"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger" - Friedrich Nietzsche
Name:
Maciej Sebastian Kijowski
Birthday:
22.III.1979
Current residence:
Szczecin, Poland
Hobbies:
Painting, keyboards, outdoor sports (mountain biking, trekking)
Animals:
Flat-coated retriever named Robin
Artistic background:
Since I remember, art was always in my life. My grandfather was a librarian, so we've had a lot of old books and art at home, my uncle was a painter and my mother was singer many years ago. I've never been at any artistic school and when my parents wanted to send me to music school, I've said "no". Many years later, my school mate showed me demo production on his Amiga 500. I was impressed, especially by artworks and music. My father bought me an Amiga 600 and with my neighbour we've started to make our own graphics. Soon, with our friend as a coder, we've found the demoscene group "Public Enemy". We've created two demos, but they've vanished in
the sands of time. My three paintings were published on "Magazyn AMIGA" in 1997. When I've went to high school, I've suspended to paint, due lack of time. I've started to interest in fantasy & Sci-Fi books and RPG systems like Warhammer. I was amazed by hand-drawn illustrations in RPG rulebooks, so I've started to make my own sketches.
During one of winter holidays on south of Poland, I've won the painting contest. Many people was asking me if I'm an artist and was amazed why I'm not painting more. I've started to think about what they've told me and begin to practice with sketch. Soon I've found another creative hobby. Tabletop strategy games. It was combination of RPG, painting and modelling. I've started to paint models and creating own terrain elements. Soon I've joined local fantasy&Sci-Fi club "Drakkar" and was judging few modelling contests, painted hundreds of models for other people and became an illustrator of club bulletin. During one of the cons, I was invited to local TV station to present my modelling skills. Unfortunately, the club was closed, I've started to study at the university and once again suspended all creative activity. In 2006, still being a fan and active user of Amiga, I've found an info at The Blue Suns Software page, that they're looking for new members. I've sent an email to one of owners with few of my old paintings and I was welcomed with arms wide open. It was a sparkle that fired up my creativity. Soon I've started to present my art at DeviantArt, where I was receiving a lot of positive comments.
SnakeArtworX in SecondLife:
In 2008, I've created my account in "Second Life" virtual world. I was hoping to find a new place to show my art. The beginning was not so succesful. My gallery was placed in location with low traffic and nobody was interested in my art.I've suspended SecondLife for short time to return to it, but without focusing on sales. I've found sim in Narnia and greek mythology theme and soon I've started to show my art there. This time it was successful. Within few months I've opened three galleries in SL and made many contacts with artists, writers, photographers and sculptors. During October 2009 I've had an exposition as a "Featured Artist of the month" at one of the lands, I've also created many posters and commision works for my friends in SecondLife.However, at the beginning of 2010, I was forced to close all my galleries due very low art sales in SecondLife.
Currently I live and present my art at Aslan' How, christian apologetics sim in Narnia theme and I've became a founder of "Second-Lifers-of-DA" group which gathers artists presenting their art both in SecondLife and at DeviantArt.
Last projects:
2010:
Welcome screen illustration for Bletaverse.com.
Redesigning of Aslan' How sim in SecondLife.
Booklet for "The Prophecy" album by CryLord.
2009:
Cover art for "The Prophecy" album for CryLord.
Employee ID cards for Dyskobol sport store
Illustrations from Narnia books by C.S. Lewis for Eckhard Graf.
Grand Opening poster for Seven Isles sim in SecondLife
Cover art for "The Great Experiment" novel by Eckhard Graf.
Concept arts for Aslan' How sim in SecondLife
Concept arts for "Land of the Lost" mmorpg project.
Cover art for "Vampire Vacation" novel by C.J. Ellison
Event posters for Seven Isles sim in SecondLife
Idols in art:
Old Amiga demoscene artists, illustrators of Warhammer and Warhammer 40.000 games, Toxic Angel.
Idols in music:
Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish), Hans Zimmer, Rick Wakeman, Harry Gregson-Williams, Alex Staropoli (Rhapsody of Fire).
Favourite books:
"Glory Road" by Robert A. Heinlein, "Dune" by Frank Herbert, "Narnia" by C.S. Lewis
Favourite movies:
"The Chronicles of Narnia", "BraveHeart", "Conan", "The Lion King", "DragonHeart", "The Beauty and the Beast", "Hunt for Red October", "Highlander".
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