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Ilkin Zafarli
Head of the Nine Senses animation studio, artist, director, art photographer. This is how he is described on the official Nine Senses website.
A photographer who teaches how to bring things to life
He has worked in art photography for more than 10 years; he has created more than 70 000 pieces of professional content for stock sites (Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, iStock, Depositphotos, Dreamstime, 123RF, BigStock, CanStock).
At the animation studio he teaches:
- how to create characters
- how to write a script
- how to do frame-by-frame shooting
- how to voice finished cartoons
Source: ninesenses.az — the “Team” and “Ilkin Zafarli” pages (downloaded on 18.09.2026). In the center's team he is listed as “Animation, art photography.”
The workshop: light, smoke and models
Photos from the head's page on the Nine Senses website: models, lighting and phone shooting — what frames are put together from.
“Gobustan-3029”
Ilkin Zafarli's artistic diorama is part of the parallel program of the research exhibition “Codes of Gobustan” at Nine Senses (opened on November 10, 2024, curator Tarlan Manafov).
The year 3029. The planet has become uninhabitable because of plastic, which over the centuries has turned into a peculiar flora. A spaceship lands on the stony surface of Gobustan, and 24-year-old Azer steps out of it — he has returned to where his country once was, which he knew only from textbooks and old photographs.
Source: ninesenses.az, the “Exhibitions” page. The diorama frame is from the same page.
Who opened the studio in 2023
Animation was born before cinema and therefore has the right to be called its elder sister. Creating animation requires all sorts of skills, for example drawing and knowledge of human anatomy, even being a composer to write music for animation.
Emin Mirabdullayev, director · report.az, 28.10.2023At the opening, “Anima” was led by the director Emin Mirabdullayev. He is not on the current Nine Senses team; when Ilkin Zafarli became head is not stated in the sources. The center's open sources contain no photo of him, so we do not show one.
Sign up through the art center
The studio has no phone of its own: sign-up, the schedule and class prices are confirmed with the Nine Senses administrators.
+994 55 255 54 12