A Tough Subject

I was asked by Przekrój weekly magazine to illustrate a really tough subject – the privatization of state owned companies. This is a process that has been going on in Poland ever since the iron curtain was torn down. The magazine wanted to run some texts about the outcome of this. The first illustration shows how the word "privatization" is being built.

This picture was made for a smaller input from a priest about capitalism being a gift from god.

I made this one for a text comparing state-owned businesses to private, the latter being the less corrupt and most profitable.

Black Cat Syndrome

A fresh illo that I made for Przekrój weekly magazine (#46, 2009).

And this is what it looks like in the layout.

Silver Pearl Victory

I have designed the best looking magazine in Poland and Central Europe according to the jury of the prestigious Pearl Awards.

Last night Leenia magazine won a Silver "Best Overall Design" award. It was announced at the 5th Pearl Awards ceremony in the Rockefeller Center in New York. This is a cool award as it's held on behalf of the Custom Publishing Council – North America's leading corporate publishing association. Leenia magazine competed with 615 magazines submitted by 50 corporate publishing firms from all over the world. Yeah!

Minimal Magenta

A logo for a creative boutique that makes magazines. The owner – a friend of mine – loves magenta and black. She wants to keep a minimalistic profile, hence the straightforward name of her enterprise: Pracowania Twórcza (that's Polish for Creative Workshop). The font I used is based on Craig Kroeger's excellent Hooge typeface.

Bronze Portfolio

Today I was awarded Bronze at the annual Chimera press design contest. This years party – the 7th edition – was rather poor in form (economic crisis?) but rich when it comes to quality of design. My prize was in the Portfolio Section and this is my 3rd Chimera award!

About A Girl

A short comic about a girl. I specially made it for an exhibition at Karowa gallery in Warsaw held in 2003. The original was hand inked in A1 format (84.1×118.9cm). The reformated version of the comic was published this month in the 6th issue of the comic zine Ziniol.

Listen, Baby

I made this illo for Przekrój last summer. The text was later dropped so it went unpublished. Might look good on a t-shirt or poster though...

Introducing Myra Europa

This is a tribute to my brother Patrick and his wife Emma. On the 9th of September they became proud parents of Myra Europa – probably the cutest baby girl on Earth.

My First Horror

This is the first cover in a series that I made for publisher Prószyński and it's for a Dean Koontz book called Watchers (Opiekunowie in Polish). I remember I read this book as a kid so it was kind of cool to make. There's a funny anecdote about this cover. I was asked by the publisher to make a few test covers for horror books so I made this collage out of two pictures I had previously made. And they loved it! Nobody seemed to care that it didn't really fit to the plot.

The guy in the picture is a friend of mine, designer and excellent comic illustrator Benek Szneider, co-owner of Bitterlix studio.

Mr Jerk And The Pigeons

This is a 2-page comic I made together with Joanna Sanecka (story) a few months ago. It was published in the 4th issue of Ziniol – Poland's ultimate comic zine. I might translate this into English one day but for now you'll have to do with a brief synopsis: Mr Jerk intends to get his bed crumble free with the help of a flock of pigeons. A great idea that turns into disaster.

Get a sex!

I made this drawing for this weeks issue of Przekrój magazine (#39/2009). It's for their cover theme, a text about the sexes and about intersexuality. A tricky subject to illustrate... Anyway, it was great fun to make. I hope you like it. You can read the whole text here.


And this is the published spread.

Electric pig

Save energy!

Boy chasing girl

Sun, sand and water...

T is chasing his best friend Gaba on the beach.

A snapshot from our holiday at the coast.

Fashion is danger

This is something I made just before going on my well deserved summer vacation – a fashion catalogue for the H@C brand of Coccodrillo. I won't show more than this cover as the inside is a repetition of the same graphic elements and loads of product shots.

Smart and spicy

My debut as illustrator for Poland's largest student magazine ?dlaczego (#111, 2009). I was asked to come up with something for a text about spice drugs sold in smartshops.

Happy rich girl

My third front cover of Funduj (#3 2009), a magazine about investment funds. The main text is about finances from a womans point of view. The client wanted a holiday feel to it and the style should be in line with previous issues.


Earlier version rejected by the client. Apparently this woman looks sad and poor because of her lack of shoes. I prefer this illo to the approved one.


