Peter Jaworowski, or as you all know him, The Hejz, has granted us a piece of his time to answer a couple of questions which we hope will give you some insights into the life and work of one of the most illustrious illustrators around. He worked for heavyweight clients like Nike, Nokia, Warner Bros, Coca-Cola, Sony Playstation and many more. Take a look at his fluid, organic and beautifully balanced portfolio at hejz.com

Q: Hello Peter, please tell us something about yourself and your background.

Hello, my name is Peter Jaworowski, I was born in Bialystok, Poland and currently i’m residing in Warsaw where i’m studying at Higher Institute of Information Technology, working as a Designer/illustrator at Ars Thanea ( www.arsthanea.com ) and as a freelancer. So basically - i don’t sleep much but i love what i do. My journey with digital art and design has started in the beginning of 2004. From that time i’m constantly trying to develop my skills further in the design field.

Q: What is your daily routine ?

That might be bit boring! I wake up about 8:30 am, then I take shover and getting ready to work, when I get to the of-fice ( estimated time to get there is about 1hour +/- depends on a traffic and the crowd in the tram and subway ) i usu-ally eat breakfast on there, then i sit in front of computer and work till 2 p.m and get out with my co-workers for a din-ner, when we are back it’s time to get back to work again till 6 pm. After work i’m heading home or going to the cinema together with my girlfriend of friends. Usually I go to the cinema even 3 times a week. Yes, I see almost every crap that goes out After i got home, i eat supper and working again - sometimes to the late night hours. I got to sleep about 2-3 a.m. Next day looks exactly the same, sometimes even including weekends.

Q: How would you describe yourself (professionally speaking) ?

I’m young and ambitious guy who is trying to develop his skills and knowledge wherever i have a chance. I’m a de-signer and illustrator where my works can be define as a digital abstract art with a touch of surrealism from time to time.

Q: What’s more important ? Traditional or digital ?

I think that the traditional art is more important. It’s much older and it’s a big source of inspiration and it would always have an influence on us all if we want it or not. Personally I have much respect for painters and other traditional artists since i don’t have any drawing skills at all and for me it’s just impossible to create something like some people are ca-pable of.

Q: Do you take interest in new emerging technologies ?

Yes I do, but mostly if it comes to interactive design and projects that require some additional knowledge from the technology side. I got really good teachers in my company according to this subject ( Radoslaw Krzepkowski, Pawel Piotrzkowski ). They are always up to date and can easy translate the subject in some nice way.

Q: How would you describe your evolution over the past years ?

It was a really long 4 years for me. It was a path from the very beginning to the point where I am now, I’ve learned all through this time and i’m happy with it. The hardest step is to start, like with everything, later on is getting much easier if it comes to creating things but then you step into ‘no free time’ zone where time flies like mad and it’s really hard to find some time to experiment more and evolve more. Hopefully there still will be a chance for more experiments. Let’s see what future will bring

Q: Do you ever feel dried out ? What do you do to fight the lack of inspiration ?

I’m only a human of course i feel dried out sometimes, mostly when we got Fall here in Poland and I’m exhausted by the number of projects going on or finished in some short period of time without any break. The best way for me to get the inspiration back is to leave computer and don’t think about work or anything related to this for as long as i can. I just think that taking reasonable breaks is the best cure, although we all know that sometimes it’s so hard to take some time off when we need to - especially when you are a designer

Q: How do you keep up to date ?

I got some favorite news portals that i check out daily even couple of times, the ones like The FWA ( www.thefwa.com ), NTMY ( www.ntmy.org ), CPLUV ( www.cpluv.com ).

Q: The design communities obviously have an influence on our social life. What do you think are the upmost important values of such a community and how can they be put to good use ?

Like it was mentioned before it’s a really good way to be up to date. Also it’s a very nice way if you want to exposure your works more and meet new people with the same passion as yours. By the design communities it’s always easier to catch up other designers and ask for some advice or get the inspiration.

Q: In your own words, what is design ?

In my personal opinion design is a creating process where you ‘build’ something from the scratch by using the simplest shapes like circles, lines - for instance, by modifying them. You create something that is usable and very often carry some knowledge and/or information. For me it’s also a way to express myself or a factor that might make my dreams come true and see some more world.

Q: Well, thank you for this interview! Any upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about ?

Thank you, it was a pleasure. As for the projects, hmm what can i say - watch out for the Ars Thanea’s new projects in the near future. Also Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!