Article From Designisso Magazine

I am happy to share this article from Designisso (DIS), an online magazine edited and operated by the community of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Mome Grafika MA) in Budapest.

 

"One-Page Stories - A Selection from Mirko Ilić's Comics Course."

"In this world full of information and stimuli, sometimes we need a little distraction, a good laugh, or a moment of engrossment without committing to an extended read. One-page comics serve this purpose specifically. These bite-sized works combine humor, drama and creativity to achieve their impact on a single page.

 

In the compact world of one-page comics, only one name stands out: Mirko Ilić, who creates a balance between the short format and the depth of what is said, thus setting a new example for young artists. In the autumn semester, he visited MOME's Department of Design Graphics, specializing in illustration, where he held a one-week course. During the week, the students depicted their own narratives on a single page, in addition to the pleasant consultations, they were able to take a look at Mirko's work. Last but not least, the comic books were also completed."

 

If you read Hungarian, you read the whole article here.

My First Published Illustration

Immediately after my 17th birthday, I figured out that if I want to be an illustrator, I need to publish some work. I was always ambitious and on a mission. 

At that time, I heard that Omladinski tjednik (Youth Weekly) paper was looking for illustrators. Not knowing exactly how that worked, I quickly drew half a dozen drawings on legal paper with a marker and dropped them on the desk of an editor. A couple of weeks later, one of these drawings was published in a paper. The drawing appeared published without crediting me because in my haste, I totally forgot to sign my drawings or leave my name with the editor. In the first few days, I didn't even notice that; I didn't care. I had proof that my work was good enough to be published, which was the most important thing to me. 

Soon after that, I started publishing more work in Omladinski tjednik, and other youth magazines and papers. I became an illustrator, I was credited and even paid. 

A couple of years ago, I mentioned this story to an illustrator colleague of mine, Stjepan Micak, who puts a lot of effort into scanning and collecting illustrations and comics from my generation. He managed to find that issue of Omladinski tjednik with my illustration, and he sent a scan of that spread to me yesterday. Thank you, Stjepan. 

This is probably the first time that I have seen that drawing after almost fifty years. There is obviously a lot of room for improvement, and I am still working on that.

 

 

MSNBC News Blast from the Past

Watching David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer-winning author, discuss Trump's financial troubles on MSNBC News last night, I suddenly noticed something familiar. On his bookshelves, he was displaying three books: Perfectly Legal, Free Lunch, and The Fine Print. These are all book for which I created the illustrations fifteen or twenty years ago. A blast from the past.

At that time, I illustrated the covers of many political and economic books, mainly for Penguin Books. You can see some of them here and  here.  

Those books were art-directed and designed by Joseph Perez.

 

Hari Džekson in the Wild West

Some time ago I bought this black and white photo of Hari Džekson (Harry Jackson) on the Internet. It is one of the photos from his films, which he is displaying in the window of his photography studio.

Aljuš Musli (1944–1999), was a young Muslim photographer from my hometown of Bijeljina (population 10,000-15,000 at that time), who was a passionate Western films lover, so much that starting in the seventies he changed his name to Hari Džekson and devoted all the time and money he had to shooting Western movies, with 8mm camera. He and his friends, fellow "actors" built sets of Western towns from scratch. Local peasants were supplying them with horses and local Roma (Gypsies) acted as Indians. At that time he became a cult personality. 

Unfortunately, by now he is mostly forgotten.

Since Hari never had the chance to come to the US, let alone visit the "Wild West", I decided to take him for the ride.

And here is Hari at the canyon.

 

Hari in the Cameron Trading Post in the Navajo Nation.

 

 

Hari in Navajo country.

 

Hari in front of the Blauert Buildings.

 

Hari in Red Rock Country.

 

"Usamljen kauboj sam ja, daleko od doma svog…" –Talicni Tom

"I'm a poor lonesome cowboy, and a long way from home…" –Lucky Luke

"Mendo Mendović" by Borivoj Dovniković (Bordo)

You probably think I started to collect to collect original comics in my old age. No. I started to collect comics at my young and tender age. Here is one of those comics given to me in 1975 by Borivoj Dovniković (Bordo). 

The comic is based on the hit Yugoslav children's TV show that ran from 1963-1965 with live actors and a bear puppet. The show was named Mendo and Slavica. Mendo Mendović was an early celebrity on Yugoslavian TV. He was a puppet bear that would regularly perform with Slavica Fila (Mendo and Slavica). He had a peculiar speech, inserting "n" within words (hence his name Mendo from Medo "(teddy) bear") and he let the good children press his nose, which would produce a honking sound. 

The comics Mendo Mendović were drawn by Bordo, and appeared in 1964.

 

I recently went through my storage and came across this 1962 Milton Glaser poster, Possession. It is probably one of the first Milton Glaser posters.

It was an advertisement for an exhibition at the School of Visual Arts of objects owned by the faculty that would reveal something about their aesthetic preferences. In the background of this disturbing object is the face of illustrator Paul Davis.

By today's standards, this is a totally politically incorrect image.