And this is what the final cover looks like.

Teenage dream come true

Yesterday was the day of Michael Jackson's funeral and the day of Morrissey's first visit to Poland. I went to the gig at Stodoła with great expectations. It's like a teenage dream come true and I wasn't disappointed. Mozz was in great shape, talking and joking a lot with the audience inbetween songs. Highlights of the evening: Life Is A Pigsty and You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby. Morrissey, so much to answer for...

Sweet indolence

My latest commission for Przekrój, #25 2009. I was asked to illustrate a text about procrastination. It took me all night and the next day I went straight to work, tired as hell.


Additional illo for the second spread.


And another one. Inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

Get ready for some urban action

This is a completely new urban magazine about Warsaw. It was made on behalf of Centrum Development & Investments Polska (CDI), a real estate developer specializing in shopping malls all over the country. The reason for making this magazine is their latest investment – the legendary Centralny Dom Towarowy on Krucza street. This modernist shopping mall, commonly known as Cedet, was designed by Zbigniew Ihnatowicz and Jerzy Romański and built 1949-1952. CDI are about to give the building back its original facade, destroyed in a fire back in the '70s. They will also ad a new extension, thus closing the historical Bracka street and making this place the hottest shopping spot in the city. So much about the building. When I designed the magazine I wanted it to reflect the minimalist and modernist look of the building. I chose to use only one colour in the entire magazine. There are only four typefaces used: Hooge designed by Craig Kroeger (headlines), Museo by Jos Buivenga/exljbris (leads), JB Cursive by Jean Boyault (sections) and DIN by Albert-Jan Pool (copy). The retro looking logo is actually the new logo of the shopping mall. It was recently designed by artist Wojciech Fangor. I didn't want to use mainstream photos in the mag so I did a lot of research on blogs and on Flick'r. The black and white picture of Jerozolimskie Avenue on the cover was shot by Phil Moore. You can see the Cedet on the far right. The magazine will be distributed for free in shops and cafés in the city centre. It will also be on sale in larger newspaper stores.


Table of contents (in this case map of contents) based on an old city map from the '70s. Most of the sections here tell about reel places in Warsaw and are thus to be found on the map.


Feature article by star writer and crème de la crème gossip columnist Agata Passent.



Warsaws hottest bar district is located in Plac Trzech Krzyży. The first text is about the bar Szpilka. I made the panoramic shot of the square in the 2nd spread. The black page is a brilliant feature by Tomasz Piątek – writer and bon vivant – summing up the night life at Plac Trzech Krzyży.


Starbuck's has arrived in Warsaw. Good in some people's opinion, not so good in the opinion of others.


This text covers Sorry, Ghettoblaster – a monthly club night. It's run by dj's Sekta and Kosakot. Photos by Karol Grygoruk.



Interview with Tomasz P. Chenczke (CEO of CDI) about the Cedet building and its surroundings. Illustrated with visualizations of the building.



The fashion section covering the new Ermenegildo Zegna shop at Plac Trzech Krzyży. The fashion shoot is a mix of catwalk shots and futuristic backgrounds.


More fashion. This time about Olga Bittner – winner of last years edition of Warsaw Fashion Street.


'80s street fashion. A comparison of yesterday and today. Photo on the left by late fashion photographer Janusz Sobolewski. On the right by Karolina Kosowicz.




Interesting dispute between Tadeusz Rolke and Grzegorz Lewandowski about Warsaw's intelligentsia yesterday and today. Rolke (born 1929) is one of Poland's best known documentary photographers, famous for capturing the atmosphere of Warsaw in the '50s and '60s. Lewandowski represents todays varsovians. He runs Chłodna 25, a café and artistic melting pot. I shot the backgrounds.


A history lesson about the famous Bracka street.



Interview with architect studio Grupa 5 and their vision of a futuristic, and possibly better Warsaw. On the first spread is their proposal of the new Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.


Interview with Bogna Świątkowska – promoter of urban culture and founder of Bęc zmiana. The text is illustrated with pictures of some of Bęc zmiana's artistic events in Warsaw's urban landscape. I made the portrait of Bogna.


Text about the upcoming Sztuka Ulicy street art festival...


