Designer Interview – Grzegorz Domaradzki

Introducing Grzegorz Domaradzki, an incredibly skilled Illustrator, Graphic Designer and Artist from Poland. Grzegorz has an impressive number of prestigious brands on his client list, including Nike, Sony Ericsson, Wired Magazine, Honda and, well, now FlyerHeroes!

After working with such an amazing list of companies, Grzegorz’s interview is definitely something to learn from and be inspired by – enjoy!

Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where in the world are you and what do you do?

My name is Grzegorz Domaradzki but people call me Gabz (it’s much easier to pronounce for foreigners too!) and I’m an illustrator and graphic designer working in Poznań, Poland. I graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in my hometown in 2003 with a Master’s degree in Graphic Arts and Drawing. After the graduation I first worked as an illustrator and later as a graphic designer for various advertising agencies. In 2005, went freelance and hasn’t looked back since. I initially work with pencil and/or pen, before the hand-drawn art gets perfected on my iMac. I also work with vectors, watercolor, acrylic and oil paint. I major in graphic design and enjoy playing with custom-made typography as well.

Q: Describe your design style and what attracts you to producing this type of artwork?

As I have graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, the tradition and skills are something that I have a huge respect for. During my studies, I used to make highly realistic and nihilistic pieces for which it was quite difficult to find an audience, since my main interests in art field included body aging, sin and anatomy. It was in the late 2006 when I decided to focus more on something less depressing so to speak and dedicated myself to illustration and design… And even though I still have this strange proclivity to pessimistic subjects, my aim is to keep the works attractive, intriguing and captivating in terms of technique, bright colors and the whole concept. I now mainly draw and scan my works, so as to later work on them digitally. And as they are much more eye-catching and accessible I think the message behind them is more optimistic, too. As to my style, I use a great variety of techniques and all sort of media so it is hard to point out one particular style… If I had to pick one, my favorite at the moment would be: a mix of realistic and in a way academic pencil or pen drawing, digitally remastered on my computer. As I come from those two worlds (art and design ), this one just came naturally.

Q: Can you show us and explain your workspace?

Sure. I work on a huge white desk and like to keep everything close: whether it’s my iMac with 2.66 GHz Intel Core Duo processor and 4GB of memory with second Samsung monitor attached to it or my favorite tools like Wacom’s Bamboo tablet and my Magic Mouse which you can both see on the photo and finally some pencils, markers, pens and eraser. I also have Cannon’s printer/scanner next to me. I hate empty walls and enjoy have something to look at, so I got some posters and other personal souvenirs hanging all around. Next to my desk I have a pretty big book case (not visible on the photo unfortunately) with some inspiring design and illustration albums (for example: Contemporary Graphic Design by Taschen, Illustration Now by Taschen, Supersonic Visuals for Music by Gestalten) and finally I’m happy to have a huge window right in front of me, so I can enjoy the view or grab a cigarette on the balcony in spare time.

Q: What methods and websites do you use to promote your artwork and attract new clients?

Taking part in various illustrative and design competitions is a helpful method of gaining recognition and interest from the clients and other internet users I guess. Not all of them of course, only those that suit one’s style and believes. It’s pretty helpful especially when there are people that you respect and/or admire in the jury. Than of course – web recognition: the more places where you showcase your works the better. Simple as that! For obvious reasons I focus mainly on creative platforms like Cargo Collective and Behance.net but it’s also good to connect with other fellow creatives via platforms like LinkedIn or well known Facebook( though I have to admit that I joined Facebook just few days ago:P). Never avoid doing interviews and tutorials either for magazines or blogs, you never know who might be reading or watching those. I guess that’s it.

Q: What preparations do you take before starting a new project and how do you overcome creative block?

