A little something about Maja Kopunovic:
Maja is a skilled graphic designer, masterful in her creation of unique and inspirational designs. Having finished graphic design school, she then undertook her bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Software, becoming an accomplished user of Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. She is fluent in English, yet feels she consistently connects with humanity beyond words, with her compelling imagery and designs – “skilled in the art of creativity and alchemy,” she says.
Questions and Answers:
1.What’s your background?
I always loved to draw and to make little art project, but where I really discovered how much I love designing was in Secondary school. There I opened photoshop for the first time in my life, and as cliché as it sounds, I fell in love with it.
…And with my love of reading books, those two things pushed me to specialize in designing book covers.
2. What does your work aim to say?
Since I design book covers, I always try to make sure that the artwork encapsulates the mood, theme, and plot of the story. I also work with the author to see if there is anything important to them they’d like for the cover. I always aim for a happy author who feels that the cover represents their story well.
3. Who are your biggest influences?
This might be little weird, but I don't have any influence from any specific people. Every creative thing I find - influences me. And I draw my inspiration from - well, everything.
4. How have you developed your career?
I found out about freelance work in Secondary school 10 years ago, and here and there tried to learn about it as much as I could and tried myself in few jobs. But I really actively gotten into my career around 5 years ago, and it went from working on websites where freelancers can find work, to having my own business profile on Instagram, and expanding from making just book covers, to some logo designs, and currently I'm learning to do layout design.
5. How do you seek out opportunities?
I use my business profile on Instagram to display covers I’ve done for authors, covers I’ve created for fun that could be purchased as a cover, and to promote my business. I meet lots of clients through here who contact me to work with.
6. How do you price your work?
I'm more comfortable with people contacting me, and me telling them my prices, then having it answered here.
7. What is your favorite genre to create?
I love designing covers for Fantasy and Science fiction books. I feel like in those genres I can let my imagination go wild.
8. Do you like to create original pieces, or would you rather create fandom art?
I prefer to make original pieces, but depending on fandom, I can enjoy making art for that too.
9. Any given piece, how long do you think it takes to create?
It really depends. If I make art for myself, it usually takes me few hours. If I'm designing a cover for a client, it depends on our communication, but usually it takes me from 1 to 5 days.
10. What would you say is your end goal in your career?
I would really love one day, to have my own online company, where any author can come, give their book to us, and we do everything for them there. From layout design, Book covers, to promotional material design.
Final Notes:
Maja is a highly talented and motivated designer. She has done a number of covers and designs for my fellow writers and I have had the honor of having her design me a cover for my current project - A Dormant Howl. She's reliable, conscientious, and all around a really good person to work with.