[HR] Lijep završetak godine: slikovnica Djevojčica i div dobila je knjižnu nagradu Kiklop u kategoriji slikovnice godine, plus u siječanjskom broju hrvatskog izdanja časopisa Playboy nalazi se članak o meni na 3 stranice.
Hvala svima na podršci i zanimanju za moj rad — vidimo se u 2010!

[EN] A nice way to end a year: The Little Girl and the Giant won the Kiklop (Cyclops) literary award for picture book of the year, plus there's a 3-page feature about me in the January issue of the Croatian edition of Playboy.
Thanks everyone for your support and interest in my work — see you in 2010!


^ Kiklop 2009.

^ Playboy, January 2010, pg. 24-26

[HR] U četvrtak, 3. prosinca u 21:00 gostovat ću u klubu Quasimodo (Gundulićeva 26, Split), a posebno mi je zadovoljstvo najaviti Yanna Martela koji će mi se pridružiti putem Skypea, tj. direktnom video vezom iz svog doma u Kanadi. Uz Yanna, društvo će mi praviti Zoran Maljković, moj urednik u Mozaiku knjiga, a nas trojica pričat ćemo o Pijevom životu i još nekim knjigama, pokazivati velik broj ilustracija, govoriti o procesu njihova nastajanja... i štošta još. Upad je besplatan — svratite.

[EN] On Thursday, 3rd of November at 9 PM, I'll be giving a presentation of my work in the Quasimodo club (Gundulićeva 26, Split, Croatia) and I'm very pleased to announce Yann Martel will be joining me via Skype, live from his home in Canada. Also, I'll be accompanied by Zoran Maljković, my editor from Mozaik knjiga, and the three of us will be discussing Life of Pi and some other books, show quite a number of illustrations, talk about the illustrating process... and whatnot. Admission is free — do drop by.

[HR] Moja nova slikovnica Kako živi Antuntun uskoro izlazi iz tiska. Osim što sam je oslikao, knjigu sam grafički oblikovao i vlastoručno upisao tekst, a riječ je o mojoj vizualnoj interpretaciji klasične pjesme za djecu Grigora Viteza (1911-1966), napisane prije više od pola stoljeća. Nakladnik je Mozaik knjiga.
Promocija slikovnice održat će se 11. studenog u 17:00 sati na Interliberu (Zagrebački velesajam, štand Mozaika knjiga u paviljonu 6, štand 3D). Ulaz je, naravno, besplatan.
Nadam se da se vidimo!

[EN] My new picture book, Kako živi Antuntun (or simply Antuntun), should be out any day now. It is illustrated, designed and hand-lettered by me, and it is my visual take on the classic children's poem written more than half a century ago by Grigor Vitez (1911-1966). The title of the book/poem is in Croatian and it refers to the main character's name, his life and his ways. The publisher of the Croatian edition is Mozaik knjiga.
The book launch will take place on November 11th, 5:00 PM, at Interliber Book Fair (Mozaik knjiga stand in pavilion 6, stand 3D) in Zagreb, Croatia. Admission is free.
Hope to see you there!


^ Kako živi Antuntun (front & back cover) | oil/digital | 65x35cm |


^ Kako živi Antuntun (pages 06-07) | oil/digital | 65x35cm |


^ Mozaik knjiga bookshop window (photo by Ivana & Denis)


^ Mozaik knjiga stand design at Interliber (pavilion 6, stand 3D)

Apologies for long silence — I've been busy finishing my latest (and zaniest) picture book. More about that in a few days. Stay tuned.

I'm happy to report that the cover illustration for The Little Girl and the Giant won the "Lice knjige" ("The Face of a Book") award for the best book cover illustration published in Croatia in 2008-2009, whereas the illustrated edition of Life of Pi received a certificate of merit.
Here they are, displayed in the publisher's bookshop window in Zagreb, Croatia.


^ (photos by Ivana & Denis)

Speaking of Life of Pi: The Illustrated Edition, a few weeks ago there was a book presentation in Profil Megastore — the biggest Croatian bookstore — with Yann Martel (via Skype) and yours truly (via actually being there). It was great — many thanks to Saša Radmilov for making this event possible.
Btw, chances are we'll do a presentation again in a month or so, this time in the city of Split on the Croatian coast.

^ (photo by Saša Radmilov)

Still with Pi, but cut to the other side of the Atlantic. Washington State University Vancouver selected Life of Pi as the Campus Reading Project Book for 2009-2010. They asked to use my illustrations to create posters and handouts, and they did — to a very nice result. More here. (Thanks, Nickie!)

The Festival of Illustration in Fužine, Croatia.
You're invited.

I just finished illustrating, hand-lettering and designing a picture book titled The Little Girl and the Giant, written by an award-winning Slovenian author Neli Kodrič Filipić. It's a harrowing and yet liberating story about pain, sorrow and fear being passed on from generation to generation until someone finds the strength to release them. The Slovenian and the Croatian edition are to be published next month by Mladinska knjiga (as Punčka in velikan) and Mozaik knjiga (as Djevojčica i div), respectfully. The English edition will, hopefully, follow soon.


^ The Little Girl and the Giant (cover) | oil/digital | 72x50cm |


^ The Little Girl and the Giant (back cover detail)


^ The Little Girl and the Giant (pages 04-05) | oil/digital | 57x40cm |


^ The Little Girl and the Giant (pages 06-07) | oil/digital | 57x40cm |



^ The Little Girl and the Giant (pages 12-13) | oil/digital | 57x40cm |

I’m one of twenty artists involved with the Utopian Tales from Weimar, a bi-lingual illustrated collection of fairy tales and fables from German Weimar Republic (1919-1933), edited and translated by Jack Zipes. It features stories by political activists who deliberately transformed traditional German fairy tales into utopian narratives and social commentary. The publisher of Utopian Tales from Weimar is The Caseroom Press – a UK-based independent publisher with an interest in art, languages and poetry – whose books “are almost art objects” (as put by The Times). As for the release date... well, here’s hoping it’s sometime this year.

The tale I illustrated is The Little King and the Sun (Der kleine König und die Sonne), written by Edwin Hoernle in 1920.


^ The Little King and the Sun | pencil/digital | 42x30cm |