Mateusz Skutnik

• born 1976
• born in Poznań
• he lives and creates his works in Gdańsk
• he specializes in comics, computer games design and film

“To learn how to draw, you have to use a tone of paper first – Janusz Christa said some time ago. At present, I am at the level of approximately 62 kilograms”.

He studied at the Faculty of Architecture of the Gdańsk University of Technology. He graduated in 2001 from the prof. Aleksander Piwek’s Department of History of Architecture and Conservation of Antiques. He publishes his works in Polish and foreign anthologies. He has participated in many comics exhibitions, including in Poland, Belgium or Germany.

The most important publications: “Blaki” (story and art), Timof, 2005; “Rewolucje”, Vol. 1‒4 (story and art), Egmont, 2004‒2006; “Rewolucje na morzu” (art), story by M. Skutnik, J. Szyłak, Timof i Cisi Wspólnicy, 2011; “Rewolucje we mgle” (art), story by J. Szyłak; Timof i Cisi Wspólnicy, 2012; “Blaki. Czwórka” (story and art), Centrala, 2014; “Rewolucje: Pełna automatyzacja” (art), story by J. Szyłak, Timof i Cisi Wspólnicy, 2016.

The most important awards and distinctions: Comics of the Year, International Comics Festival, Łódź, 2006; “Sztorm Roku” Award in the Film and Multimedia category, Gdańsk, 2009; semi-finals of Oscar 2010: Animated Short Film (directed by T. Bagiński), Los Angeles, 2010, Comics of the Year, Komiksowa Warszawa, 2014.

Mateusz Skutnik’s most favourite techniques, i.e. pencil, ink and watercolours, enable him to combine two seemingly exclusive tendencies in his works. The first of them is the underground convention, with black and white drawings and specific “dirty” and underdeveloped strokes. The images oscillate between the blackness of dense lines and the blinding whiteness of almost empty panels, giving the effect of unusual expressiveness. However, in some of his works, even when using black and white, the artist resigns from contrasting solutions and decides to use fluid transitions through various shades of grey, with details characteristic for images with colour.
The second tendency in Skutnik’s works is realistic-symbolic, which is a lot more economical and pictorial at the same time. What is typical of him is subtle plays with light, shadows and, sometimes, monochromatic colours, which evolve from moderate and pastel into more expressive ones. By experimenting with colours and the composition of the comics, both on the level of a page and of a single panel, with frequent splash pages, the artist builds the impression of three-dimensionality.
In his works, Skutnik creates his own vision of the world, rich and strange universes peopled with dreamlike creatures drawn using light strokes, with caricature heads, who contrast with the detailed background.
Although the works of the artist fit into the fantasy style, in particular steampunk, they are also close to the convention of the poetic comics owing to their dreamlike character, ambiguity and symbolism, where atmosphere and emotions evoked in readers are more important than the depicted story.

Mateusz Skutnik Gallery

More information about the artist: mateuszskutnik.com