The Amazing World Art of Szabolcs Kókay

A journey of approximately 6 hours throughout the early morning. The sun is about to rise, the walk was intense. In the distance you can feel the sounds of nature that begin to wake up. The steps must be lighter and slower; the sound of fresh grass on the road and its unmistakable aroma give us a clue that we are very close to our stop. The majestic sun is about to say good morning to us, I am located among the foliage with a privileged view. I open my briefcase and I am assembling each of my implements. I must keep quiet because this is the key time to have the best views, when suddenly, a beautiful bird decides to come out of its nocturnal hiding place to show me the beauty of its colorful wings. I take my notebook that is at hand, make a quick sketch and return my attention to my viewfinder because this is just the beginning of the show that is about to begin. I remain silent and I limit myself to observing because only my eyes will be able to keep in my memory what I am about to appreciate. Thus begins the inspiring and talented work of Hungarian artist Szabolcs Kókay.

The wildlife artist Szabolcs Kókay, gave us an interview where he shares important moments in his life and his artistic career where his girlfriend, who is now his wife, played a very important role for him to dedicate himself exclusively to the world. Of art. A world that has brought him great achievements in his professional career and that in turn has allowed him to get to know different parts of the world.

What age did you start with your art?

I’ve been drawing all my life, as long as I remember. Birdwatching was my other hobby but have not combined these 2 passions for long, and strangely started drawing and painting animals more seriously only at the age of 20. 

Do you have a great talent that we can appreciate in your incredible work and the realism that you capture in it fills us with emotions. What is your greatest inspiration when it comes to painting and what do you want to convey in your works?

My greatest inspirations definitely come from my own observations in nature. I love painting scenes and behaviours that I witness personally. I also find it very important to see a certain animal’s habitat with my own eye, looking for interesting details, elements to incorporate in a potential painting. For me a satisfying result can only come from such personal experience. It is much more important to study the habitat than to see the animal itself, but of course an encounter gives me an important additional inspiration and thrill.

My main goal with my paintings is not simply copying a photograph, or creating something realistic, but to capture scenes that we can rarely or never see on photos. My other motivation is to show a certain species in its natural habitat, that’s why I never do animal portraits.

How do you define your art?

I treat myself more an illustrator than an artist. Most of my time is spent with commissioned illustration work, I hope that I can change the balance in the future and do more painting for my own pleasure. I always aim for authenticity, that’s why I find fieldwork very important. And that’s why I always welcome honest criticism from wildlife experts.

 

We know that you paint since you can remember and that your contemplation of nature is something that you enjoy a lot. Did you ever imagine that both things would merge and lead you to be so well known in different parts of the world?

Remembering my younger self, reading my birding diaries, I think I never had any idea about the career that was in front of me back then. I have started slowly realizing that this could be a path to follow only from the age of 20, when I began drawing birds more seriously.

European Wild Cat Catching Grey - Headed Woodpecker / Szabolcs Kókay

The theme of your work is nature, especially birds, and without a doubt the passion you feel for what you do shows in your work. When was born that special contemplation for birds?

I clearly remember that day. I was 11 or 12 years old, when I found a bird guide among my parents’s books. It was the Hungarian edition of Roger Tory Peterson’s ’Birds of Europe’ (published in 1972). I can still recall my shock realizing that we had such a book in our house. I’ve probably got immersed in it for days, luckily I still have it. It’s an interesting detail that Peterson died in 1996, the same year when I turned towards drawing birds.

After finishing your studies, you worked first at BirdLife Hungary and then at the Ministry for the Enviroment. How was your experience working there and what do you remember most from those years?

Getting a personal insight into nature conservation in Hungary has been an incredibly valuable experience. Getting to know conservationists from our national parks and NGOs, making many friends was a very important part of my life. It was in my office at BirdLife Hungary, where I found those international publications full of bird drawings, that gave me the push in 1996.

