This is the transcript for the video.
DUSAN: [Hello, I am] Dušan Petričić. I am an illustrator and a cartoonist, and I did [the] poster for this year.
BRIAN: My name is Brian.
BRIAN: What do you like best about summer?
DUSAN: One thing that I like the best is the feeling of freedom. During the summer, you have your T-shirt, you have your shorts, you have some sport shoes or bare feet, and nothing else. And that kind of freedom and that feeling of freedom is the best I like with the summer.
SIERRA: Hi, my name is Sierra.
SIERRA: What tools do you use to create your illustrations?
DUSAN: My tools are actually, usual tools for an artist. It’s simple: pencil, eraser, pen and ink, watercolours. I think that for me as a cartoonist and an illustrator, even [a] pencil is enough.
CARLOS: Hello, my name is Carlos.
CARLOS: Would you rather be stuck in an elevator with a zombie or a vampire?
DUSAN: Two animals, or two creatures, are not enough to spend time. You will spend time with them in first four or five floors! So, what to do with next twenty or fifteen floors? So, I’d like to have more than just two.
IGO: Hello, my name is Igo.
IGO: Do you think that having a robot arm would help your drawing skills?
DUSAN: Mmm… I don’t think so. I think that my hand, my right hand, (because I draw with [my] right hand) is… enough.
SIERRA: There are lots of dogs in your books. Are dogs your favourite thing to draw?
DUSAN: Um, dogs definitely are one of the most favourite things. And there is one particular reason why it is so. Compare dogs with some other animals. Lions, all lions look like one lion. All giraffes look like [one] giraffe. All elephants. But dogs, there are so many different kinds, types, of dogs. It’s amazing. It’s a great challenge for me as an illustrator.
SIERRA: What kind of advice would you give a child that wants to be an illustrator?
DUSAN: Carry always a pencil or marker with you. If you really like to draw, you need to have a pencil with you. As I have, you see? I have this one with me always. It’s like I cannot go anywhere without this. And it became a habit for me. Even if I don’t use it. So, the advice is, if you want to be an artist, have a pencil always ready, and draw whatever you see around yourself.
BRIAN, SIERRA, CARLOS, IGO: Have a great summer!
DUSAN: Have a nice summer too. And use this summer to try to find some new friends, to read some new books and to learn something new and exciting.
Dušan Petričić is an award-winning illustrator of over 40 books for children and young adults published in North America and Serbia. Dušan's editorial cartoons regularly appear in The New York Times, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, and The Toronto Star.
Dušan was born in Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia, and graduated from Belgrade’s Academy of Applied Arts. He started drawing at the age of four and, encouraged by his parents, he never stopped. In children’s books, two of his favourite characters are Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland.
Dušan taught illustration, book design and animation at the Belgrade Academy for Applied Arts and at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario. Currently he teaches at the Ontario College of Art and Design and at Max the Mutt Animation School, both in Toronto.
He has teamed up to illustrate books for Canadian writers such as Sarah Ellis, Margaret Atwood, Cary Fagan, Aubrey Davis and Tim Wynne-Jones.
Dušan lives in Toronto with his wife and daughter. He also has two sons and a daughter who are grown. And his eldest daughter recently had a baby girl — making Dušan a grandfather, too!