There is no real method in choosing an idea for a piece of work… it is something between your intuition and good taste basically. I really enjoy music, movies, books, comics, animation etc. and as I try to have them all close to me at all times, I never have problems with finding what to work on. When an idea pops to my head, I never wait too long before I start working on it… if I am away or it is the middle of the night, I try to write it down or make a small sketch so as to remember it later. Sometimes I’m so excited to see how the work turns out that I don’t sleep at all… Of course, bad ideas are also a part of the process, but I think that your good taste and experience help you to choose those right ones. The process itself starts for me with sketching the general composition with my tablet and/or finding proper reference photos via Google. This stage is also helpful in seeing how to move elements, what colors to use and how to arrange typography. Once I’m happy with the sketch I start working on the final and believe it or not it rarely differs from the initial sketch… except of course when it comes to the number of details.

Q: Many designers use other people’s artwork to inspire themselves, where do you get your inspiration? Do you have any favorite artists?

I never really understood people who say that they have no ideas, since it is hard not to get inspired when you are surrounded by all those media like the Internet, movies, books, music, art etc.. I try to stay tuned to most of those and follow new trends and everything that is ‘fresh’, but, on the other hand, I have a huge respect for everything that was in the past. Usually, I start my day with checking what’s new on Ffffound.com or I visit blogs like September Industry, But Does It Float or It’s Nice That, because websites like these are filled with loads of inspiring pictures, people and info! There is a great number of very talented people out there who inspire me greatly, like guys from Hort, Non-format or Universal Everything when it comes to design; illustrators like Mario Hugo, Sam Webber, Von, James Jean, Tom Bagshaw, Kxx and from the art world: Anselm Kiefer, Egon Schiele, Francis Bacon and Stephan Balleux and many others who make me push harder and try to be as inspiring as they are for me… Looking at other people’s work is often how I get an idea for my future work or simply try to remember some solutions or effects used by somebody so as to later install them in my own pieces. That is how it supposed to work, I think.

Q: Can you offer any tips to help upcoming designers, especially those who’re designing for print?

Best method would be to produce tons of personal stuff. It definitely helps to improve your skills and also it’s always the best way to work when you are not told what to do and are 100% free to create what ever you feel like doing! I cannot even remember how many pretty well paid commissions I got thanks to my self-initiated projects… so that’s one thing I would recommend for sure! Always try to make things that are original and hasn’t been done before, I know it doesn’t sound easy, but to give you an example: if you think of doing a poster print, pick a movie that hasn’t been done by other well known artists before… don’t forget there are tons of bands, games and comic titles just witting for an original tribute that may later, if you’re lucky, become piece of art that many would like to possess.

Q: What are you personal favorite pieces of art from you Portfolio?

It’s hard to pick favorites to be honest. Usually newest works are my favs for obvious reasons… So for now I’m really happy with my recently created Battlefield 3 tribute titled Deconstruction 3.0 – since it was a totally self-initiated project, I’m really overwhelmed with how well it was received by the community. I also like Rockstar posters I did recently for a Bollywood movie and have to mention stuff I did for magazines like cover of Bizzarro, Joia or Megacult and various posters from Night of the Living Dead ( first time I had the chance to see my work as a glow in the dark print – pretty awesome!)to my personal projects like Vector Movie Posters or Old Time Heros artworks, which include not only Rambo and Commando but also two collaborative posters with my brother Kxx( man behind StudioKxx): Dirty Dozen and Death Wish 2.

Q: What do you do in your spare time, apart from Designing

Everyone needs to have at least one… luckily my work is my hobby too. But apart from work I enjoy watching movies (such as Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, Drive, Buffalo 66, The Deer Hunter, Boogie Nights, There Will be Blood, The Watchmen, District 9, Blade Runner, Mullholand Drive, Magnolia, The Heat and so many, many more!), listening to music( Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Royksopp, Massive Attack, Portishead, Faith No More, Daft Punk), spending time with my friends and loved ones, reading (Cormac McCarthy, Emil Cioran, Fiodor Dostoyevsky, Franz Kafka, William Saroyan, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński )and last but not least playing first person shooter games on my PS3 (huge fan of Battlefield Bad Company 2, Killzone 2 and of course Battlefield3).