I’m 6’5″ with long legs, if I dedicated my life to running, I might be great at it given my build, but that just wasn’t my focus. It just means my attention has been elsewhere.
It’s the same with art. No, I don’t think anyone will struggle to understand my journey if they’re willing to listen. You simply have to show people the process. Buildings don’t magically appear in a city, everyone knows that, but if you’re not involved in architecture, you don’t see the hundreds of steps behind them. The same goes for art: if you don’t engage with it, you miss all the work and thought that goes into it. But believe me, everyone is creative. So when people ask if “non-creatives” can understand my journey, I’d say yes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://roofeaturescreatures.org/
- Instagram: @roojoeus
- Twitter: @roojoeus
Image Credits
Roo Guliyev