Hi there!

Thank you for being here Reader!

As the title suggests, this week I got a big cold and still very busy at work. But! I also (re)discovered great artists you probably never heard of, and I want to remedy that ✨ And I still have some of my own art on top of that ;)

Some (unfortunate) book news!

Last week, I showed you good progress on my children book cover (that you voted for!). It was practically done, but now you can see the final version!

What made me struggle the most was not the illustration, but the text: see, it’s one thing to have a nice font, but it’s harder to present it in a way that both looks nice and provide a good contrast when viewed from a distance.

I went through a lot of iterations and debates, and we finally landed on this presentation; I even copy pasted different versions on an Amazon screenshot, to see which one would be the most appealing!

It could be better, but it’s the best I can do for now! And it would be a nice template if there was a series coming out of it :)

But you might be wondering: What is the unfortunate news about this?

Well, as I was filling out the form to publish the book, I noticed I was missing a little something important: my ISBN code.

In case you don’t know (like me a few months ago) each and every books published must have an unique code attached to them. This is something that usually cost money to register, but I had heard that Amazon and IngramSpark offered free one. Sadly, it’s only in the US!

I therefore had to go to my homeland’s website, fill out a form, and pay some money. Nothing that really bother me, but I now need to wait 3 weeks to receive the code!

So I was a bit bummed out about it, but I’ll at least have enough time to:

• Get the last finished touches done for the book
• Make a website with links to the different stores my book will be listed at
• Preparing the promotion
• Have some time to make some art for myself! (I started a new acrylics painting!)

I can’t wait to share all of this with you as we build up for the launch :)

Let's look at art together!

After being sick and working for almost a week, I finally was able to go outside and enjoy a cute date at the Manggha Japanese Museum in Krakow. And amongst the very diverse and beautiful piece of art, I rediscovered a great artist I want to share with you: Mateusz Kołek.

As you probably guessed by his name he is a Polish artist, and he actually studied Art History in the same city where I live.

In fact, I saw his work for the first time because of a big mural he did in the local ramen shop I go to!

I love how his work mixes Japanese/asian culture with European comic aesthetic, and how much details he put in his illustrations.

I’ve been told our artworks are a bit similar; and while I’m clearly not on his level technically there is some aspect we have in common! Especially when looking at his urban landscape.

But I’ll let you judge by yourself, please enjoy either way :)

You can find his artworks on his official website.

Beer Art 🍺

And that’s not all! I have two more recommendation for you! While grocery shopping in Lidl (of all places), we grabbed on a whim a can of beer, something we never actually do; we barely even drink any alcohol.

What made us do that?

The beautiful artwork on the can.

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We got baited, I admit, but the beer wasn’t actually that bad; so much so that we came back recently to buy another one and complete our collection!

At first, I assumed this was a big corporation brand, and they simply got the art from popular international artists; but no! The two artist who made the illustration of the cans we have at home are in fact Polish!

The company licensed their art for the occasion, and I’m so glad they did! They both have less than 2k followers on Instagram; and while I’m the first one to say that it doesn’t mean much, they deserve a lot more in my opinion! It’s very pleasant to see some brands not only doing something different, but promoting artists in the process.

The one on the left is from Natalia Reszka, and she makes beautiful folklore and fantasy illustrations, with badass women!

The one on the right is from Joanna Grodecka, who makes a wide range of style and techniques; but the way she paints is stunning!

I love to discover their work this week, and I hope you had a good time watching them with me 😊

(Bonus: The can has a “No AI” label plastered on it, which is not something you would have expected on a can of beer before 2022)

And that’s all for today!

Thanks for joining me on this artistic journey while I recover. The book is almost ready (even if the ISBN is making us wait), and I hope you enjoyed discovering these talented Polish artists as much as I did.

Next week I’ll share more my progress on the book’s website and maybe some of the promotion strategy. I’ll see you there!

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Take care, (and stay healthy)
- Nighten