Personal History
Igor Kordej (referred to as Igor Kordey in American and French publications; born 23 June 1957) is a Croatian comic book artist, illustrator, graphic designer and scenographer of international reputation.
Early life[]
Igor Kordej graduated at SPUD (The School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb), graphic department (1972-1977) and attended two years at Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, graphic department (1977-1979).Professional History
Novi kvadrat[]
Igor Kordej started as a professional graphic designer when he was 18, and as a professional comic artist and illustrator when he was 19 years old, joining a very influential group of comic artists Novi kvadrat (New square) 1976-1979,2 and publishing in all relevant Yugoslavian youth magazines of that era. In 1979 Novi kvadrat won the prestigious national award 7 sekretara SKOJ-a, thus marking a breakup of the group.
SLS studio[]
In the early 1980s, Kordej teamed up with Mirko Llic again in SLS studio (acronym for "Slow, Bad and Expensive"), and focuses on producing album covers and posters for Yugoslavian pop musicians and groups. After the break-up with Lic he continues with solo career, doing illustration for Yugoslavian mainstream magazines, film and theater posters, ® logotypes and album covers.
Early international work[]
Kordej started a career in European comic market in 1986 (France, Spain, Germany), and since 1989 on the US market (Heavy Metal Magazine). His most significant work from that period is album Les cinq saisons - Automne, published in 1990 by Dargaud. That album was appointed by the Ministry of Culture in France as a work of significant cultural value and was assigned to all public libraries in France (in 2011 the same album was featured in Paul Gravett's book 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die).
Kordej moved from Zagreb to a small Istrian village, Groznjan in 1988 where he leads, as an artist and supervisor, a group of over 20 artists and story writers (among others a young Darko Macan, Edvin Biuković and Goran Sudžuka), as well as veterans Radovan Devlić and Dragan Filipović Fipa, producing comics and design for the German market.
In 1991 he moved to Denmark at the invitation of Semic International company, where he spends almost a year, producing comics and illustrations for Malibu Comics. In 1997 he moves to Canada, invited by Digital Chameleon company, working as a creative director. Having disputes with management, he leaves the company after eight months and becomes a freelancer again.