Magda Cwiek

Illustration - MA

School of Design

cwiek-magda@o2.pl

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Bio

Illustrator, picturebook maker and designer (ish) most frequently found around Poznan, Poland and Brighton, UK.

I enjoy working with themes of nature and biodiversity and have been having a lot of fun exploring editoral and collaborating with charities to approach pop-sci subjects from a playful angle.

The majority of my work is digital but I love exploring new media, from printmaking, to laser cutting, to digital embroidery or 3D modelling (this one goes out to dad, the number one Blender fan. Don’t fact check this).

If you’re even in Poland, keep an eye out for my murals and other site-specific work or check out my online portfolio and shoot me a message if anything strikes your fancy!

'Whirr', a picturebook about communication and hearing each other out (select spreads)

The front and back cover of a children's picturebook titled 'Whirr'. The front shows the main character's head and the back - two secondary characters and the book's blurb, which reads: "Whirr is planning a special surprise for their friends. But how will they know they're invited if they don't seem to want to hear Whirr out?"

The copyright and title page spread of the book. The copyright page includes images of blue party bunding and a scattering of springs and screws. The title page shows a simplified cityscape and four characters' silhouettes in front of it.

Pages 2-3 of the book, showing the book's characters. The text says: "When Sludge has something to say, she likes to use letter blocks to spell it our for you. When Thunk has something to say, he yells at the top of his lungs and bangs his fists until the whole room is rattling and rumbling. When Whirr has something to say, they clap their hands to let you know and then uses their hands to say it. Whose random thoughts that pop into your head out of the blue? Well, that's Sphinx communicating in its own way

Pages 10-11 of the book. The texts says: "That's okqy, they'll just go to Sludge first! She loves shiny things so she'll definitely be excited for the party! But when they got to Sludge, they found her fast asleep after a big lunch."

Pages 14-15 of the book. The spread shows 4 panels depicting the Whirr delivering a letter to Sphinx. Sphinx, to Whirr's visible surprise, eats the letter. Annoyed, Whirr leaves the frame. Text at the bottom of the second page states: "Classic".

Pages 23-24 of the book. The spread shows all of the characters dancing and having fun at a party. Letter blocks in the bottom right corner of the second page spell out "END".

Finals pages of the book. The left hand page shows a written invitation to the party from Whirr to Sphinx. The right hand side shows an image in shades of blue depicting a house at night and Whirr sleeping.

Song illustration projects

The two greyscale images below are part of a CD booklet project I participated in, illustrating select songs by Tom Waits.

In turn, the monochrome green image below was inspired by the song 'Swarm Swamp Swim' by Cosmo Sheldrake and Tom Rosenthal. To the right of the original image is the copyright-free version as shown used in one of ECA's outdoor displays advertising the Postgraduate Students' Graduate Show 2024.

A grayscale image with a single red highlight, depicting two characters dressed in police attire, one holding a bottle of red wine, the other putting a label on it. They are standing in front of a colosseum. A moon and starts can be seen in the sky behind them.

A monochrome green illustration of a stylized human sitting on a tree log. They are shirtless and wearing dark swim trunks. Above the figure is the text "lost in the lake", and to their right: "I am my mother's mistake". The log they are sitting on is overgrown with fungi.

A greyscale image showing a woman laying on the ground with her hand outstretched, reaching up towards gossamer floating through the air. She is wearing a dress and resting her free hand over a wooden staff. There is a black dog sitting behind her.

The same green monochrome image with the text removed. This image is an outdoor photo of a large 8-pane window. The illustration has been pasted over it, along with a banner advertising the 2024 ECA Graduate Show.

Site-specific projects

Mural designs and other site-specific work. Image one depicts select protected species of flora and fauna found in Poland. The photo shows the finished mural after it has been transferred onto a wall.

As a continuation of the series, the following images show a design and visualisation of the target site of a mural highlighting select protected species found in Scotland. This design was created to fit a wall at Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh, one of the sites of the now-gone Burgh Muir forest.

The last image is a response to a contest brief by the shipping company InPost. The brief asked for a design specific to the participant's local InPost parcel locker and the dimensions of the image were specified to allow for potential printing of the design to place on top of the designated locker.

A photo of a mural painted onto a grey-blue wall. The design shows a kingfisher, a salmon, a light brown sname, a moth and a yellow fungus, with a yew bush in the background.

Digital visualization of a mural pasted onto a wall. The image shows the right-hand side of the mural depicting an otter and a seal. The middle part of the mural is visible at an angle. Text in the top half of it says: "Protected species of Burgh Muir and beyond". The bottom half depicts a killarney fern an a yellow marsh saxifrage.

The left-hand side of the mural. It depicts a fallow deer and a hare.

The full mural design, showing a fallow deer, a hare, a killarney fern, a yellow saxifrage, an otter and a seal, with the text "Protected species of Burgh Muir and beyond" in the middle.

A parcel locker grid overlayed on top of an illustration of three characters. One of them is blue, shirtless, getting ready to eat a fish. The second is green, sitting on the ground weaving a basket. The third is smiling, standing up and holding a string with several apples tied onto it.

Editorial projects

Editorial illustration samples.

The first set of images shows a responses to a brief set out by the Children in Scotland charity - two versions of a full-page illustration for an article on the new Children and Young People's Commissioner for Scotland, Nicola Killean, and a smaller portrait for a feature on the organization's Head of Policy, Projects and Participation, Davic Mackay. The first of the larger illustrations, as well as the portrait were chosen to be published in Children in Scotland's bi-annual publication 'Insight'.

A set of three illustrations compiled into a single image. The first is a full page illustration showing three children speaking to a blonde, long-haired woman who is listening to them intently. In the background are colourful vines and flowers. The second is a full page illustration of three sets of hands holding arts and crafts supplies and using different art-making techniques to collaboratively create a Scottish flag. The third is a smaller portrait image of a smiling, red-haired man.

This second set of images shows select samples of work produced for an upcoming larder editorial project for a UK-based charity.

The images shown here highlight the following subjects: stage magic, disinformation on social media, ways of improving your sleep and wearable technology.