Friday, May 25, 2018

Ten Graphic Design Books to Help You Create Images as Impactful as Mirko Ilic’s Art

Skillshare's blog just posted a reading list based on the recommendations in my course, Make Art to Drive Change (which you can view here: http://skl.sh/mirko).
This is just a small sample of books directly related to the lectures.

But of course, I didn't recommend the book about me—I'm not that obnoxious (yet)!

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Last Issue of Print Magazine

I just received the new and last issue of Print Magazine. Unfortunately, I am not in it. But thanks to the artwork of Debbie Millman, I'm on it! And in good company. My question is: if Print is dead, and this is the last issue, is my name on a tombstone?


Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Hemisphere Design Works


We designed the logo for Hemisphere Design Works. HDW is a maker of kayaks and its brands represent a dominant market share in the outdoor lifestyle industry. It's a company of passionate, like-minded makers with the collective purpose of evolving the kayak industry, while encouraging everyone to discover the freedom of the outdoors and empower the desire within themselves to make human-powered moments. You can read more about HDW in this recent article from Adventure Kayak Magazine.



Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Make Art to Drive Change: Mirko Ilic on Color, Type, and Icons

Last week, my course "Make Art to Drive Change: Mirko Ilic on Color, Type, and Icons" launched on Skillshare. Since then, I've enjoyed hearing your feedback and seeing your projects.



Today, many visual creatives are wondering how to use their skills to raise awareness of injustice. I hope that my course will give you some insight. Below is a video that previews the course. You can view the course at skl.sh/mirko and if you find it helpful, don't forget to share and leave a review.



Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Head to Toe: The Nude featured in Graphic Design in Vogue Italia

Below is a short piece on mine and Steven Heller's new book, Head to Toe: The Nude in Graphic Design published in the May 2018 issue of Vogue Italia. The book, which catalogues the manifold uses of the human figure in visual culture, is published by Rizzoli and is available now on Amazon.


Monday, May 14, 2018

Zlatko Bourek (1929-2018)

With great sadness, today I heard the news that Croatian artist Zlatko Bourek has passed away. Zlatko was a true renaissance man. He was a painter, sculptor, costume designer, scenographer, and illustrator. He directed theatre plays, feature films, and also directed and animated movies. Lots of people don't know that at the age of 14, he joined partisans and from 1943–1945 he fought with them against the Nazis. He was one of the most generous, soft-spoken people I have ever met.

I met him for the first time when I was seventeen years old and I had a summer job working as an animator at Zagreb Film. Later, in 1980, I designed a poster for his version of puppet Tom Stoppard version of Hamlet. Zlatko not only directed the play, but also created the puppets and did all the sceneography.



In 2013, he told me the he had a present for me: that he painted a likeness of me in his painting Adam i Eva. And he told me, "don't worry—you are not naked!" This comment was meant to reassure me, since I knew very well about his provocative sense of humor that very often appears in his work.



I'm really going to miss him.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Jules Radulovic - Trap for Dragona

Recently, on my visit to Zagreb, Croatia, I was flabbergasted when Croatian comics legend Jules Radulovic (b. 1928) approached me, gave me a page from his comic "Trap for Dragona".
I was further humbled when he took out a pen and signed and dedicated the page to me.
Read more about Jules here.



"Head to Toe" with Mirko Ilic and Steven Heller

Window of Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, New York
https://www.rizzolibookstore.com/news/head-toe-mirko-ilic-and-steven-heller

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Brand New Conference 2018

I'm happy to announce that I will be speaking at the 2018 Brand New Conference hosted by UnderConsideration alongside other amazing speakers.

The title of my lecture is "How Neo-Nazis and white supremacists ruined my favorite shirt" and I hope I'm going to see you there.

The conference will be on September 13 and September 14 at the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center.



Interview in Magyar Narancs (Hungarian Orange)

Because I don't read Hungarian, I think this is my best interview ever! 
The interview appears in Magyar Narancs (Hungarian Orange). The title of the newspaper is a reference to The Witness (1969), one of the most satirical depictions of Soviet Communism in Eastern European film.