...and Warsaw Summer Jazz Days.


A sum up of singer Morrisey's career who will play in Warsaw on 7 July. Illustration by cartoonist and singer Krzysztof Ostrowski.


Alina Szapocznikow (1926-1973) is a Polish-Jewish sculptor who lived in France. The Warsaw Museum of Modern Art is currently presenting an exhibition of her amazing work. I found the black and white contact print among the archival materials I received from the museum.


A comic called Love terrorist set in Warsaw. I wrote the script and my friend Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz illustrated.


The last page of the magazine will present interesting photo blogs about Warsaw. First up is Ludwik Lis and his black and white snapshots of a less known capital.

The next issue of Cedet will be out this autumn.

Bike boy

Last month my son learned to ride a bike without training wheels. And on the same day he learned to whistle.

Evil toy

I haven't had the chance to paint with... uhm... reel paints for a while now. But recently I got invited by Wrocław based artist Abe-S to hand-paint a Kidrobot Munny for his online gallery Vinylcanvas.com. First I didn't know what to come up with and then I had this vision, just before falling asleep one evening, of a red creature covered with eyes. I named it after a an old Fritz Lang movie called The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse. My son thought it a bit scary and told me "it can't eat with its eyes". Good point.

You can have a peek at the gallery here.

Triple award

This Thursday three of my magazines were awarded at the Szpalty Roku contest for customer magazines organized by SPF (Stowarzyszenie Prasy Firmowej). Leenia received a Honour award (last year it got Gold) "...for consequently making a good fashion magazine". KOKO was awarded Bronze "for skillfully combining a fashion catalogue and a parenting magazine with a kids magazine". Last but not least Active received Silver "for interesting and innovative design; original pictures and excellent photo editing".

Cyber punk is dead

Finally, the spring/summer issue of Leenia (#7 2009) made for the Lee jeans brand. The theme this time is virtual reality and cyberspace. And as usual I had to reinvent the layout completely. (Did I mention that I love to design this mag?) On the cover are three fifths of performance collective Babaryba. The shoot was made by photographer Justyna Cieślikowska and special fx designer Łukasz Huptyś in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Warsaw. I used a free font called Athens Classic for all the headlines (made by Soixantedeux). The magazine is distributed in Lee stores and cafés in Poland.

The table of contents. 100% magenta – my favourite colour – is a dominant in this issue. The large numbers were used in an earlier issue of Leenia and are made from stencil graffiti I have found in a carpark.

Cool stuff you can buy. Everything here is a bit retro. On this spread I introduce a frame that continues on most of the pages in the mag. I wanted it to look a bit techie, like an old instruction manual. And I love the green...

In this section we present famous people who are all called Lee-something. Alan Lee is a well known illustrator who has made book covers for Tolkien and loads of other fantasy authors. I made the small portrait.

Lee Bul is a female artist from Seoul, Korea. She fits into the cyber theme of this issue as she makes incredible cyborg sculptures using high-tech materials.

An exhausting interview with talented Polish animation artist and film director Tomasz Bagiński. One of his short movies – The Cathedral – won a British Academy Film Award and was nominated for an Oscar. To illustrate the text I used frames from some of his productions.

In each issue a designer is invited to reinvent Lee's clothes. This time up it's designer/artist Paweł Kozłowski, aka Swanski.

A text about contemporary artists who make illusionistic art: Bill Viola, Yayoi Kusama and Tony Oursler.

This text entitled "The End Of The Future" is an attempt to define the influence of cyberpunk on music and fashion. The conclusion is that cyberpunk – as a fashion statement – is dead. Still it's good to read about bands that I used to admire as a kid like Skinny Puppy, Kraftwerk, Einstürzende Neubauten, Laibach and Front 242. I love the dirty greenish background here.

Starting in this issue is an event spread with upcoming concerts and festivals in Poland. I kept it as simple as possible: black and white pics + pink text.

The fashion shoot for this issue is titled City Of Women (like the film by Fellini) and is inspired by films such as Blade Runner, Sin City and Kill Bill. Everything is shot on location in an abandoned factory. Everyone was freezing their butts off and you can actually see snow on the floor on some of the pictures. The worst part (for me) was removing all the goose bumps...

