'Pecás Petya', 2016. Translation: "Of course, we left the surf board at home again." - "Look what a big fish I've caught!" - "Give me the stick, son!" - "King!" - "Why do we need a board?"
Zoltán Balog is a Hungarian graphic artist, illustrator and multimedia developer. His most notable comic series are the gag comic 'Pecás Petya' in Magyar Horgász and the comic series 'Series Kalandorok' in FülesBagoly. Balog has additionally drawn sports-themed comics and cartoons and comic strip adaptations of works of world literature. He should not be confused with Hungarian Bishop and Minister of Education Zoltán Balog (b. 1958), astronomer Zoltán Balog (1972) or footballer Zoltán Balog (1974).
Life and career
Zoltán Balog was born in 1971. He studied to become a graphic artist at the Számalk art school, where the Mihály Munkácsy Award-winning contemporary artist Csaba Pál was his teacher. Balog's first illustrations and caricatures were published in 1992 in the Hungarian newspaper Nepszava. Through graphic artist Pinter Peter, he got in touch with comic artist Attila Fazekas, who gave Balog a lot of useful advice to further develop his graphic skills. His first comic stories ran in Fazekas' comics paper Botond in the 1990s. Throughout the years, Balog and Fazekas teamed up on many occasions. Balog's funny cartoons also appeared on the Telesport news, broadcast on Magyar Televízió TV in 1994. He has regularly worked with scriptwriter Ferenc Kiss on adaptations of literary classics, and with humorist Tamás Wéber on comical stories.
'Hóförgetegben' (adaptation of the Karl May story 'Ein Blizzard') from Kedvenc (2016).
Balog works as a web designer and a multimedia developer, while his comics have been published in several Hungarian magazines and newspapers, such as the sci-fi magazine Birodalom, the crime magazine Pandur, the Hungarian edition of Penthouse, the crossword magazines FülesBagoly and Eszesm, the sports magazines Nemzeti Sport Magazin and Képes Sport and Magyar Horgász magazine.
Among his series are the humor comic 'Pecás Petya' for Magyar Horgász and 'Series Kalandorok' in FülesBagoly. 'Pecàs Petya' ('Petey the Angler') is a gag comic about a fisherman and his family.
Recognition
In 2006, Balog took part in the first comics exhibition in Siklós, and in 2009 he won first prize in the category 'Favorite Puzzle' from the comics portal kepregeny.net.
Zoltán Balog.