Natasa Jovanic

​1. What’s your story? Where are you from?

Hi! My name is Nataša Jovanić and I am an artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I grew up in a small town and as a kid, I was always shy. I drew most of a time and even today that makes me feel complete and happy.

​2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

I have an approach I picked up from printmaking, I don’t do much colour blending, shading or cross-hatching, even when I add some kind of a texture I always try to keep it clean. I`m always searching for colour harmony and thinking very carefully if I`m going to add a new colour to my pallet.

​3. What is your favourite medium and why?

After having worked with different media, gouache is definitely my favourite one, I love how flat and opaque it is. Also, for larger paintings, I use acrylic on canvas. For some time now, I started drawing in Photoshop, it really gives many advantages.

​4. What is your artistic process like?

Personal projects are totally free, I start out by drawing rough sketches on paper. I actually prefer to write while sketching. Later, I clean the ideas and begin to draw and paint. My favourite parts are thinking about the colour palette and adding details at the end. When it comes to commissioned work, for example, I read it through a few times and I write down the ideas that come up to my mind. Once I’m able to imagine in my head what the finished illustration would look like, I begin to draw.

​5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

People and feelings are an important part of my illustrations. Childhood memories and nostalgia for times that have long passed away. Travel is a huge source of inspiration for me. Every place I travel to provides something, sometimes a whole story, a completely new feeling that I transfer into my work.

​6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

I pay attention to detail and things that aren’t that special to other people. Trough art I experience the world in my own way and it affects every part of my life, in a really good way. Maybe it`s naive, but it’s always better to see things in a nice way.

​7. Where did you study?

I got my MA degree in printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

​8. Where do you see yourself in five years? Working in an agency?

I`d like to have my own studio, the place where I can work in peace and create illustrations, paintings, prints and everything that pops on my mind. Working in an agency, why not? I`d like to try that.

​9. What about in ten?

Ten feels like a very long period… It would be amazing to have a gallery and a studio.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

To take people away from their ordinary lives, even for a second, to make them feel an emotion or just to revive an old memory.

​11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

I love salads with a bunch of things in it, mushrooms, chickpeas, cheese… Chocolate cake is my favourite sweet.

​12. Favourite book?

I would say Stranger, by Albert Camus. It`s amazing how you see things differently when you read it in high school and then again later in your life.