2022 RETROSPECTION

This pas year was even more scary than the pandemic one… Finding out about the horrific war that started near the border, in Ukraine turned my world upside down also bringing back a lot of stories that my grandmother use to tell me about her family taking refuge in Romania from Hotin ( in Basarabia of those times) running out of the Russian troops way. It was a huge tragedy as you can imagine but the recovered as best as she could (altho, I know that the scars were so deep they could never be healed) and had a beautiful family. Back in our days, strangely and beautifully (as this Universe is) Florin Bica, after he wrote a heart worming and beautiful story about an Ukrainian refugee girl, asked me to illustrate it and I was very glad to accept the proposal. It turned out to be one of my favorite projects till now. You can find the book here.

Also this year, I’ve got the big news that in 2023 the other comic that I’ve worked on, some time ago, will be published by TITAN comics!!! YAY!!! What more can I say?… I’m so happy and so grateful and I want to give a big shoutout to Dave Dwonch , a great person that has always been by my side, encouraging me and making me part of his projects since the publishing of “Mishka and the Sea Devil” in 2014. Thank you, Dave!!
More about this comic book and why is it so special! The story (written by Dave and Mia Goodwin) is based on the lore of an online game that is well known and loved by the gamers of this era, Astroneer!!!!! This was also one of my most favorite projects since I worked with the nicest and understanding people and because the characters are SO ADORB, drawing them was immensly fun for me. So stay tuned to find out more about the release of the book in March this year.

This year I also had the surprise of finding out that the Artificial Intelligence is starting to make art… and had the occasion to see it evolve step by step. I can not describe in words the feelings I got along the way. I was very excited and very confused at the same time but I’ve played with it long enough to discover that I can create faster so my horizons had widened and I could approach a larger spectrum of styles (drawing, traditional painting, digital illustration, the possibilities are endless) I just needed a cool idea to put in a prompt and BOOM! I mostly played with MidJourney and I was amazed every time. Then I started to see artists rebelling against all this idea of machines making art… so yeah… the rest is history, I guess. I still don’t know which part of the barricade I find myself because I am aware that I don’t yet understand the phenomenon fully and I think I won’t understand it for a long long time, for now I consider it a tool and try to use it as that… So when I had the opportunity to participate to an Ai conversation panel at Dev.Play Conference last year, I couldn’t say no! Surrounded by my fellows Fortizens , Amber Studio and other colleagues from the game industry world, we tried to explore the possibilities and find out how will this phenomenon impact the lives of artists in general. I remains to be discussed over and over again until we find safe ways to use this tool in our advantage.

You can find my Ai generated collection of illustrations, here.

2021 retrospection

Year 2021 was the year of pleasant surprises. Besides working on a comic project that I’ve enjoyed very much and I can’t say a lot about for the moment, I’ve been invited by the History Museum Brasov to participate in one of their amazing projects CAN for Balkans, a project that promotes comic artists in Balkans and historical comics in this area. With this occasion I went with the team to visit Albania and met with the comic artists from several Balkanic countries in the capital Tirana. It was an amazing experience for me since this was the first time I was visiting Albania and with this occasion I discovered so many things that our countries have in common and the many differences that made this place so unique and interesting.
Lots of thanks for this opportunity to the History Museum Brasov team!
You can find more details on the official site of CAN for Balkans

In autumn in the same year I’ve participated at “ Festivalul de Benzi Desenate Istorice Brașov” (Historical Comic Festiva, Brasov ) with the theme of “Fear in History”. This time I’ve touched the theme of women persecution in the form of burned witched, in Europe.

2020 retrospection

Although last year was as hard for me as for anyone else on the planet I still managed to find some activities to make me feel useful and creative. Besides the pandemic short strips I did that you can find on an Instagram page that I’ve dedicated especially to this subject that you cam find here: panic__now
I’ve been invited to take part as a comic teacher on two wonderful occasions:
first was a week long program with children in nature, an event organized by ‘Muzeul Pedagogic”, Brasov. This was an unique experience since all the fun happened in a forest near the city, where children combined fun and learning in an amazing environment. Every day the explored different techniques like: drawing with ink, colored pencils, painting, collages, making comics and more, all this while enjoying nature.