What I find very interesting is that I had good relation with my colleagues, despite being an unreliable worker. Especially in those months when I did my commissions beside my main job, during the evening/night hours, and being very tired in my office during the day. I’m very grateful to all of them for tolerating this!

In 2001 you decided to work full time in the art world, since your illustrations were in high demand and carrying out both careers was difficult. Was it very difficult to make this decision?. What do you consider to have been your greatest challenge in the world of art, after having made that decision?

Luckily I was a young and careless person back then, and didn’t worry too much about the chances of being able to live from illustration work. I was simply more interested in art than in office work so it was an easy decision. I have also received support from my fiancée (still my wife today), even in those first insecure years. I’m very grateful to her for the help.

My greatest challenges have always been learning and practicing art techniques. Being an autodidact, I had to learn everything from myself or from consulting other artists. I remember learning painting from life was a huge challenge, also changing to oils from acrylics or practicing watercolor techniques. I’m still struggling and learning a lot, probably color mixing being the greatest challenge for me.

Stephanie's Astrapia / Szabolcs Kókay

We have talked a lot about your theme and how you started before dedicating yourself full time to art. Now we would like you to tell us about your technique. We know that you worked in acrylic for many years but in 2005 you stopped and now all your work is in watercolor. What caused such a radical change, considering that both techniques are very different?

Acrylics dries very quickly, so creating smooth transitions was very difficult to me. I’ve become fed up with that dry, hard-edged look of it, that’s the reason for the change. I’ve changed to watercolor (and mixing white gouache for the details) in my illustration work. But I’ve also started using oils for my big paintings. This posed a challenge that I’ve already mentioned earlier. The quick-drying habits of acrylics is very different from the slow-drying oils, this was difficult to get used to (I even gave up trying for a year).

We have seen that you handle different techniques and that is why you also have works in large format in oil on canvas. What is the reason why you prefer oil in the case of your works in large format and not watercolor?

My big paintings are quite detailed (usually showing a lot of the habitat), I find it much easier to create in oils. I love working up a painting in layers, starting with a very rough block of colors, refining it with the additional layers. It sometimes feels like sculpting the painting. I also like that I don’t have to worry about mistakes with oils, it is much more forgiving, you can’t make too much correction with watercolors.

Do you have a favorite illustrator whose artistic work you admire?

Ian Lewington is my favorite bird illustrator. His bird shapes, poses, the feather details are simply perfect. For a while I was chasing the goal to achieve similar perfectness, but I gave it up lately. I had the opportunity to watch him working at the British Birdwatching Fair, I’ve learned more in that 1 hour than during years before. I’m lucky having an original ink drawing of a Palawan Peacock Pheasant from him.

We are all young / Szabolcs Kókay

In recent years you have spent more time in the field because, as you have told us, you prefer to work with the real reference and not through a photograph. This has also led you to travel to different parts of Europe. What is the best thing that each trip leaves you in the artistic aspect?

On my study trips I’m constantly looking for potential painting ideas, so always end up with thousands of reference photos (field sketches would be also desirable, but I don’t always have the chance to work in the field during my travels). I’m also constantly talking with local experts who have experience with certain species I’m interested to paint. This helps me to achieve that authenticity I’m always aiming for. I also try to create quick sketches after these trips while the memory is still fresh, also make some quick montages of potential painting ideas in Photoshop. Sadly I can rarely paint these ideas, because I’m too much occupied with commissioned illustrations. My future goal is to start working up these inspirations from my travels.

You have won different awards as an illustrator and the most recent was from the Cadiz History Society Natural in 2015. Do you have any exhibition project planned where you can show all your artistic work, throughout these years?

No such project planned in the near future. But as I just mentioned above, I really hope I will find the time to create a series of paintings from my travels around the World, even planning to put a big book together (probably after reaching to some missing corners of the Globe). In case I manage to achieve this goal, I will put a big exhibition together from these paintings (but probably only in 2-3 decades).

Alone / Szabolcs Kókay