Szabolcs Kókay
Originals

Szabolcs Kókay resides in Budapest, Hungary

How did I become a bird and nature illustrator? It began with a love of nature and the drawing skills in my blood. It was quite late, at the age of 20 when I combined them and started to illustrate birds and nature.
   I was born in 1976, in Hungary. I live in the capital, luckily in a more green district, on an island in the Danube (Csepel-island).
  After finishing secondary school in 1994 I started to work for BirdLife Hungary as a civil servant. These years were very fruitful for I was working in nature conservation.
  I didn’t stop working for the society after finishing civil service but stayed here until the spring of 1999. From BirdLife Hungary I moved to the Ministry for the Environment, Authority of Nature Conservation. I was working on the Washington Convention (CITES) for 2 years.

  I started bird watching at the age of 12. I was drawing all my life, but interestingly I turned to birds and nature only in 1996. I was given more and more order for illustrations from National Parks and non-governmental organizations. I was doing this illustration work beside my main job, but it became very exhausting. In the summer of 2001 I became a full time illustrator.
  I’m self-taught, having no formal art training. I owe a lot to my artist friend, Robert Muray, who is well known nature-artist in Hungary. I visited him quite regularly and he helps me with critique and instruction.
  At first I was doing only black-and-white line drawings then tried also painting. Now I’m working almost exclusively on paper with acrylic colours.
  My favorite topic is ‘birds in the modern world’. I enjoy illustrating how nature can adapt to the changing environment. I feel this is very important topic.

Awards & Recognition:
2000 British Birds magazine’s competition, one of the four black-and-white entries won a special prize,’The PJC Award.’
Also Birdwatch magazine's calendar included a page of my Imperial Eagle plate.
2001- third place in the British Birds’ competition, and was also included in the Birdwatch’s calendar again.
2002 - Third again in the British Birds’s competition, and.my Curlew plate brought me first prize in the identification category.

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