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Here are some basic details about me, my name is Mr. Goran Milenkovic, Here is "MY BIOGRAPHY", or maybe even better, something like "Pictures From My Life", or just..."Why this guy draws comic cartoons" ? |
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 omeone is maybe born to be a comic cartoon drawer, and somebody becomes it during the time…
I feel that I belong to this second group, so I think it might be nice that you
get acquainted with few details from my life...
I was born without any particular reason on 29th January 1963. in the town of Kragujevac in central part of Serbia,
what is now Serbia and Montenegro(ex F.R. Yugoslavia) on the Balkans,better said
what was left of former Yugoslavia. My astrological birth sign
is Aquarius with the very same subsign, what from astrological point of view means that
no one will be able to understand me until the year 2099. This even won't be too bad as I plan to live up to the year of 3000!
How about you? hen I was a laddie, I always used to play with rocket and aeroplane models, so I
had earned the nickname "Gagarin"...I used to play as well all other games
typical for boys of same age,but without any particular success. After all, who wants to chase the
ball whole day long!
My parents were working class people, and most of my childhood time I have spent
with my mother who worked in one restaurant as a waitress, therefore in the future
I have rarely been seen in restaurants as I got bored of them.
I went to primary school a whole year earlier than required and during that stage of
my life I have experienced few interesting moments. On the first day while going to
school I stopped at the local church with Zagorka, a lady who was my nanny and
who brought me up along with my mother. She told me that in school they will
teach me how there is no God (the regime was then communistic, you know)
and she said this was not true and I had never forgotten this moment of my childhood.
Back then this was a communistic state, and since none of my closer family were members of
the communistic party,sometimes few, I might say, bisarre situations happened.
When our former president "Comrade Tito" had arrived in my birth town,I and my school
buddies, got the assignment to welcome him and while he was driven around in
his Mercedes limousine we kids,showered him with flowers and petals. In
the meantime, my dad counted days in a local nick, as he was allegedly "suspicious"
all because he was a friend of some guys who succeeded to run away to the "Rotten West"
as it was then called by communistic regime. owever, my mother, being a waitress in a restaurant, got the honor to serve a drink to
"Comrade Tito"! I even posses a photo of this event!
But as life went on....,I grew up and grasped much better the world in which I am living.
During the middle of 70's I was a great Rock And Roll fan,(
click here to see photo from my youth) and maybe you may
guess my great,great pastime along with listening music and going to rock concerts
whenever it was possible, was reading and collecting strip-cartoons. My most
favourite strip-cartoons were those of the French-Belgian school of such art ...there is no
need to mention here all the authors I used to read, so I'll skip mentioning
them, but I'll only mention one lesser known strip-cartoon of italian origin
from the authors Max and Bunker which significantly influenced my drawing motivation,
their comic was called "Alan Ford" and I think that the "telescope" through which they
observed daily life events is very close to me too.hat happened with Rock And Roll ?
Today I have still remained a great fan of legendary British rock band
"Uriah Heep" and particularly for me one of the greatest and one of the best –
"Blue Oyster Cult"
 had enrolled at the local university, but I had to quit it as I needed a job and I found
it in a local car factory which produces "Yugo" cars. Maybe you have even heard for
this car label !? It seems that my
work was appreciated, so I was engaged by one british company which used to
sell "Yugo" cars in U.K. This would be even irrelevant suppose we would have
lived in a normal country, but by the end of the 80's sometimes it was
suspicious if a person spoke english and knew English people. Therefore, sometimes I was
secretly surveyed by some "dark guys" who worked for the secret police of the then regime.
Maybe they were thinking I was a spy or what ? ( hahaha).
But somehow things got calmed, or even better to say I got used seeing them and my
boss John once said to me it seemed as if I was not from this country,
considering the general situation in my country - former Yugoslavia.
In 1988. I got married and me and my dear wife Dragana had thought and reckoned
that after the marriage the things will happen in a classical way, you know what I mean
to say…but… hen came the darkest period of my life
in the shape of the war within former Yugoslavia. In that war I really did NOT
want to participate by all means.
I am of a mixed family background since my mother was a catholic Croatian and
dad was orthodox Serbian, including some distant german origin through one
former generation family member, so the wave of nationalism could not affect me.
I ran away to neighbouring Hungary to escape compulsory army calls, so I have spent
some time there, but unfortunately as soon as I returned to Kragujevac, I was mobilised
by force. Luckily, after a short time I was released and then I drew my first
"dark humour" strip-cartoon which I named "Soldiers In Wilderness". The content of
the strip-cartoon was equal to the quantity of sorrow and anger that accumulated within me.
That was a time when I drew my first serious sketch-drawing and using
my technique of drawing without adding words, letting the drawing tell the message for itself.
Few months later, while leisuring in a car factory which was not closed but there was no work, I drew my first Nosko
character which I am drawing even nowadays with slight unavoidable modifications.
I started to publish my comic drawings in local newspapers, which during the time
when F.R. Yugoslavia was under severe international sanctions, used to work and press,
but the next day went bankrupt and were closed, but other journals or newspapers
would start as new from the scratch and I sent my drawings to them.
During the economical sanctions,life became miserable, so much that I even don’t
want to recall this part of my family's life!
In 1996. I became a proud father of my newborn daughter Alexandra , and the following year
we got a son Petar…You probably recall that this country
was heavily bombed during 1999. ?! Just few months ago I succeeded to repair a damage done by
bombing….Luckily, no one from my family was hurt during bombing,but my children are still afraid of the
sound of aeroplanes.hat this all has to do with drawing comic sketch cartoons !?!
In general, life itself makes me ask questions and seek answers about this,
you may agree, still strange world which surrounds us! Sometimes I ask myself,
what would my comic cartoon collegues dotted all over the
world,draw if just suppose they would have lived here during 90's !?!
How the legendary "Monthy Python Show" authors would react if they were here !?!
I think, a cartoon drawing is a kind of a universal language and I feel that
I have succeeded from time to time to express some relevant
topic or issue, but naturally, sometimes
I just want to draw a simple sketch which has nothing to do with political events.
During 90's I used to send my cartoon comics to international festivals of such kind of art
and my works have been exhibited in Spain,Italy, Turkey, Brasil, Holland, Bulgaria, Croatia,
…I was awarded by few diplomas and five official awards:
1. "Honorary Mention" in Deventer, in Holland, year 2001.
(awarded work in Holland was |
All these awarded cartoons you may see on this site within the cartoon gallery
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My contact address is:
Mr. Goran Milenkovic Street: Skerlićeva 29 34000 - KRAGUJEVAC SERBIA and MONTENEGRO Phone: 381-34-337-734 Email me: Just click here: [email protected] |
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