Justyna Panak

Illustration - BA (Hons)

I like to think of my work as something that makes the viewer included, as if they were a part of something intimate and personal. I love creating mysterious, gothic atmosphere in my pieces. My main goal is not only for my work to look professional, but also to make people feel something - something akin to childhood awe, with a sprinkle of cosmic horror.

I love working in the sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres.

I use both digital and traditional techniques. My traditional favourites are gouache, watercolour and pencil.

A lot of my influences come from other polish illustrators, as well as literature, both polish and foreign. Folklore especially has had a great influence on the themes and topics of my work.

I would love to be a book illustrator after graduating - recreating worlds and characters with the same feeling of awe and magic I strive to put in my pieces. I also would like to work in editorial illustration.

I would say one of my key achievements was getting to illustrate and design a cover for Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky brothers, and after contacting Orion Publishing, being allowed to print a small number of this book with my work.

All illustrations presented here were created for the collectors edition of Roadside Picnic.