Tomislav (Tom) Mikulic is a Croatian computer graphics pioneer whose impressive career spans over 5 decades.
Tomislav taught himself to code as a high-school student in 1970 using Fortran. By 1971 he had already begun to make his first computer graphics utilising the computer at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ETF) in Zagreb where he was studying. In 1973, at the young age of 20, he first exhibited his work at the ‘Tendencies 5’ exhibition in Zagreb.
Tomislav composed the First Croatian Computer Animated Film, which premiered on the 13th May 1976 in Zagreb, Croatia.
His early computer graphics and experiments in the field of animation resulted in Tomislav securing various contracts for TV and advertising. He won numerous awards in international competitions for animated openers. These included awards for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb. He also made animated openers for major international events, such as the 1990 European Championships in Athletics, the 1989 European Championships in Basketball, the 1981 European Championships in Swimming, amongst many others.
He immigrated to Australia in 1992. While working as a Graphic Artist at Channel 7 (TV station) in Melbourne he developed the world-famous “Yellow line” - the line which displays the world record time during live broadcasts of swimming competitions (which he implemented for the first time during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.)
Tomislav’s pioneering work continues to be exhibited around the world and many pieces can be found in museum and gallery collections globally.
Today, he resides with his wife by the beach in Melbourne, Australia, where he continues to create new works and is involved in the local art community.
Full Biography
1953 Born in Bobota, Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia.
1971 Begins studies at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Zagreb and creates his first computer graphics there.
1972 Begins studies in traditional graphics techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.
Participates in the exhibition “Zagreb Salon.”
1973 Participates in the exhibition “Tendencies 5.”
1974 Develops a computer program for animation at the Multimedia Center of the Referral Center at the University of Zagreb. An interview about it is published in the magazine “Start.”
1975 Records a sequence of computer generated drawings on b/w 16mm film. That is practically the beginning of Computer animation in Croatia.
1976 Screens a compilation of the first computer animated films at the first one-man exhibition in gallery “Nova,” which gets big publicity.
1976 Writes an essay, “Media and the computer” in the art magazine “Spot.” Wins two fine arts awards: “Zdravo mladi” and “7 sekretara SKOJ-a”.
1979 Presents “Computer Animation” with screening at colloquy “L’artiste et l’ordinateur” in Paris. Writes an article “TV picture from a computer” in magazine “Start.”
1980 Short animated film “Ples” (The Dance) is selected for an official competition at the International Festival of Animation in Ottawa, Canada. It is a 6 minute video of a dance performed by the artist Zaga Živković combined with an animated computer generated background.
1980 Becomes the Head of the Design Department at TV Zagreb, later named Croatian TV. Implements electronic graphics and computer animation in an outdated graphics department. Over the next 12 years, he leads a team of 18 artists and develops animation and TV graphics in a unique artistic style.
1984 Wins a competition for the opener for the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo.
1986 Runs a “Computer Animation” workshop at the Academy of Theatrical and Film Arts in Zagreb. Mentors computer animation at the Academy of Film Arts in Belgrade. (1987)
1988 Lectures on “Computer Graphics” at the Mathematical High School in Zagreb.
1990 Creates animated openers for major international events
in country: European Championships in Basketball (1989), Eurovision Song Contest (1990), European Championships in Athletics (1990).
1991 Makes animated messages against the war in Croatia, broadcast by CNN, BBC and other networks around the world. Initiates making a TV program at Austrian TV network ORF in Vienna about artists’ engagement in the efforts to stop aggression on Croatia.
1991 Emigrates to Australia where he establishes his own studio for 3D animation.
1996 Three animated sequences are selected by Autodesk Inc. for their showreel, which is screened at SIGGRAPH.
1996 Nominated for an Australian Effects and Animation Festival annual award, the most prestigious Australian award for animation.
1998 Joins the team working on virtual graphics at Australian television network Channel 7. His graphics developed for the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000 were also broadcast by the American network NBC, among other foreign networks. Croatian television (HTV) broadcasts a 10 minutes interview.
2002 Nominated for an international award at the Computer Space arts forum in Bulgaria for the best design of a multimedia presentation on CD.
2002 Joins the Advancement team at Monash University, the largest university in Australia.
2006 Presents a retrospective of his early animation at the World Festival of Animated Film in Zagreb, sponsored by ASIFA (Association International du Film d’Animation) on the 30th anniversary of the first computer animated film in Croatia.
2006 Becomes an Adobe Systems Inc. certified Flash Designer.
2007 Included in the exhibition “Ex Machina” in Bremen, Germany.
2007 Included in the exhibition “Bit International” in Graz, Austria.
2008 Included in the exhibition “Bit International” in Karlsruhe, Germany.
2009 Included in the exhibition “5th Croatian Triennial of Graphic Arts: Half a Century of Continuity / 1960-2009”
To keep up to date with Tom’s current projects visit his personal site: www.tomislavmikulic.com