Igor Kordej graduated at ŠPUD (The School of Applied Arts and Design in his nativeZagreb), graphic department (1972-1977) and attended two years atAcademy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb, graphic department (1977-1979).
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 the group of comic artists calledNovi kvadrat ("New square") in 1976–1979,[2] and publishing in several Yugoslavian youth magazines of that era. In 1979Novi kvadrat won the national award7 sekretara SKOJ-a, thus marking a break-up of the group.[citation needed]
In the early 1980s, Kordej teamed up withMirko 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]
Kordej started a career in European comic market in 1986 (France, Spain, Germany), and since 1989 on the US market, in the magazineHeavy Metal Magazine. His work from that period includes the albumLes cinq saisons – Automne, published in 1990 byDargaud. IT was appointed by theMinistry 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 inPaul Gravett's book1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die).[6]
Kordej moved from Zagreb to a small Istrian village,Groznjan, in 1988 where he led, as an artist and supervisor, a group of over 20 artists and story writers (among others a youngDarko Macan,Edvin Biuković andGoran Sudžuka), as well as veterans Radovan Devlić and Dragan Filipović Fipa,[7] producing comics and design for the German market.
In 1991, he moved toDenmark at the invitation ofSemic International company, where he spent almost a year producing comics and illustrations forMalibu Comics. In 1997 he moved toCanada, invited by the companyDigital Chameleon to become its creative director. After disputes with management, he left the company after eight months to become afreelancer again.[citation needed]
From 1994 to 1996, Kordej worked for bothMarvel Comics andDark Horse Comics. At Marvel, he worked under editor-in-chiefMarcus McLaurin, when Kordej produced several hand-painted comics forTales of Marvels series. He returned to Marvel in 2001 when he was invited by editor-in–chiefJoe Quesada to work on the seriesCable andNew X-Men. Shortly after the9/11 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 illustrationPennsylvania Plane[8] was bought byThe 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]
A few months later, in June 2004, Kordej signed a contract withEditions Delcourt. In two decades of his collaboration with the publisher, he published nearly eighty albums on the francophone market.[11]
2013 Honorary member of ULUPUH (Croatian Association of Artists of Applied Arts), Zagreb, Croatia[14]
2020 Gold medal - best of show - Rastko Ćirić forThe Rubber Soul Project box set, Global Music Awards, La Jolla, California, USA.[15] Kordey participated as designer and executive producer.
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