“Swept”

This short comic is devoted to Edda Moser, a German soprano who got to be a part of an amazing project back in the 70s. Her interpretation of the Queen of the Night (from Mozart’s Magic Flute) was one of the recordings chosen for the Golden Records which were placed on Voyager spacecraft and sent into space in 1977. Voyager left the solar system in 2008. You can hear the other recordings (and see the whole content) here.

There’s a great blog on the internet devoted to people who draw and cook: http://www.theydrawandcook.com/. In case you haven’t seen it before, please check it out: there’s great stuff coming up daily, very inspiring and refreshing work! Recently they had a fig recipe contest and this was my entry. It won a honorary mention which was really cool because this was the first time ever I experimented with typography and watercolor at the same time.

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Na internetu postoji sjajan blog posvećen ljudima koji crtaju i kuvaju: http://www.theydrawandcook.com/. Ako ga niste prethodno videli, obavezno ga pogledajte: sjajne stvari se pojavljuju svakodnevno, vrlo inspirativni i osvežavajući radovi! Skoro su imali konkurs posvećen smokvama i ovo je bio rad koji sam priložila. Pomenut je na list počasnih radova i to je vrlo dobro jer sam ovde prvi put eksperimentisala  sa tipografijom i bojom u isto vreme.

After more than two years in the making our book is finally out! Basically, it is a free-style lexicon of mythical beings and creatures originating from the humorous proverbs, expressions and idioms used in Serbian language, although some of them are quite universal, such as Wolf in sheep’s clothing. All these beings are personified, embodied, characterized and categorized regarding their shape, origin and habits.

Back in September 2008 I read the text for the first time and loved it. I found it very funny and inspiring. In a sea of commercial illustration this project was a tiny treasure island, a book that I could illustrate exactly the way I wanted, no special style required and no limitations imposed whatsoever (no deadline either which is always a blessing and a curse unless you know your drill). I had total creative freedom, but it came with a price: it could only be done in my spare time, after the work I do for living would be out of the way. So I just jumped into it. I dare say it was quite a feat!

This was an incredibly risky project from the very beginning due to the fact that we wanted to make a book on our own terms. There was no contract with a publisher, no advance, no guarantee that it would ever get published.  Both Aleksandar and I were published before, but of course that was not a guarantee that our project would ever see the light of day. Still I wanted to see it through.

Well, everybody knows what happens to those who get stranded on treasure islands…they lose it eventually. When it comes to illustrating a book, drawing and painting is an act of solitude and devotion, regardless of the subject matter. But during the process I was very lucky because my boyfriend was always willing listen to my rants and lend a shoulder to cry on when all of it seemed too much to handle. And so, fast forward a year or so, I believe the rescue party finally showed up on the 31^st of October 2010 in form of a last brush stroke on a last illustration intended for this book.  About 85 illustrations altogether, I believe.

I’m very grateful to our publisher because they were willing to take a risk with us!  I’m looking at the books on my desk right now, and I’m still getting used to the fact that they are finally here. I’m very happy and I hope that many will enjoy this book, because now when it’s materialized, all the difficulties I experienced during the last two years seem to have helped me learn, improve and get to know myself much better. It all seems a natural part of the creative process and if I could go back I wouldn’t do it any other way.

“Don’t ask me why”

Written by Aleksandar Milajić

Illustrated by Bojana Dimitrovski

Book Design:  A.Milajic i B. Dimitrovski

“Ne znam šta mi bi”- knjiga

Napisao Aleksandar Milajić

Ilustrovala Bojana Dimitrovski

Dizajn knjige: A.Milajić i B.Dimitrovski

Nakon više od dve godine rada, naša knjiga je najzad izašla iz štampe!

U suštini ovo je leksikon mitskih bića i stvorenja koja potiču iz šaljivih poslovica, izraza i idioma koji se koriste u srpskom jeziku, dok su neki od pojmova  vrlo univerzalni, kao što je Vuk u jagnjećoj koži. Sva ova bića su personifikovana, otelovljena, okarakterisana i kategorisana po obliku, poreklu i navikama.

Tekst knjige sam prvi put pročitala u septembru 2008 i odmah mi se svideo. Bio je veoma zabavan i inspirativan. U moru komercijalne ilustracije ovaj projekat je bio malo ostrvo s blagom, knjiga koju mogu da ilustrujem baš kao što želim, bez  ikakvih ograničenja  i bez ikakvih rokova, što je uvek i blagoslov i prokletstvo (sem ako niste upoznati sa sopstvenim ograničenjima).  Imala sam totalnu kreativnu slobodu, ali ona je došla s cenom: na ovom projektu sam mogla da radim samo u slobodno vreme, nakon što završim posao od kog živim. Jednostavno sam se bacila u to. Sada se usuđujem da kažem da je to bio priličan podvig.

Ovo je bio jedan izuzetno rizičan projekat zbog činjenice da smo od samog početka hteli da pravimo knjigu pod našim uslovima. Nismo imali ugovor sa izdavačem, nije bilo depozita, nije bilo garancije da će knjiga ikada biti objavljena. I Aleksandar i ja smo bili objavljivani ranije, ali naravno to nije bila garancija da će ovaj projekat ikada ugledati svetlost dana. I pored toga sam bila odlučna da ću je završiti.

Verovatno svi znaju šta se događa onima koji se zaglave na ostrvu z blagom…pre ili kasnije “prolupaju”. Ilustrovanje knjiga  je čin samotnjačke posvećenosti, bez obzira na temu koja se ilustruje. Ali tokom tog procesa imala sam sreću što je moj momak uvek bio voljan da sasluša moje žalopojke i glumi rame za plakanje kad mi se činilo da mi je svega dosta.  I tako, da premotam vreme unapred, čini mi se da je spasilačka ekipa stigla na ostrvo 31. oktobra 2010 u vidu poslednjeg poteza četkice na poslednjoj ilustraciji namenjenoj ovoj knjizi. Mislim da unutra ima ukupno 85 ilustracija.

Veoma sam zahvalna našoj izdavačkoj kući jer su bili voljni da preuzmu rizik sa nama! Sada gledam knjige na stolu i još uvek se navikavam na činjenicu da su najzad tu. Veoma sam srećna i nadam se da će mnogi uživati u ovoj knjizi jer sada, kad se materijalizovala, sve poteškoće koje sam imala tokom prethodne dve godine  deluju samo kao smernice koje su mi pomogle da učim, da se usavršim i da upoznam sebe još malo bolje. Sve muke i mukice su izgleda prirodni deo kreativnog procesa, i kad bih se vratila unazad i sve počela od početka, ne bih ništa uradila drugačije.

These are some of the illustrations from a book project I’m working on.  They were exhibited at the Golden Pen of Belgrade, 10th International biennial of Illustration held in November 2009 and awarded by Politikin Zabavnik magazine. The book ” Miraculous world of Soul” was written by Aleksandar Milajic.  Hopefully the book will be out sometime next year, and I’ll be able to write more about it then…

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Evo nekoliko ilustracija za knjigu na kojoj trenutno radim.  Bile su izložene na Zlatnom peru Beograda održanom u novembru 2009. i nagrađene od strane Politikinog Zabavnika. Knjigu  ” Čudesni svet duše” napisao je Aleksandar Milajić. Nadamo se da će knjiga izaći tokom sledeće godine, pa ću tada vise moći da pišem o njoj…