One of the best aspects of being an illustration agency is updating our artists portfolios, it gives us time to reflect on the amazing and varied projects which they have been working on. We've recently updated the portfolio of Croatian based illustrator Tomislav Tomic.
Tomislav is incomparable in his skill for world building, his intricate pen work and attention to detail result in artworks which the viewers can completely disappear into (as long as they aren’t afraid of encountering the occasional mythical beast!)
Here is just a little taster of just one of the incredible new works we have added to his portfolio - head over to Tomislav's portfolio to see more.
To celebrate this particular portfolio update we spent a little time asking Tomislav about his work, inspirations and creative processes.
Do you have a favourite mythical beast?
Dragons are my favourite mythical beasts to draw, you can make so many variations of them and they can always look different. There is a small possibility that something goes wrong with the anatomy.
Which books did you enjoy as a child?
I was totally obsessed with books about animals that had illustrations of animals inside, I looked at them over and over again. As a kid I was fascinated by all kinds of animal encyclopaedia books I could lay my hands on and was drawing animals all the time. Probably because of the animals I liked Tarzan books a lot too.
Which classic or fairytale would you most like to illustrate?
I find Thumbelina by H. C. Andersen as something I would like to illustrate, probably because there are a lot of animals in it and a lot of different scenes that can be shown in an interesting way.
Do you sketch for pleasure, where do you most enjoy visiting to sketch?
I like to sketch for pleasure, usually things from my imagination like strange places, characters or scenes. Sometimes when I visit other places I like sketching trees or some interesting buildings. I make most of my sketches during family lunches, it is less stressful that way.
Tell us about the materials you like to use, do you have a favourite pen?
I like using classic pen and ink for line drawing but deadlines are not on my side because of the detailed style clients want me to produce. I also used Rotring pens a lot until recently but these also turned out to make the drawing process a bit slower than needed. That is why I started to use Pigma Micron pens more and more, it makes drawing faster and the line is almost the same quality. I mostly add colouring to drawings digitally because the clients usually want to have the control on colour adjustments. But when I make something that doesn't need to have digital layered colouring then I use watercolour or coloured ink washes to make my illustrations.
With huge thanks to Tomislav for taking the time to speak with us and Ivana Tomic for taking Tomislav's photo at work in his studio.
You can view his full digital portfolio HERE, for more information regarding collaborating with Tomislav please email info@arenaillustration.com
