Dudás, a self-taught illustrator, started as a hobbyist, sharing his drawings on Facebook. Things turned serious when his "Find the Panda among the Snowmen!" brainteaser went viral.
"After that, my life changed: I was introduced to publishers and my agent. I got the opportunity to publish my seek-and-find books, and then I had the chance to work with New York Times bestseller author Beth Ferry on a graphic novel series called Fox & Rabbit. It all feels like a dream come true," Dudás told Bored Panda.
Dudás' artistic identity as Dudolf carries a whimsical charm, so we asked the artist how he came up with the name. The artist explained, "The name was given to me by my dear friend Toma when we were young. It originated from my last name (Dudás) as a wordplay, which makes sense in Hungarian but might not be as apparent in English. When I created my Facebook page and needed a distinctive name that was easier to remember than my real name, it came in handy."
Dudás shared that he draws inspiration from the world around him: "Sometimes ideas come easily, like a random thought on my way to the grocery store, and sometimes it's the hardest thing ever. For seasonal or holiday-themed pictures, I might spend days scouring Google searches and books to find something fun that would make a good theme for the picture. It's a bit like a treasure hunt.
The comics typically stem from silly jokes that I playfully bother my wife with. The ones that make her roll her eyes the most are the ones that I turn into actual drawings."
We asked the artist what the most rewarding aspect of his journey as an illustrator has been. "So far, my favorite moment was when I came across a video on YouTube featuring children playing with my seek-and-find pictures alongside their parents. It was the sweetest thing ever, and I felt truly rewarded witnessing that."
Looking forward, we were curious if there is anything exciting on the horizon that Dudás is itching to share with us, and his response got us very excited!
"Yes! I have a brand new series of books coming out about a pig called Piggle. You guys are the very first media I have shared anything about him with. He is full of good intentions but creates (almost) nothing but chaos. It will be my debut as an author, and I hardly can wait to share it with the world. Everyone who worked on it did a wonderful job, and I believe we put together something that will make all, kids and grown-ups alike, laugh a lot. It will be published by Flamingo Books (an imprint of Penguin Random House) early next year, titled 'Piggle the Pig: the Perfect Pigsty'."
You can find an exclusive sneak peek into Piggle at the end of this post, specially crafted for us by Dudolf!
