Nikos Koutsis

Born in Athens in 1972. He studied graphic design at the Vakalo School (’89–’92) and worked on the Animantis animation programme at Stefi Cine & TV Productions, where he created the animated short film “The Circle” (which received honourable mentions at the Drama ’92, Larissa ’93 and Ministry of Culture ’93 festivals). He then worked for two years as a visualiser for MacCann Erickson Athens, whilst in ’95 he attended a seminar at Disney Consumer Products Paris, followed by his military service.Since ’97, as a freelance illustrator, he has collaborated with a number of magazines (Nitro, Metro, PCmagazine, Playstation, Status, etc.), has designed mascots for well-known brands (COSMOKARTA-Cosmote, Topkid-DELTA/Danone, ETHEL, etc.), has written articles for publications in the field of Visual Communication (+Design, Adobe magazine), taught at AKTO from 2001 to 2012, and since 2012 has been teaching the art of comics at his own workshop at Vakalo College.He has participated in a large number of exhibitions, including solo shows at the Vakalo School in 2000 and at the Hellenic-American Union (Comicdom Con 2007), and group shows at EPASKT (En Aithria ’05, ’08) and at the Benaki Museum (celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Vakalo School, May 2008 & ATHENS VOICE - ‘Cover Exhibition #4’, October 2009).As a comic book artist, he has created international campaigns for Adobe Europe (2004 and 2005) and the UN (he also designed the official mascot for UNEP DTIE), illustrated the mini-series “The Imaginaries” for Blue Water Productions, and works as an inker for IMAGE COMICS (Savage Dragon, Image United, Invincible, 50 Girls 50), MARVEL COMICS (Simonson’s THOR remastered) and Random House UK (Mirabilis-The Year of Wonders). He has also illustrated the comic “KOPIA”, written by Michalis Manolios, for COMIKWORLD Publications (organisers of AthensCon) and “THE WONDERFUL CAMEL”, written by Evgenios Trivizas, for IKAROS Publications.Further information can be found on his award-winning website (EBGE 2005 commendation) www.koutsis.com, on his blog koutsis.tumblr.com and on Facebook www.facebook.com/nikos.koutsis