A cool text about collectors of ephemera and vintage junk, a hobby I enjoy myself. I'm particularly proud of the opening illo. I used thumbnails found on internet auctions.

A low budget shoot of Lee clothes. I used a friend as model and had to draw the background myself. The design is obviously inspired by the movie TRON.

Sylwia Restecka made the opening illustration for this text about VR in films and pop culture. The second spread is illustrated with frames from TRON. I actually watched the film for the first time since 1982 (which makes me very old) and I have to say it's still damn good. The special effects are amazing. Most of them were made without the use of computers!

The closing spread and the credits. End of line.

Doing it for the kids

This is the premier issue of my latest design-baby – a bright and colourful magazine called KOKO. It's a customer magazine targeted at parents and kids. It can be picked up for free in Coccodrillo confection stores all over Poland. Before you have a look at the stuff I just want to point out that making KOKO was one of those rare occasions where I, as a designer, could meet up with the clients expectations and still have 100% fun while doing my job. And now over to Koko the crocodile...

Table of contents.

Editorial & credits. The little green fellow on the left is called Koko and was designed by Tomek Tulikowski. Koko will appear all over the mag as you will soon find out.

Interview with Polish soap star Małgorzata Ostrowska-Królikowska who has... five kids! Gosh.

The psychology section with texts about motivating children. And that's my illo up on the first spread.

This text is about having pets. A bunny in this case.

Interview with child actress Wiktoria Gąsiewska who is mostly known for her role in Jasminum by Jan Jakub Kolski.

A text about traveling to Barcelona with kids.

This fashion shoot was produced by Nafta Squad exclusively for Coccodrillo on location in Barcelona, Spain.

This is the opening spread of the kid's section.

This is the fun&games section for the youngest kids. Adam Świderski made the illos on the left page and I made the puppy on the right.

Some fun for the older kids. These cool illos were made by Wiesław Skupniewicz.

This space-game is for kids who can read and write. Created by Ola Trościankowska and extremely talented artist Jacek Frąś.

A crossword for kids and parents. Illustration by Wiesław Skupniewicz.

Easy to make cooking recipes for the kids. And it sure was good fun to prepare the cucumber crocodile for the shoot.

The culture section with new books and event schedule.

Testing car seats.

Nice things to buy and have.


The last spread. And that's basically all! So, until the next issue...

Psycho kids

I made this illo to go with a psychology text about raising kids. It was published last week in a brand new magazine called Koko that I have recently designed. The magazine is produced for Polish clothing company Coccodrillo and is available for free in their stores all over the country.


The final spread from Koko, #1 2009.

A yucky debut

This is my debut as illustrator for Przekrój – Polands oldest (est. 1945) and coolest (no question about that!) weekly newsmagazine. The text I had to illustrate was a hard nut to crack – a scientific article about about yucky stuff like body fluids and digestive gasses. Anyway... The art director was more than happy about my work so I guess it came out quite well. Yuck!


The spread from Przekrój, #7 2009. Click here for the online version.

Introducing Mister Jerk

I have recently made a new 2-page comic to be published in Ziniol. It features a new character called Mister Jerk (Pan Burak in Polish) and the storyline has been written by Joanna Sanecka. I'll present the whole story later on. Ziniol will be out for sale in March.

Dreamy redesign

At the moment I'm working intensely on the redesign of another one of my comic books. I can't show you more at this point as it's all very hush-hush. Anyway... The cover you see here is based on the old one (illustration by Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz) but with new typography and design approach. This reedition will be published by Egmont in March and the translation of the Polish title reads Mohair Dreams. The book was first published in 2002.

Mikropolis is a comic series created by Dennis Wojda (script) and Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz (illustrations).

2009

It's gonna be a great year.

The blue issue

This is issue #6 (2008) of Leenia magazine a customer mag that supports the Lee jeans brand. It's distributed in Lee stores, cafes and bars all over Poland. I have designed everything in it from A to Z. The theme of this issue was the colour blue. This issue (together with #5) was awarded silver at the Chimera magazine design contest in 2008. Featured on the cover: Dick4Dick.


Table of contents + letter from the editor. For each issue I make a special symbol. In this case it's this "monkey face". I hid it in a few places in the magazine. Try to find it.


Gadgets and gifts spread. Everything here is... blue.


