CLUSTER ILLUSTRATION SHOP

ILLUSTRATION JOURNAL

CLUSTER ILLUSTRATION FAIR

Why and how did you become an illustrator?

At school I was good at two subjects: art and maths. Maths made me miserable, and so I decided to study art! After school I did a Foundation course, which was a taster of various art subjects. I considered studying 3D design for a while, but decided against it and picked illustration instead. It seemed to offer a clear, creative career path, and so I chose to do a BA in Illustration at the University of Brighton.

On your website you describe yourself as a Polish illustrator based in the UK. When did you move from Poland to the UK, and what impact has that had on your work?

I moved to the UK with my family at the age of 10, shortly after Poland joined the EU. At the time attitudes weren’t the warmest towards Polish migrants here, and as a child adapting to life in a new home, I tried to fit in and distance myself a little from my background. When the Brexit vote happened, I was in the second year of my degree, and it made me return to and question my Polish roots and identity. I started to look at Polish folk art, which I found so rich, full, and decorative. It has definitely inspired and enriched my work, adding new depth to it.

Why did you decide to move to London?

After finishing my BA in 2018 I decided to stay in Brighton. Even before the pandemic, I think that illustrators didn’t need to be tied down to a particular location, and so I didn’t move to London specifically for work. Shortly after graduating I was very fortunate as It’s Nice That wrote an article about my work, which opened up other opportunities for me, and led to other work for clients in Germany and the USA. But after living for so many years in Brighton, I was ready to experience life in a new city. I was spending a lot of time travelling to London (for example for Cluster Illustration’s fairs, in 2019), and was enjoying meeting other illustrators in the city, and being part of a community. As some friends had already moved to London from Brighton, I decided to make the move myself.

What challenges did you face when you first moved to London?

Finding a room was definitely a challenge! I was using Facebook pages to look for a flat-share, and found that the best ones would receive dozens of messages minutes after they were posted. There is so much competition for rooms, I even baked brownies and took them with me to viewings!

How did lockdown impact your experience of living in the city?

It’s often said that London is made up of villages, and lockdown forced and allowed me to explore my local area in greater depth. Being unable to travel across the city or use public transport allowed me to get to know my area in South East London much better than I might otherwise have done.

Spending those months in lockdown also allowed me the space to pause and reflect. From April to October, I worked on a single painting that I call my ‘lockdown masterpiece’; a large-scale work which illustrated a collection of things that happened over the course of the previous year. Putting it all down on the same page was kind of an archiving exercise; I guess something similar to a visual diary.

Particularly at the beginning of the first lockdown, I was impressed by the way that illustrators pulled together online, with those with larger platforms creating space to champion others whose work they admire. Although it has been a challenging time for many, it has also opened up new opportunities for illustrators, for example in creating online shops to sell products based on their work, at a time when we are all shopping more online. I’ve been so inspired by seeing the way in which illustrators here look for and create opportunities.

Do you plan to stay in London?

Absolutely! I definitely feel that I haven’t experienced the city properly yet, and there is so much still to explore!

What advice would you give to artists and illustrators thinking of moving to London?

I think that I tried to ‘wing’ moving to London – having a concrete plan would have been a better idea! I’d recommend having a plan of where you want to live, and jobs lined up to do. If at all possible, I’d advise anyone thinking of moving to the city to try to find a flat share with other creatives, or to live nearby, so that you have a supportive community close at hand that you can interact with on daily basis. London offers so many opportunities, and also the inspiration to work hard to achieve them.