Manja Ćirić

Manja Ciric (1990) was born in Belgrade in a family of artists. After graduating at Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade she started researching new media at Haute École d’art et de design in Geneva and right after she finished masters degree studies at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Book Graphics with Interactive Project - Book Wonderland in Belgrade.
She has exhibited in more than 15 exhibitions in Serbia and abroad. Today, Manja works as a Lead Game Artist and is active in illustration.

You grew up in a family of artists.  Did you always know that you were going to continue on the same path?

My family has always been a big influence on me. As a third-generation artist, I grew up in a very creative environment. That was normal for me. I always knew that I was going to pursue art because it was something that really appealed to me, and I am very pleased to have chosen that path.

Past generations in your family have left a big mark on the Serbian history of applied graphics and design, do you think this is in some way a burden or an incentive?

There are certainly incentives. I have the great advantage of being able to talk to my father Rastko or sister Iva about my work at any time. I think we give each other great support. On the other hand, there is a little internal competition with the rest of the family, a desire to prove myself. My grandfather Milos and grandmother Ida died when I was little, so I didn't have the opportunity to talk to them about their thinking about design, their creative process, how they work… When I work on a project I try to imagine what advice or criticism they would give me.

Who were your role models and who influenced your work the most?

I often get comments that my works are reminiscent of those of my father Rastko. Honestly, it's a big compliment but sometimes a double-edged sword because I always try to have my illustrations with unique, personal poetics.

Among the illustrators whose work I am currently inspired by are Dusan Petricic, Mary Blair, Julia Sarda, Beatice Blue, Matthew Forsythe…

What does your creative process look like?

For starters, I just sit and draw. I'm sketching, deleting and drawing again! Most of the time, at the beginning, I don't have a clear idea about how to solve a certain problem. At some point the final sketch is “born”. After that goes the coloring (and mostly at the same time watching a movie or listening to a podcast). When I finish the illustration, I leave it for a couple of hours, a day or two, sometimes a week. Often when I look at it with "fresh eyes" I find something to fix and "tighten".

Which projects are your favorite and why?

Uh, that's hard. One of my favorites is "Belgrade in Wonderland". My masters degree project, which I did in part at the HEAD faculty in Geneva. It is an interactive illustrated book of Belgrade where you use the digital magnifier to discover a strange world, invisible to the human eye. There are various flying creatures, unusual plants, giants, and various incredible creatures that have become invisible to humans over time as Man has lost touch with his unconscious.

Your freelance work is mostly focused on children picture books, but you are currently working as a “Lead Game Artist”. How did you decide to go in that direction?

Quite accidentally, I didn't really have it planned out. During my master studies at HEAD, we made, as a group project, a console game (hardware and software). That was the first time I did game art and game design. It was so much fun working on a game and seeing people play it and like it. A few years later, Two Desperados gaming studio called me to join the team. And I did. 

 It was new for me and very challenging (compared to my freelance work) but also very rewarding and I learned a lot and that knowledge influenced and made my personal art better. Just by working in a different style alone made me learn a lot! I had to adapt quickly. Also, it's kind of a mental break working in different fields of illustration. 

Illustration for children is my love, I enjoy it and will always go back to it. It's completely mine....but game art is like a flirtatious mistress haha. Always a challenge! It's a fast industry with high standards. And it's teamwork, so I'm not alone. Currently, I am managing a team of artists to work on multiple projects, so it keeps me on my toes, I find it exhilarating.

You can see more of Manja’s work here.