In each issue we present people called Lee-something. This time up it's actor Christopher Lee and completely unknown buta completely sweet myspace starlet Amanda Lee. I made the illos.


Portrait of Kristina Szasz – creative director at Lee.


In each issue of Leenia we ask a young artist/designer to reinvent the Lee brand. This time creative duo AZE Design made a special tablecloth that you can wear while you eat.


Portrait of French artist Yves Klein who loved the colour blue.


A funny text about blue in pop music.




The fashion shoot starring rock band Dick4Dick. Not much blue here, though.


A text about graffiti artists.


Blue characters in pop culture. My illo again.


This spread is about an art gallery in Poznań called The Blue Door.


Two fashion spreads for boys and girls. I wanted them to look like paper doll cut outs.


This text is about films with a blue theme. I only had two pictures to illustrate it but I guess that was enough.


The credits spread. And that's all!

Rich kids

I made this illo for the cover of Funduj – a magazine about investment funds. It illustrates a text about how to financially secure the future of ones kids. I like the cool colours and the faded paper background. This is my second cover for Funduj. Also check out the previous one.


This is the cover of Funduj, issue 2/2009.


Earlier version rejected by the klient.

Mr Solaris

Once again a portrait of an old dude. This time it's sci-fi writer and futurist Stanisław Lem (1921-2006) – probably Poland's most famous writer. His books, including the incredible novel Solaris, have sold over 27 milion copies. I made the illo for the Polish edition of Mercedes Magazine, #4 2008.

Eco design

This is a poster I recently made for international engineering company Arup. It's an invitation to a debate about how to raise ecological awareness through art, design, architecture and media. The meeting is held in Poznań, Poland. As you can see the client had a lot of text to highlight in the poster. I had no room for images so I went for a minimalistic layout with warm colours. The paper background ads an eco feeling to it.

Small but thick

This is the cover of a catalogue I have recently designed. It's small (165mm x 155mm) but 314 pages thick. It was made as a follow-up to an exhibition and academic conference about contemporary icon painting (writing?) that took place in Warsaw this summer. The catalogue has been published with funds from the City Council of Warsaw.


The same book will also be published as an art album – with a slightly altered cover. It will be out in the shops this December.

Complete redesign

A few years ago Siedmioróg published the first book in the Mikropolis series, The Tourist Guide (Przewodnik turystyczny). Egmont will publish an extended reedition this December and I have reinvented the design completely. All illustrations are made by Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz. Above is the new cover.

The new back cover.

The original cover from 2001.

Mikropolis is a comic published since 1994 in loads of Polish magazines and newspapers. Two hardcover books have been published so far. Illustrations by Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz, scripts by Dennis Wojda.

Cool as silver

Yesterday my magazine Leenia won silver at Poland's prime magazine design contest Chimera! The award was in the custom publishing category and I guess Leenia was the best as there was no gold prize. The organizer of the contest is VFP Communications, publisher of Media&Marketing magazine.

The entry covers...

...and the diploma.

A bit scary, a bit funny

The title of this 4-page comic is The Big Scary Hole (Wielka groźna dziura). It's dedicated to my son as it's based on a dream he once had. It was recently published in a Polish comic zine called Ziniol (#2 2008). For those of you who don't know Polish: enjoy the pictures!

Blue beard

A portrait of Christopher Lee I made for Leenia magazine, #6 2008. He is a great actor and, in my opinion, the true face of Dracula.

In search of the blue race

My illustration for a text titled "The Blue Race" published in Leenia #6 2008. The article is about blue characters in popular culture. The characters in the picture (Jill Bioskop, Cookie Monster, Abe Sapien, Blue Meanie, James P. Sullivan, Tiva) are obviously not invented by me.


And this is the second spread.

Green sweater girl

My portrait of Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, ex editor-in-chief of the Polish edition of Elle Decoration. It was to be used in a new magazine about design called... Design Magazine.

Music from the past

When I was a kid I sang in a synth-duo called Berliner Platz. We recorded two demo cassettes, had a few gigs and things were going pretty good. Today Marcos Ciscar, the other half of the band, is a successful music producer. Marcos contacted me recently after many years of mutual silence. He had found our old DAT-tapes in the basement and wanted to send me a copy. I instantly felt an urge to design a new cover. The title of the album is Corporal punishment.

