Interview with Roman Ignatowski

INTERVIEW WITH
ROMAN IGNATOWSKI

May 9, 2015

Roman Ignatowski is a freelance concept artist living in Kraków, Poland and currently working on an illustration project for a sci-fi book set to be published later this year.

For as long as he can remember, Roman has been a fan of drawing cars and sketching science fiction concepts, like spaceships and space stations. After finishing art school in his home town, he moved to Kraków to attend University. It was during this time that Roman began to view concept art as a career and not just a hobby.

As an artist, what inspires you to create science fiction?
Well, let’s say…everything. It can be a movie, a book, a building or even the smile of a beautiful girl—we all have a lot of sources of inspiration for art all around us. But, frankly, the most inspiring thing for me is music—Pink Floyd and Muse, in particular. Art-wise, these bands are the most inspiring for me.

What sci fi books, movies, or artists have made a lasting impression on you?
Speaking about movies—it all started from watching the original Star Wars saga. I watched Episodes IV, V, and VI far too many times when I was a child, so it has made a huge impression on my artwork. The other movie that impressed me a lot was Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion. It has a great mix of minimalistic designs, wisely selected cast, and a plot that shocks and asks you to think.

Books that made a lasting impression on me are George Orwell’s 1984, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Dmitry Glukhovsky’s Future.

It’s a bit harder to choose among artists, but I really love Ivan Aivazovsky's marine paintings. They are really stunning. As for concept artists, I would choose Ralph McQuarrie, who created a unique SW [Star Wars] universe and Darek Zabrocki, whose digital painting style is just superb.

Other than art and science fiction, what are you most passionate about?
I am the type of person that is interested in a lot of things. It’s always an exciting challenge to find something new. I am a big fan of British indie rock and jazz. There’s a huge collection of CD’s and records in my home. I’m also keen on digital and analogue photography, railroad modeling, building architectural models, and playing the piano, guitar, and ukulele, so there’s quite a lot for me to do if there’s no graphic tablet or sketchbook somewhere near me.

If you could turn one future technology from concept to reality, which would it be?
This is quite a hard question, and you need to choose wisely. I would say that it’d be an advanced medicine, allowing people to live longer and achieve more, or something that would increase human intelligence and help us find solutions to global problems.

With regards to intelligent life—not fauna in general—which statement do you think is most likely to be true? A.) There is an abundance of intelligent life in the universe; B.) The universe is a big place, but intelligent life is scarce; or C.) Other than mankind and our creations, there is no intelligent life to be found in this universe.
Well, all I can say is that there should be intelligent life, anyway, and sooner or later, there’ll be a moment when we find them, or they find us. The universe is huge and not even comprehensible to the human mind, so we simply cannot be alone.