Give us your background as an artist. 

I've always loved to draw with a pencil being too lazy to paint as it's a messy endeavor. During school years I drew mainly as a hobby and it was almost uninstructed so I could explore the medium freely on my own. I'd draw anything from Pokemon, characters from anything I happened to like to my little comic books anything that would catch my eye. I also designed characters for RPG campaigns for friends and myself. Later on before university I focused on art, almost full time, getting some knowledge about utilitary design and fine arts. At that point I didn't know what I wanted to do and how I could possibly turn my hobby into a career. However I knew I wanted to paint. I decided to aim broad at the entertainment industry and took up Games Art and Design, which would teach me a variety of skills from painting to animating and digital sculpture. As I progressed with my studies I grew accustomed to the digital media where I learnt how to paint using a Wacom tablet and Adobe Photoshop. So I went from simple sketchbook scribbles to full colour digital painting. After graduating I decided to live off a small freelance gigs until I improve enough for a studio to hire me. I went back to Poland where I could actually live off small jobs that I would get from time to time. I was stubborn and stuck to my art and after a few years of freelance work I landed a full time job.

You live in London, right? What took you there?

Actually I live in Poland right now. I used to study in England but at the east coast in Norwich, though. I finished Games art and design course, learning digital painting.

How would you describe your work in general? 

I'd say that I do mainly fantasy illustrations, in general anything that spawns in my mind and captures my attention. Usually after reading books or listening to music. I aim to create little stories with each painting, some type of an intriguing situation. Usually these are weird characters, that I can ask questions about their identity and situations they are in.

Tell us about the painting you so kindly allowed us to use for the Picture is worth 100 words contest. What is it called? What inspired you to draw this? Is it based on your imagination, or a folk legend? 

The painting has a rather stretched out, and kind of Mr Obvious, name, Truth Lies Just Beneath the Surface. Now I think it's a stupid name for all the awesome interpretations I've seen. I almost feel that it shouldn't have a name and everyone who likes it could co-create it with their own perspective. That's why I've been so excited about the image [being chosen for] the A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words contest.

I painted it for a contest on a portal called patrimonium-europae, and the challenge was to create a beast or a demon from european folklore. In the end I literally forgot to submit the painting, but nothing lost It stayed with me for good and bad.

At that time of painting the piece I listened to a band called Żywiołak (which means elemental, as a creature of elements). They play this unique psychadelic mix of folk rock, and fast paced witch like vocals, singing about rare Polish myths, and I mean they really dig into the age old archives to pull out real beliefs that existed possibly only in certain regions of Poland. In one of their songs they sing about this superstition that you shouldn't bathe in deep water before Kupala night, which is an equivalent of Saint Valentines Day. The belief was that a general ominous bad faith walks on the bottom of rivers and lakes, so in the song a stupid peasant gets snatched and killed by a drowner. So I could say that the idea is derived from the genuine folklore.

What's next for you artistically? Where can we find more of your amazing work? 

When it comes to my future artistic exploits I'm on the roll, I took up an in house studio job painting childrens books, I've met some really inspiring people there. I dream of creating my personal product may it be an artbook or something along this way. However it's still a long, long way for me. I want to carry on learning how to paint and explore the field of schools, online courses and ateliers as time and means will allow me to florish as an artist and become a better version of myself. I carry on painting after work and some of my better work and sketches can be found on my facebook page, deviantart or artstation, as Kamil Jadczak illustration or Sarmati .

Check out Kamil's work 

https://www.facebook.com/kamiljadczakillustration

https://www.artstation.com/artist/sarmati

http://sarmati.deviantart.com/

Thank you Kamil!