Berenika Kołomycka

A comic book author and illustrator, one of the leaders of Poland’s children’s comic book renaissance. Her original series 'Tiny Fox and the Great Boar' studies human relationships and emotions, the dynamics of which are beautifully displayed over timeless landscapes.

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Berenika Kołomycka, photo courtesy of the artist

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Berenika Kołomycka (born 1983) graduated from the Faculty of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. She completed her degree under Professor Adam Myjak, additionally studying drawing under Professor Zofia Glazer-Rudzińska. Her graduation project was a comic strip called 'Deviant' (published by Taurus Media, 2010, with a script by Grzegorz Janusz), created in acrylic on paper. However, she made her debut while still a student in the cult album '44: Comics Anthology' (Warsaw Rising Museum, 2007) with her two-panel comic 'Heroes', also with a script by Janusz. Her comic 'About a Dog Who Felt Human' (script by Michał Narożnik) won the Grand Prix at the International Festival of Comics and Games in Łódź in 2011.

Comics give me creative freedom. They allow me to express my emotions, choose the right rhythm, and build the right atmosphere. That isn’t possible in literature, as it lacks the graphic aspect, and in painting, which, in turn, doesn’t use text. Comics make it possible to steer the reader on both planes: the choice of frame or insinuations. As a result, the reader becomes a co-creator of the piece. On the other hand, I work in analogue, with paints on paper, and I find satisfaction in playing with light, choosing colours, and just perfecting my technique,

explained the artist.

From Fox to fox

In the beginning, Kołomycka’s work was geared mainly toward adult readers. Her shorts were published in several anthologies, such as 'Silence 2011' (Centrala, 2011) and 'The Return of the Barbarians and No' (Biuro Literackie, 2013). The release of 'That Night A Wild Fern' in 2013 can be considered a shift in her chosen subject matter and to a different audience (Centrala, script by Marzena Sowa; in the US, the comic was published as ‘That Night, a Monster’, Odod Books, 2018).

A year later, the artist took part in the first edition of the Janusz Christa Contest for Children’s Comics, for which she created a pair of physically and emotionally opposite animals, a boar and a fox, as zoomorphic costumes for a story about human emotions and relationships. Their adventures, inspired by the artist’s relationship with her adopted dog Fox, received an honourable mention, resulting in the publication of 'Tiny Fox and the Great Boar: There' comic book (Egmont, 2015). Up until now, nine books of their adventures have been published. The series has been published in Spain, the US, and Norway, and an animated show is now being worked on in Poland.

It has been lauded for the picturesqueness of the graphics and the epicness of its landscapes. At the same time, Kołomycka has been praised for her ability to write about complex issues in a simple way and for finding a way to talk about emotions and relationships for the youngest readers. At the same time, however, the narrative at the level of exemplification and the linguistic style was constructed so that the plot is never one-dimensional and, thanks to its universal character, can also be moving and engaging for an adult reader.

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'Tiny Fox and the Great Boar', vol. 6, Berenika Kołomycka, 2019, photo Egmont

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Animals speak of humans

After the fall of the Iron Curtain and systemic changes in Poland after 1989, there was a generational gap, resulting in a lack of homegrown comics for children. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 21st century that modern comic books that met the market’s needs and the expectations of the youngest readers started appearing. Kołomycka was a precursor of that change with her stories of wild animals’ adventures. The 'Tiny Fox and the Great Boar' series draws on a number of traditions, both literary and in terms of children’s illustration. However, Kołomycka always filters her narrative solutions or literary topoi through her artistic sensibility and presents them in a contemporary light.

Although the titular characters are visibly animals, their characters are flesh and blood humans along with all of their modern anxieties: the fear of alienation, of being different and of stepping out of one’s comfort zone, as well as the equally important need for closeness. The zoomorphic characters let us talk about being human outside the usual criteria, such as race, age or gender.

In terms of character construction, Kołomycka’s work is closer to Charles Perrault’s fairy tales than to those of Jean de La Fontaine. The adventures of the boar and the fox are not there to make behavioural points nor serve to moralise in any way, but rather to help talk about emotions. They learn from each other, get to know themselves better, and learn to take on the world around them. The objective is not to arbitrarily separate right from wrong but to name and understand emotions.

