Many people started their careers in the fields of art from school days. But you graduated from the Aviation Academy and later enrolled at the Faculty of Applied Arts. Why did you replace the sky with art?
I always loved drawing and painting since I was a little girl. I always knew that my career would be in art. But at that time I wasn`t sure that my decision to go to art school would be a wise choice from a financial standpoint. So back then I choose the next best thing that I loved.
You graduated in animation, but you never worked in that field later. Why did you give up animation?
I really appreciated the experience of learning animation. To this day I still use some of its principles in my work. But the truth is that I always wanted to make illustrations and concept art, and education in animation was the closest thing to it in our college.
You used to do illustration in books, and today you work in the gaming industry as a 2D artist. What attracted you to work in gaming?
I worked as an illustrator for many years and loved it honestly. But I`m always adventurous when it comes to art. I love trying new stuff and learning a new set of skills. The gaming industry has so far taught me a lot. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me see things from a different perspective. I also met a lot of new cool people!
What topics do you like to illustrate and how would you describe your style?
I love drawing and painting basically anything that comes to mind, really. Lately, I`ve been loving to do some environments, dense cities, exploring different cultures, etc. I also love painting people kind of `caught in action`, and try to capture their emotion and movement in my work. My style is semi stylized, and I love leaving it little rough here and there with brush strokes. But still very clean and sharp at the same time.
What was the reason for founding your YT channel where you record the timelapse of your illustrations?
I love the aspect of it that allows me to share my knowledge and experiences with others, and get feedback from my audience. I remember when I was starting out YouTube was everything to me in terms of learning the basic fundamentals of drawing. I also think it`s super important to present yourself to the world, especially us as artists. And what a better way than YouTube!
Where do you see yourself in the future?
In the future, I would love to work as a concept artist on movies and animated films. I get so excited when I start developing a new concept based on a story. I love the process of research, thinking, looking for references, sketching it, looking for the best colors.. all in the service of telling a good story. Also, I love the fact that concept art is the initial stage of creating a movie, and it`s our job to make it come to life and design it.
Since you see yourself in the field of animation and film, isn’t it weird that you go back to animation that you haven’t done since college?
I see it as if I kind of went full circle. I tried everything that I wanted and settled in my mind that concept art in animation is the way to go. I think that my animation background from college will help a lot in this. It for sure put me on a right track.
What are your favorite animated films and why?
That`s a hard question, I love a lot of them! My favorites are Spiderman- Into the Spider-Verse, Love, Death and Robots, Klaus, Big Hero 6, Ratatouille, Mulan..and many more. I watch a lot of them, and they are all favorites in their own special way. I love how I get inspired when watching them and getting to experience the story, that somebody brought to life.
Is the content of the animated film or its stylization (look) more important to you?
The look of the film is certainly very important. But the story is equally as crucial to making a good animated film. One does not go without the other in my opinion. I think that they make sort of a package together – because it`s selling the atmosphere to the viewer, it`s supposed to draw us into the narrative. To keep us on our tippy-toes expecting what`s going to happen next, all while we enjoy beautiful visuals.
In the end, we will ask one tricky question – Do you prefer Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or Love, Death & Robots and why?
That`s a tough one. I am gonna have to say Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Even though I love both! I was soo… mesmerized when I first saw this movie. It was so different from everything we saw in animation to that moment. It was made to resemble a comic style, they also lowered the frame rate on some areas to make it rougher. The story and music are fantastic And many more little details that make it absolutely beautiful.
Portfolio of Milica: https://www.artstation.com/milica0307