PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Mateja Kovač (40) is an academic painter and illustrator with a master’s degree from the School of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. After her studies, she discovered the advantages of digital tools and working in Photoshop, finding it to be a perfect medium for expressing her sensibility. As her beginnings in illustration were independent from publishing or graphic design, it allowed her to develop illustrations in a specific style as independent art products. In 2014, she began collaborating with international clients, and over the years her projects have ranged from outdoor and social media marketing campaigns to applications for fashion items, packaging, stationary, presentations, and more.

INFLUENCES, INSPIRATION & STYLE 

Mateja’s interest in fashion, design, film, and literature has a great influence on everything she does. European culture and heritage have always played a key role in her sense of aesthetics – stories of interesting, multi-layered characters, realistic backgrounds, and the beauty found in imperfection are some of the core values of Mateja’s artistic approach. Little gestures and habits, daily rituals and life paths, as well as the tangible belongings that surround us are often the light motive of her personal work. Her inspiration derives from warm, interpersonal relationships, intertwined destinies, connections amongst people, and love – where the atmosphere being transmitted often dominates her paintings. By captivating moments inspired by simple phrases and thoughts, she aims to emphasize the “joie de vivre” of simple quotidian rituals. 

TECHNIQUE & SKILLS

In the first years of her work, Mateja was constantly experimenting with different techniques, always overcoming new obstacles by learning to achieve various different results while discovering her own unique style. What has shown to be very useful over the years is the research and experimenting Mateja has done with different styles, making her capable of performing projects of various scopes. Along with her main focus of achieving classical painting techniques through her digital work, she believes her biggest virtues are her self-discipline and rapidity, constant education, as well as the ability of building quality relationships. By comprehending the needs of different clients, successful collaborations have resulted thanks to Mateja’s ability to quickly experiment, stylize, and adapt to new ideas. 

 

COLLABORATIONS WITH 

AGENCIES & CLIENTS

Some agencies and clients she has collaborated with: McDonald’s USA (Red Urban agency), Hillcrest Shopping Mall Canada (Red Urban agency), Graniph Japan, Papyrus USA , La The Box France , Rouge Fashion Magazine China, Tesco Magazine UK, Happinez Magazine Netherlands, Hendes Verden Denmark, Amélie Croatia, In The Moment magazine UK,Franck Croatia (Imago Ogilvy agency), Lufthansa Germany (Callwey publishing company), Zagreb Tourist Board Croatia ( in collaboration with design studio ĐKĆ), Nova TV & Zadovoljna hr Croatia, Breathe magazine UK, Marinski Heartmades Croatia, Nespresso Croatia, Sullivan Street Studio California, Huggies Pull-ups Canada (Ogilvy agency)

 


 

WHAT DO CLIENTS SAY ABOUT ME

“Over the last 2 years I have worked with Mateja a few times, and I have nothing but good things to say. She was both professional and thorough on all occasions, is tremendously talented, and pays an incredible amount of attention to even the smallest of details. Everything you could possibly want in an illustrator. It has been a pleasure to work with her, and I look forward to continuing to work with her in the future."

Nicole Aruda, Production assistant, Red Urban marketing agency, Toronto


“I am so much in love with the illustrations of Mateja.They are beautiful and dreamy, but also of high quality. Mateja also has a fantastic feeling for colours.I love to work with Mateja. She is very professional and reliable. Also very good in communications and very keen on doing a job well. It was a pleasure to work with her.”

Albertine van den Brink, creative editor Happinez Magazine, Netherlands


“Mateja was such a pleasure to work with! Great communication and beautifully executed illustrations. We couldn’t have asked for more.”

Tammy Lo, Managing Editor, Rouge Magazine, China


“We have had the pleasure to work with Mateja, appreciating the beautiful, poetic, colorful world she illustrates. Such an inspiration and peaceful wisdom for us all!”

Tamia Menez, co founder, La the box company, France


"We hereby wish to express our utmost satisfaction with our collaboration on the illustration for our project. The illustration was created promptly, with mutual suggestions and swift revisions. Throughout the entire process, there was friendly communication and a willingness to accommodate all our ideas. This made the collaboration not only enjoyable but also resulted in us getting exactly what we had in mind! Your sense of responsibility and seriousness in creating the illustration left a positive impression, which we believe is a vital quality in collaborations. Mateja, we highly recommend you for any future business partnerships with clients.
Who knows, maybe we'll have the opportunity to collaborate again in the future! :) "

Petar,  ChiaCups Studio, Croatia


"Working with Mateja Kovač was so nice and fast. She knew exactly what I was looking for, but then she made our baby moccs illustrations even better than imagined.  I hope we can work together again."

Jelena Vuković Marin, Mia& Mika, Slovenia


"I wanted to create a new enhanced version for our Aphrodite body oil, not just in terms of its premium composition, fragrance, and texture, but also in its overall aesthetic appeal. The idea had been simmering in my mind for a while until I stumbled upon one of Mateja's creations. In that instant, I decided to share my vision with her. Having discovered Mateja through Instagram and her impressive creations, I wanted to transfer a dose of elegance and femininity from her work into the design of our oil bottle. Our communication was straightforward, clear, uncomplicated and we efficiently sorted out all the details in no time. Mateja truly dedicated herself to the task, which, despite its apparent simplicity, was no easy feat. Cosmetic bottles and their printing constraints posed challenges in terms of technique and design, making it a demanding project. The end result turned out to be outstanding and immediately captivated our audience.
I highly recommend collaborating with Mateja to everyone; you'll be more than satisfied, and the process will be smooth thanks to excellent communication."

Nina Firm, founder of Jou Jou Botanicals, Croatia

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