About... Poope Musique

This might be a bit out of date. Anyway... The astonishingly cool art-zine Notes.na.sześć.tygodni from Warsaw once published a mini-interview with me about my design of Baaba's record Poope Musique (#24/26 2006).

Something friendly

A logo I made for UOKiK, the national consumer rights organization of Poland. They asked for something friendly and not too formal. At the end of the day they decided to stay with their old logo.

A few of my proposals.

Designer grrrls

My portrait of two young designers – Klaudia Karkowska and Kasia Łaszcz. It was published in Leenia, a magazine I design for Lee Jeans.

This is the spread from Leenia issue 4, 2007.

Dirty logo

A logo I made for a band. Looks like a stencil graffiti.

End of summer

I made this drawing for Active (#3 2008). It illustrates a text about the importance of being fit and active.

And this is the magazine spread.

Post-holiday effect

My drawing published in the latest issue of Active (#3 2008). The text is about the difficulty of returning to work when your holiday is over. Sigh...

Retronaïve

One of my most beloved designs – a cover for Baaba's Poope Musique album. I made everything here including layout, typography and illustrations. The CD was published by Lado ABC in 2006 and received loads of excellent reviews in the music press. The design looks a bit retro and naïve and that's precisely what it's supposed to look like as it was 100% inspired by Baaba's music. I guess this is the quintessence of my taste and style at the time of making.

Backside of the cover.

One of my illos from the inside of the digipak.

Eye candy

Another cover I made for a Dean Koontz novel. This time it's The Face. The Polish title is Twarz and it was published by Prószyński in 2004. I based the design on a picture I shot myself – that's my eye and my hands. And no, I won't tell you how I managed to put my head into the box and shoot the picture at the same time.

Simple and clean

Leenia is the title of a customer magazine I design for jeans brand Lee. It's distributed for free in shops, cafés and bars. Every issue has a new layout and theme. Issue #5 2008 was mostly about film and animated film. For this issue I decided to make a really simple layout with sparse use of colour. The girls on the cover are members of a Polish indie band called Betty Be. The big title was handmade - a paper cutout.


This is the gadget spread. The silhouette of Norman Bates' mom is actually a shower curtain.


On this spread we present young designers who have to make something new and inventive out of Lee clothes. In this case they made furniture.


Plazmatikon is a Polish band playing electro nu-jazz (whatever that is!) They only use vintage instruments an their sound is a bit retro. I wanted the photos to look like old ORWO colour negatives.


This is the last spread of the fashion shoot with Betty Be. It was inspired by Tarantino's Death Proof.

A fictive interview with comic character Jerry The Hedgehog about him starring in an animated feature film.

Another fashion shoot with human cameras.

Academy awarded Peter And The Wolf - another animated feature production.

What the hell is Baaba?

This is the logo of Baaba. I made it for their recordcovers, posters, stickers and promo stuff. Look for examples in my older posts.

Beloved typeface

The name of this typeface is Mohair Dream. I found it on an old box from the 1950's containing welding glasses. I wanted to use it on the cover of a comic book of mine called Moherowe sny (Polish for Mohair dreams). I love this typeface as it's so retro and have used it for many of my designs.

A new magazine is born

In 2006 I was asked to participate in the development of a completely new magazine about art, fashion and lifestyle entitled Lans. The brief was to make something unusual, something opposite to a mainstream magazine. It had to be very personal and subjective, hence a unique redaction consisting of Polish media personalities like Paweł Sito, Bogna Świątkowska and Tomek Lipiński. The magazine was to be sponsored by House, a clothes brand for teenagers. Here are my proposals for a logo, a few covers and spreads. Enjoy.

Gas explosion

My first record cover for Baaba. Bartek Weber, the leader of Baaba, couldn't come up with a title, so I listened through the record a few times. Then I drew this gas cooker... and along came the title. This was back in 2001.

The Old House

This is a picture of an old building in Łódź. I think I made it back in 1992. I later coloured it with watercolours.

Love is in the air

Zorka

This is a drawing I made for Leenia (issue #4 2007).

Lee Miller is cool

Lee Miller, the famous American fashion and war photographer. Lover and muse of Man Ray. I actually based this portrait of her on a photo by Man Ray.