Then, Wacom invited me along with two colleague artists to teach comics online. So during eight workshops online I’ve did my best to guide the participants through all the stages of creation of a comic strip, from character concept, facial expressions, and storyline to the basic steps of drawing a comic, like: sketching the thumbnails, drawing, inking and coloring. At the end the participants had a full comic strip page completed. It was another wonderful experience where I’ve enjoyed connecting with young souls and also learn some new things from them myself so thank you for this opportunity!

What Tomorrow Brings....

After 2019 was such a dynamic year with lots of events and projects that kept me busy and happy…2020 installed itself fast and imperceptibly, leaving me… living US with such limited options and less hope than ever before.

So many projects that came my way got cancelled, other ones are offering less than what would help me get over this situation. On top of that, schools are being closed and parents are getting loaded with more responsibilities they can take over their shoulders with no help from the authorities. I don’t think they realize yet what they’ve done, I hope it won't be too late when they do.

All in all, I guess we have to adapt to the new conditions that this new situation is forcing us into. I guess we have to improvise but for now, I’m really confused and can’t come up with a magic wand and summon a good solution…

What I can do though, is to draw! Draw what I feel, draw what I think, make fun (or as a Romanian saying suggests: “fa haz de necaz”=making fun of trouble). So I started this project where I illustrate in the form of comic strips, what COVID-19 Pandemic feels like when you are a parent in Romania. I post this strips on all my social media account and also on my KO-FI account, where you can support me by donateing to help me pass thru this awkward, strange, strange times.


Thank you for taking time to read all this and tank you for supporting me by liking, sharing or donating to my content. Take care and keep safe wherever you are!

Find my pandemic comic strips on Instagram, here.
Donate on KO-FI to help my creative process.

2019 retrospection

I’m looking back at this year full of joy since it was an amazing one, full of exciting projects and events.

  • Starting with “Visual Playground” in April, an amazing event where I got the big chance to meet professionals designers from all around the world and find out some helpful insights about commercial illustration. I had to joy to meet lots of old friends from the illustration and comics field and make new friends also. So thank you so much to the jury that chose me and for giving me the opportunity to take part to this amazing yearly event, it was magic!
    Find out more about the event HERE.

  • Then came a very nice surprise when I found out what cool gift I’d receive for my birthday: an invitation from the Romanian Cultural institute of Warsaw to participate at the Poznan Comic Festival in Poland. I discovered an amazing city full of almost magic looking buildings and amazing people that are sharing the same passion as me, COMICS! Another amazing experience shared with two colleagues and friends Adrian Barbu and Gabi Rusu along with other friends artists (Maria Surducan, Ileana Surducan, Anna Júlia Benczédi) that participated at a collective comic exhibition and we all got our work published in a small but precious comic brochure. Thank you for this, 2019!

  • In Jun I’ve held my first workshop at Ora Zero, Brasov. It was an Art Journal workshop and I really enjoyed this experience, some nice works of art came out of it. Thanks to Getty Tatomir for hosting this event.

  • In July I had the pleasure to be part in two exhibitions in the city I live, Brasov. One at the Centrul Multicultural al Universității Transilvania din Brașov with my friends from the Illustrators Club, Breasov and the other one at Casa Muresenilor along with many fellow illustrators from around the country organized by Illustrators Club, Bucharest.

  • The end of September and the start of October was very busy for me since I was invited by the History Museum from Brasov to hold comic workshops in several schools for their annual Comic Festival event . That was a big surprise for me and I was so happy to be part of this event.
    You can find out more details about this in my previous blog entry, here.

  • November came with a very big surprise and joy; an old dream just came true and so the first book that I’ve illustrated for a Romanian publisher was released by Editura Casa Radio at Gaudeamus Book Fair in Bucharest. The book is a comic version of “A Pig’s Tale” written by Ion Creanga. The book contains also an audio CD with radio theater for this story. I am so happy that this book came out and had so much fun illustrating it. Lots of thanks to Gilda Radulescu and Alexandru Ciubotariu for adding me to this project.
    You can find ou more or buy a copy, here.
    Photos by Alexandru Ciumpy Dolea

  • This year I’ve also been invited to participate by illustrating a story in a collective illustrated book named “Nesupusele”. You can find out more about this, here.

