Michał Śledziński

(b. 1978; pseud. Śledziu) – a comics drawer and scriptwriter.

In his day job, he does animation, designs storyboards and layouts, and works as a director and art director. He was editor-in-chief of Produkt magazine (1999–2004), which significantly animated the comics scene in Poland. He has made comics and illustrations for video game magazines: Secret Service, Świat Gier Komputerowych and CD-Action.

Śledziński’s ‘Osiedle Swoboda’ (Liberty Estate) is considered one of the most important Polish comics series of the turn of the century – with the author’s controversial sense of humour and touch of Surrealism and fantasy, it depicts the post-transformation experience of urban youth in blocks of flats. A comedic look at the stereotypes and realities of everyday life are also central to the ‘Wartości rodzinne’ (Family Values) series, which depicts the fate of a model Polish family with two children. A particularly autobiographical note in Śledziu’s work is found in the ‘Na szybko spisane…’ (Written Down Fast…) series, a bittersweet and self-effacing look at the stages of growing up, maturing and adulthood.

Śledziński’s work was displayed in 2010 at the Masters of Polish Comics exhibition at the International Comics Festival in Łódź. He took part in the Adam Mickiewicz Institute Polish-Israeli Kompot project, which concluded with an exhibition at the Israeli Museum of Caricature and Comics in Holon. His activity in the creative sectors and interest in computer games also translated into a television adaptation of the cult comic Kajko i Kokosz (director, art direction, co-author of the script, design, storyboard, montage; produced by EGoFILM/Netflix), as well as one-off comics for Cenega, the distributor of the leading gaming titles in Poland.

For more on the work of Michał Śledziński, see here.