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At this time I wish to introduce myself. I am VITALIY SHTAPURA, a Ukrainian-American artist, peace activist, autist, Wikipedian, and designer of this janky website. I will be publishing more art and music in the years to come. Please check back soon for more ideas and fun.
As Howard Jones said, "Things can only get betta!"
Fine Arts
See also: My InstaGram Account
I have over 20 years of fine arts training, including oil painting, digital art, life drawing, still life, 2D animation, and digital art with the Adobe Creative Suite. I've studied at the School of Visual Arts; the Art Students League of New York's Martha Blume; 92nd Street Y's cartoonist Rick Bleier; CreativeWeAre; and the Ridgewood Art Institute. My comics and illustrations have won 2 Scholastic Gold Keys and have been published in Blick Art Material's CelebratingArts 2017.
Below you can find a small fraction of the works I have produced over the years. 
You are welcome to download my art and print it at your local library!
To download my art, please click your favorite painting to see it in glorious resolution. Then (on that page) right-click to reveal 'Save As'. But you already knew that, right, smarty-pants?!
See also: Vitaliy's Caricatures on LinkedIn
I have recently begun a new venture: Vitaliy's Caricatures!
See my art "on the scene, not on the screen"!
Every visitor takes home a 9x12 portrait on Bristol board in their favorite style!
Guests are asked to tip $5, with $10 to add colors or additional people/pets/props. Each drawing takes 5-15 minutes to create.
I have been featured at New Jersey's Morristown Green,
the Parsippany Farmers' Market,
and the 2025 Ferragosto Festival in Englishtown.
I'd love to come to your party, restaurant, fair, or celebration! Your guests will love getting live caricatures as a unique souvenir for your event.
Animated Cartoons
Please find a whole host of cartoons on my YouTube channel, where I've been animating since 2012. Here are a couple of classics that anyone can enjoy!
That is my original dude! Fan of Gustavo now? 
See his website here!
Comic book in progress.
Video game celebrities Mario and Luigi warn you about the dangers of drunk driving in this staged PSA that Mario had to do for community service hours.
Research
I love to research! Some of my favorite articles to which I have significantly contributed include Roller Disco, Fabio Lanzoni, Roll-A-Palace, and Joseph Warren Revere. I worked at the Morris County Park Commission where I conducted historical research upon request. One night in 2025, I excavated the origin of long-lost song "Virgin Child of the Universe", finding the year to be 1977 and the creator to be Dodie Frost. To see my research, please view my Wikipedia account's 14 years of contributions, totalling 3,000+ large edits.
Comedy Writing
I publish a variety of way-too-researched comedic stories that incorporate snappy dialogue, themes of unconditional love, friendship, LGBT+ acceptance, grief, and general silliness. You may find them at AO3 at DiscoSkater79, though please beware that some rom-coms are intended for older audiences.
I also enjoy writing cultural essays, song lyrics, treatises, letters to government officials, character analyses, supportive comments, and academic works.
And e-mails!
Cosplay
I work hard to create accurate costumes of characters that mean a lot to me. Here are two! More to come.
Dance 
I enjoy a chance to dance and boogie down. I am a Bronze Level Ballroom Dancer, freestyle dancer, Level 11 Pump It Up player, and novice in Ukrainian Cossack dances. I am also learning how to roller boogie on roller skates. You can see me at the clubs, or in the background of the Physical Therapy Anthem by Skelleyosis & T Spoon ft. Fat Doctor.
Advocacy Work
I am also proud to support such pacifism and civil rights organizations as Montclair Friends Meeting, Greenfaith, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Alternatives to Violence Project, Warheads to Windmills, Quaker EarthCare Witness, People's Organization for Progress, Climate Action, Cosecha, Veterans for Peace, New Jersey Peace Action, and others as I am led. However, please note that my opinions are my own and I do not represent these organizations.
Music
I have been publishing music since 2018. Due to my name change, you can find my older songs under Avital Shtapura and my newer songs under Vitaliy Shtapura. Wahhhh! It's annoying, I know...
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| How To Love a Man | Power | Safe | One Slap Salad | Big Fat Ear Snax |
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||
| Spotify | Spotify | Spotify | Spotify | Spotify |
| iTunes | iTunes | iTunes | iTunes | iTunes |
| YouTube Music | YouTube Music | YouTube Music | YouTube Music | YouTube Music |
| Amazon Music | Amazon Music | Amazon Music | Amazon Music | Amazon Music |
At the risk of sounding like a popup ad: more fun singles await you! These include "New York's Got No Lovin'" and various other novelty hits. So, be sure to click into your platform of choice and see what other fun music I have released over the years.
Special Gift! Here are two songs exclusive to this website.
Aside from the above (mostly) original compositions . . . I also make plenty of fun mashups and remixes!
Favorite Websites
 Tradle |
NoHomers.Net |
Warheads to Windmills |
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Listen to Wikipedia |
 Countries of the World With an Empty Map |
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PeaceArtSite.Com |
What Religion Are You? |
 Gapminder |
Email The Webmaster
No Rights Reserved 
2026
Welcome
Hi. I'm Vitaliy Shtapura, a Ukrainian-American artist, writer, and musician.
You might know me from 3D/2D cartoons; from stories; from my Wikipedia edits; or for my love of disco music.
I am from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. I l❤︎ve New Jersey.
As of January 2026, I am an apprentice custom framer at Jerry's Artarama West Orange. Let's hope it works out for me.
Feel free to shoot me an email, and thanks again for checking out my homemade website.
Always a work in progress.