The drawing was published in Leenia, issue #4 2007.

Front cover!

My illustration was used on the front cover of a brand new magazine called Funduj. The magazine is all about investment funds.

Baby money box

Illustration for a text about how to receive a nursing grant for a sick child.


It was published in Diabetyk #6 2008.

Hairy monster

I designed the cover of the last issue of Abecadło Zdrowia. I guess it looks quite cool for being a periodical for scientists and doctors.

Shirley Horn

I really like this portrait I made of jazz singer Shirley Horn.


It was published in Active #1 2008.

Proud father

Jason Lee

My portrait of Jason Lee, the American actor-director-skater. It was published in Leenia #3 2007.


This what it looked like inside the magazine.

Who's that knocking at my door?

This unpublished illustration was made for an article about bailiffs and debt acquisition.

Indian kitsch

This illo was made for E26 #1 2007. The text is about people who dress up as Indians and who try to recreate their way of life.


And this is the magazine spread.

The Legendary Pink Bone

My friend Jakub Mazerant got the idea of making a never ending comic book. He made the first frame and then invited people from all over the world to continue the story by adding one frame in the line. What you see here is my humble contribution. The project, known as Pieces Books, is regularily updated on the web.

Swingin' design

I was asked to come up with a new logo for Warsaw based Jazz Radio. I love jazz and I love to design logos!


And another version that looks like a poster from the 1960s.

Banana christmas tree

This was made for the cover of a new magazine called Lans (more about that later). The first issue was to be released just before Christmas and the publisher wanted something original and thought-provoking. As the date of release was constantly beeing pushed forward they had to use a different cover in the end.

Sexy old bastard

Illustration published in Diabetyk #7/8 2007. The text is about sex life of middleaged people.

Without a mirror

I made this self portrait on my 34th birthday without looking in the mirror.

Documentary poster

Poland: The Update is the title of an independent documentary I co-produced and co-directed a few years ago together with Joanna Sanecka and Krzysztof Sakho. I also had the pleasure of designing all the visual stuff of the film – including this poster. The film was bought and later aired by Poland’s national broadcaster (TVP1) and has been screened on numerous festivals earning a handful of awards. You can now watch it on Youtube (English subtitles).

Polish surfer dude

My portrait of Polish comedian Krzysztof Materna. It illustrated a satirical text written by him for Euro<26. I was later told that he liked my drawing.


And this is the magazine spread.

Baaba poster

A concert poster for Baaba from 2004 when they released Remixas Con Gas. The budget was tight and the poster had to be printed in two colours.

Green portrait

Iconography

A poster I recently made for an international exhibition of contemporary icons.

Diet design

Metabolism and diet was the subject I had to illustrate here. The drawing was published in Diabetyk, 2007.

Buy more

An illo I made for the Polish travel magazine E26. The sign says BUY MORE.

Exploding gas

Baaba is the name of a band consisting of Bartek Weber, its founder and my good friend, plus the crème de la crème of Polish jazz and avant-garde musicians. It's been my great pleasure to design most of their covers. Remixas Con Gas is actually a tribute record containing covers and remixes of Baaba's music.


The backside of the cover.

Portrait of a young man

A portrait I made for a magazine called Abecadło Zdrowia (Alphabet of Health), issue #1/2008. Simple and clean.

Same spread, three different styles

Here are three examples of how I designed the table of contents/letter from the editor spread in Leenia. The general idea of the layout in this magazine is that each issue should have its own original style and design.


The layout of issue #3 incorporated lots of handmade elements, dirt and fingerprints, splashes of paint etc. In this spread I used my sons plastic toy saw. I wanted it to look as if the toy had been stuck between the pages while printing.


The theme of issue #4 was photography. The layout was very, very black with lots of contrasts. Here I repeated the mirror effect from issue #3.


Issue #5 was all about movie making. The layout was clean with lots of white. The drawing and the rubber glove here refers to the headline of the letter from the editor, The First Clap. This is a joke in Polish as its the synonym of starting a film production but also the first clap (or rather slap) an infant gets from the doctor to start breathing.

Baby design

My friends' baby boy was going to be baptized. I wanted to give him something personal so I made this drawing. Jaś is short for Jan (John). I hope he'll appreciate it when he grows up.