  • In December, another amazing project from the History Museum in Brasov came as a wonderful surprise! They’ve decided to make a huge comic book project that hosted 39 artist that illustrated 39 stories, their unique view about the events that took place 30 years back, in Romania in 1989. This book is a work of art and a real historical testimony about the fall of the communist era. I was very happy and honored to be a part of this incredible project and thank you for this opportunity, 2019!
    You can find out more here and here.

Thank you 2019 for these amazing moments for awesome project, events, friends and family support!

Comic Festival from Braso, 2019

October was a busy week since I was invited along with my friend and colleague Octav Ungureanu, to take part at this new but big event in my city, supported by the local History Museum. So that meant, comic workshops in schools for a whole week and some more workshops during the actual event. I always wanted to teach children what I’ve accumulated during these years of hard work in the comics field and this was the perfect opportunity to do just that. The children were amazing, smart and imaginative and that made my work so much fun and pleasant.
The children’s amazing work is published in a small comic book printed by the History Museum and you can see it here.
I want to thank the whole team of amazing people from the History Museum in Brasov for bringing this opportunity, and I’m waiting for the next Festival :D
You can find out more about this event and more on their Facebook page

The Festival of Comics from Poznań, 2019

This year I had the honor of being invited by the Romanian Cultural Institute from Warsaw, along with some of my talented Romanian colleagues to exhibit my work and take part in the Comic Festival “Free Comic Book Day” of Poznań. The artist community from Poznań was amazing, making us feel so welcome and comfortable, introducing us in their culture and local events. Special thanks to Justyna Cichońska for showing us the city and all the interesting stories about Poznań and Poland history and traditions. And also, thanks a lot for all the efforts, to Aleksander Gniot and the team. And of course, lots of thanks to the Romanian Cultural Institute from Warsaw, since it really was an amazing experience for me and my colleagues and friends, Adrian Barbu and Gabriel Rusu.
You can find out more details about the event in Modernism publication, here.

Here are some photos of the exhibit that took place in Poznań, with selection of works from Romanian artists: Maria Surducan, Ileana Surducan, Xenia Pamfil, Anna Júlia Benczédi, Adrian Barbu, Gabriel Rusu.

Romania 100 in Benzi Desenate

In October last year (2018) a new comic manifestation started happening in Brasov. While Romania was celebrating 100 years of history in classical ways, the Brasov History Museum decided to come with a different approach to this event by organizing a contest, a historical comic illustrated contest. Romanian comic artists allover Romania were very happy to illustrate historical events, me included.

So, because I’m fascinated with the stars, the Universe, astronauts and all the new and amazing things that get discovered related to our environment and surroundings, , I’ve chosen the subject of “Dumitru Prunariu, the first Romanian astronaut that went in to space”. Turned out this was such an inspiring subject for me and made my work so easy and so fun.

I found out with joy that I’m one of the winners of this contest.

If you want to find out more, here is an article and an interview on this subject on Modernism.ro

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

This is throw back… Saturday? Yeah, I think so.
In 2014 I’ve had the big oportunity to attend Comic Con NY, one of the biggest of his sort, with the intention to lounch my first graphic novel “Mishka and the Sea Devil”. And that’s what we did, along with Action Lab Ent and Romanian Cultural Institute that made my experience even more unforgettable.

So, here are some sweet memories:

Mishka and the Sea Devil

My first publication is "Mishka and the Sea Devil" a graphic novel full of adventures that was published by Action Lab Ent. and released at Comic Con NY, at 15th of October, 2014.  My first project is an unique experiment that explores 11 different graphic styles. This idea came up at one point in the development of the book and kept me motivated and fresh during almost 6 years of exploration and hard work in which Mishka (the main character of the book) continued evolving and growing becoming stronger and ready to fight the Sea Devil!

If you want to find out more please check out these articles: Graphic Policy,  CBR.com

You can get the book from Book Depository (free delivery worldwide), Amazon or download a digital copy from Comixology.