Difficult subjects & nature

The dynamics of the characters’ relationships change in subsequent volumes. The turning points that re-evaluate the characters’ world include the boar’s departure and the wolf’s appearance. The boar teaches us about making choices, what consequences are, what loneliness is and what being together is, and to what extent a sudden and traumatising event can reconstruct the psyche. The wolf, on the other hand, is the embodiment of independence and the choice to be alone.

Although the comic books are created for the youngest readers, they don’t shy away from complex topics such as death (the story of the mayfly) or a cataclysm (the meadow fire).

In the following books, Kołomycka sends her characters off to faraway lands and confronts them with other animals. However, these trips are always pretexts for emotional and psychological autoanalysis. On the visual side, they allow her to create new landscapes and explore different flora. One of the series’ most distinctive features is how Kołomycka juxtaposes the beauty of nature with the complexity of human problems. She paints stunning landscapes that exude calmness and constancy. While, at the same time, placing dynamic relationships and behaviour straight into them. On the one hand, this emphasises the otherness and fragility of humans and their problems. On the other hand, it allows us to find solace in nature’s permanent indifference and persistence.

So far, Egmont has published nine comic books in 'Tiny Fox and Great Boar' series: 'There' (2015, 2021), 'Furthest' (2016, 2022), 'Dawn' (2017, 2024), 'That Way' (2018, 2024), 'Bang' (2019), 'Awfulness' (2019), 'Order' (2021), 'Three Words' (2022), 'Extraordinariness' (2024). In 2018–2020 and 2022, books from the series received the Polish Comics Association award (known as Orient Men since 2020) for the best comic books for kids.

The first two books were translated into Spanish as 'Zorrito y Jabali' and published as 'Alli' and 'Muy Lejos' (Dibbuks, 2019, trans. Tomasz Pindel). In the United States, the first three books were published as 'Tiny Fox and Great Boar': 'There', 'Furthest' (Oni Press, 2022) and 'Dawn' (2023). In Norway, the series is known as 'På Fire Bein', and six books have been published so far: 'Der', 'Lengst Vekke' (Andersens, 2022), 'Soloppgang', 'Den Vegen' (2023), 'Bang!' and 'Trøbbel' (2024).

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'Mika and the Howler', Agata Loth-Ignaciuk, Berenika Kołomycka, photo Wydawnictwo Druganoga

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Pan-Europe & remembrance

Another comic book for children illustrated by Kołomycka is the 'Mika' series' written by Agata Loth-Ignaciuk about the adventures of a little girl named Mika. The series is about the adventures of a young girl who is up against her vivid imagination. This series is lighter, focusing on situational jokes and a more humorous portrayal of children’s fears and problems.

To date, three books have been published by Długanoga: 'Mika and the Howler' (2021), 'Mika and the Gurgler' (2022) and 'Mika and the Chill' (2023). In the US, the first two comics have been published by Oni Press (2023). The series has also been published in Chile and will soon be released in Brazil and Italy.

The artist illustrated a comic in the 'In the Mind of a Translator' anthology (Kultura Gniewu, 2019, script by Tomasz Pindel) and is a co-writer of the 'Pan Europe: Solidarity with Ukraine' album about the refugee crisis in the EU, published by the delegation of the European Commission to Poland.

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'Pan Europe: Solidarity with Ukraine', Daria Bairamova (Indigo Dolorous), Dana Vitkovska, Wojciech Stefaniec, Przemysław Truściński, Rafał Szłapa, Robert Służały i Grzegorz Pawlak, script: Dominik Szcześniak i Berenika Kołomycka, cover: Igor Barańko, 2023, photo Publications Office of the European Union

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Currently, the artist is working on a graphic novel about her grandfather and his brother, who were part of the resistance during the Nazi German occupation, arranging escapes from the Auschwitz concentration camp. She wrote the script during an artist’s residency in Compiègne, France. It will be a two-pronged narrative. Pages in sepia will show the author’s struggles with compiling the documentation for the script, while the historical part will be in colour.

Kołomycka’s works have been presented at Polish comics exhibitions in Paris, Brussels, Angoulême, Bratislava, Moscow, London, Stockholm and Strasbourg, as well as Łódź and Kraków.