Cover up!

As a kid I had a passion for horror fiction and Dean Koontz was probably my favorite writer next to Stephen King and Peter Straub. A couple of years ago I got the chance to make a fewcovers for Prószyński, one of Poland's largest publishers. This was the third cover I made in the Dean Koontz series. The original title is Shadow Fires was but the Polish translation of the novelcalled The Immortal the . After I had made the first version of the cover the publisher changedtitle to... Shadow Fires.


This is the first version of the cover entitled The Immortal. By the way, those are my legs.


And this is the rough sketch.

Soft and girlie

I only had one day to make this sleeve for a record to be inserted in TWIST – a teen mag for girls published by Bauer. The record was a compilation of Polish mainstream hip hop (yuck!) and the design had to be soft and girlie like the rest of the magazine. Not an easy task, I can assure you!

Graphic surgery

The Warsaw Insider – or simply The Insider – is Poland's oldest and biggest magazine for expats. Although it looks alright today it used to be a designers nightmare. The logo and layout must have been made in 15 minutes and one can only assume the reason for this was a short deadline of the first issue. In 2004 I was asked to make a new logo and a complete face lift to the layout. I only got as far as designing the logo. Shortly after this the title was sold to another publisher.

Step back, Satan!

This is a t-shirt I made for people who need some extra protection from evil things. Can be quite handy sometimes.

Unused portrait

We had a problem with the cover of the February issue of Diabetyk as we couldn't come up with a good photo of Józef Hen, the writer. The deadline was getting closer so I decide to draw his portrait. It came out pretty good but in the end we found a photo we could use instead. Too bad...

Most famous logo

Probably my most famous and most frequently published logo. Mikropolis is the title of a comic I have been making with illustrator Krzysztof Gawronkiewicz since 1992 (I'm the text guy). It has been published over the years in more than ten magazines and newspapers in Poland and abroad, a handful of comic anthologies and two individual books. The first version of the logo dates back to 1992 and has since undergone a few modifications.

Mr Lee

This is my portrait of Lee Strasberg, the legendary founder of the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.

It was recently published in Polish magazine Leenia #5 2008.

Keeping it simple

I really like this layout for a text about the new wave of protest songs in Polish rock and hip hop music. I made it for the last issue of Euro<26, a travel magazine for students. As I wanted to keep it simple I chose to use only black, red and white which in turn gives it a fanzine feel.


You can download the whole issue for free here.

Sugar free

Illustration for a magazine called Diabetyk. The article was about how schoolteachers treat pupils with diabetes.

And this is how it looked in the magazine.

Puff of power

This cute poster with The Powerpuff Girls was made for an event called Artbus. It took place during the 2006 edition of the Łódź Comic Festival. One of the city's buses was turned into an art gallery showing posters of comic book superheroes.

Simply headmade

A logo I designed for my own company.

Architecture and ideology

I made this poster for festival screenings and the promotion of MDM, a documentary film by my good friend Eric Bednarski. The title refers to the Marszałkowska Housing District, a Social-Realist district built in central Warsaw in the 1950s. "Conceived on a monumental scale as a model of socialist planning and an architectural showpiece for the new Soviet-backed Communist regime, it rose up from the ruins of a city almost completely destroyed in World War II." Eric lives in Canada and works for the National Film Board.

Polish pop star

This is a portrait of popstar/producer Kayah. I made it for a new business mag. Unfortunately the whole project is on hold right now.

Pink puppy

Just an illo I made for a girls magazine a few years back. And I still like it.

I love gold

I design a Polish magazine called Leenia. It received The Golden Column Award (nagroda Złote Szpalty) for best custom publishing magazine of the year "...for the artistic ambitions reflected in the interesting design. For the courage to use black and white and playing with detail and layout." Leenia is published twice a year and is distributed for free in clothes shops and cafés.

Connecting past and present

The National Film Archive in Warsaw asked me to come up with a poster for various screenings in Poland and abroad (the headlines are changeable). They asked for a contemporary theme that communicates their goal: to connect the past and the present. In this version of the poster I used a modern skyline to underline the location of the Archive in Warsaw.

Abstract blue

As my premiere post I'll use a drawing by my 3.5 year old son. He loves blue.