Igor Kordej graduated at ŠPUD (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).[citation needed]
Career
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 break-up of the group.[citation needed]
SLS studio
In the early 1980s, Kordej teamed up with
Mirko Ilić 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 Ilić he continues with solo career, doing illustration for Yugoslavian mainstream magazines, film and theater posters,[3] logotypes and album covers.[4][5]
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).[6]
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,[7] 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.[citation needed]
Marvel
From 1994 to 1996, Kordej did work for both
Marvel Comics and
Dark Horse Comics. At Marvel, he worked under editor-in-chief
Marcus McLaurin, when Kordej produced several hand-painted comics for Tales of Marvels series. He returned to Marvel in 2001 when he was invited by editor-in–chief
Joe Quesada to work on the series Cable and New X-Men. Shortly after the
9/11 attacks many of Marvel artists produced illustrations inspired by the tragedy. They all went on public auction, with the profits donated to families of fallen rescuers. Kordey's illustration Pennsylvania Plane[8] was bought by
The Library of Congress. Because of his speed as an artist, at his peak, Kordej was producing artwork for three or four monthly books at the same time. However, as a result, he has attracted heavy criticism for the quality of his art, especially from the readers.[9][10]
Delcourt
A few months later Kordej signed a contract with
Editions Delcourt. In a period of fifteen years, he produced 4-5 albums per year. He ended his tenure with the publisher in 2019, having published nearly seventy albums on the francophone market.[11]
Awards and nominations
1986 Best comic (Zvjezdana prašina), Mladost magazine, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
2013 Honorary member of ULUPUH (Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts), Zagreb, Croatia[14]
2020 Gold medal - best of show - Rastko Ćirić for
The Rubber Soul Project box set, Global Music Awards, La Jolla, California, USA.[15] Kordey participated as designer and executive producer.