Monika Mucha

About me

I was born in 1980. Back then, the world was more black and white, especially in a small town in Podkarpacie. The only things that, in my opinion, deserved attention were Thorgal, the Bible in pictures, and the illustrated edition of the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz Knights of the Teutonic Order. There were two channels on TV and yet, on one of them, was Szymon Kobyliński and his eloquently told stories being illustrated live in pen, charcoal, and chalk. I was determined to equal his talent and skill. For lack of a better idea, I would draw everything I could place my hand on and lay my eye on.

Aged about ten years, I took a decision that art would be my thing in life. Funny though it may sound, just five years later I was drawing, painting and studying wood-carving in a boarding school. Another five years went by fast and turned out to be a life’s adventure. Quite logically, the next five years I spent studying at the Acadamy of Fine Arts in Kraków. I continued drawing and painting and, at the age of 22, since I was a student of the faculty of graphics, I came into posession of my first computer.

I got an M.A. degree in animated film. My film Circus won the best student film award at the Balkanima Festival in Belgrade. I received the diploma by post three years later whereas the statuette got lost. But it’s no wonder as at that time Serbia and Montenegro were going through a stormy divorce.

I got my first “serious” job, i.e. a job in my profession, as a student at the Academy. I worked as a graphic artist in an advertising company, which was shut down by the Internal Security Agency who came and sealed all the computers. I had nothing to do with it, honestly.

Then I designed packaging for tea and cheese, folders for developers, a great number of posters, visual identities for various companies and organizations, etc. In short: graphic design.

Longing to practice animation, I set up my own company where, as a one-man band, a creator and its material, I created advertsing – from the idea through to its airing on television or on the Internet. Yet, drawing 24 drawings per second of a film can be tiring, so I decided to become an illustrator. I started a blog and drew comics, jokes in pictures, and lovely drawings as well. That caught the eye of the games industry and so, for the next three years, I drew for the players while working as an artistic director. When I started my artistic adventure with computer games, the company consisted of three people. When I came to leave, the company was going public.

Recently, I have been slowing down. I can do everything and anything I have learned over the years, so I choose to primarily undertake illustration and corporate design. I am also going back to my roots: in painting, wood-carving, and crafts.

And I would be happy to cooperate with you in any of the fields mentioned above: I’m always looking for another creative adventure.