November the 29th, 2021 - Zoran Vakula the famous Croatian weatherman, and Nik Titanik, the author of many a sarcastic cartoon in the news media, have teamed up to create a picture book for young meteorologists.

As Morski writes, following "Vjetropirasta", the first meteorological picture book in the series "Vremenaste price", in which the young boy Val teaches the readers about the wind - Zoran Vakula and Nik Titanik have continued their collaboration "Oblača-stom" - in which Vedrana talks about clouds.

Of course, meteorologist Zoran Vakula writes here as well, and cartoonist and illustrator Nik Titanik draws the images. The picture book is intended primarily for the older kindergarten age group and those attending the lower grades of primary school, but as with "Vjetropirasta" - those of all ages will more than likely find flipping through these pages charming.

Vedrana helps find the answers to common questions such as: “What are clouds? How and where do they originate? How many are there and what shapes do they come in? Which are the lowest clouds and which are the highest ones? What do they produce, and how? Can they be touched? When and how can we photograph them?'' and many other questions that a child will often ask when looking up at the sky.

In addition to learning a lot, the goal of the picture book is to encourage almost the youngest among us to understand nature and its laws, and to interest them in meteorology and clarify some basic meteorological concepts to make it easier for them to understand everyday meteorological information and the process of climate change.

The publisher of the picture book is Nik Titanik Studio d.o.o., the first and only Croatian studio specialising in the production of caricatures, illustrations, comics and picture books.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Made in Croatia section.

October 11, 2019 - With over 11,000 caricatures over 25 years Nik Titanik's work has achieved iconic status in Croatia, but which are the artist's personal top 5 caricatures of his career?

His biting political satire is equal to the quality of his artistic talent, and the caricatures of Nikola Plecko, aka Nik Titanik, have entertained the Croatian public for quarter of a century. Plecko's work has long been recognised on the national level, and an exhibition at Mimara in Zagreb to celebrate the first 25 years of his work (and with more than 300 pieces on display) opened last month. It is a measure of the affection that Nik Titanik is held that the turnout was several times higher than anticipated for the opening night. You can read more about that here. 

I asked Nik if he would have time to choose his top five works from that illustrious career, and to give us a little background to each, which he kindly agreed to. So below, the very best of Nik Titanik, through the eyes of Nik Titanik. Thank you, Sir, for what you do, and here's to the next 25!

1. How Zagreb got its name

According to the legend, Zagreb got its name based on the story about a young maiden called  Manda who went to the Manduševac well to collect water. Suddenly, a soldier came along, saw Manda and told her: "Zagrabi, Mando, zagrabi!" (Grab Manda, grab!) - meaning water for him to drink it.

In my version, Zagreb's mayor Milan Bandić is a young maiden who collects water (money from citizens) into a jug (city budget)

2. In 2008, George W. Bush visited Croatia. There is a stereotype (is it just a stereotype?), that Americans know nothing about Croatia and Croatians. Therefore, George greets all of us by calling us Croissants instead of Croatians.

3. Heavy ideological topic.

Željka Markić's organization and other conservative movements organize annually The Walk for Life, an anti-abortion demonstration walk across Zagreb's streets.

Because she and her supporters deny the right of free choice, in my version, there is an altered slogan that says "The Walk for Interfering with Someone Else's Life."

 4. At the beginning of the Nineties, Franjo Tuđman, our first president, had a patriotic slogan "We have got Croatia!"4. At the beginning of the Nineties, Franjo Tuđman, our first president, had a patriotic slogan "We have got Croatia!"

My version depicts a beggar who, during the economic crisis in the first half of the 2010s, is begging for money and on his banner is written: "We have only got Croatia."

5. The famous Croatian painter Oton Iveković painted the picture called "The arrival of the Croats."

My version is called "The departure of the Croats" across the border where... There are jobs...There are no 'cajka' (trash folk) music... There where is no important where someone was in 1941, 1945 or 1991 (reference to the Second World War and recent Homeland War that are often misused for political purposes).

The Nik Titanik exhibition at Mimara Zagreb is open until October 24 - more details on the event Facebook page. 

To follow the latest from Nik Titanik, join more than 100,000 others by clicking here. 

September 25, 2019 - One of the most entertaining exhibitions of the year opened at Mimama last night, as the much-loved caricatures of Nik Titanik celebrated 25 years of excellence to a very large opening audience. 

Being a foreigner in Croatia means you miss out of most of the fun, especially if you do not speak the language well - just as in other countries I guess. 

Although the Brits are famous for their humour, as time goes by, I come to appreciate the local humour in Croatia and the wider region a lot more, but I realise I am still missing out on about 80% of the nuances. For Croatia is a wonderful playground for humour, with so many absurd aspects to daily life here. And while Britain the world champion in absurdity with this Brexit farce, in terms of Absurdistan and longevity, it is hard to beat the Balkans, baby. 

But with so much absurdity, it is easy to forget the last crazy thing as there are so many more around the corner. Unless you have a person who can chronicle the absurdities of life - both political and actual - in a visual and entertaining manner. 

Such a person exists in Croatia - one Nikola Plecko, also known online by his nom de plume, Nik Titanik. 

I got a message yesterday suggesting I come to Mimara for the opening of an exhibition. I get such invitations regularly but rarely attend (time and resources are the common enemies). But this one was different. 

Nik Titanik was celebrating 25 years and an astonishing 11,000 caricatures documenting quarter of a century of Croatian absurdity with a month-long exhibition called "Chronicle of Croatian Stupidity."

I had to go. Apart from everything else, I owed the man a thank you - and a blog - from a couple of years ago. As it was, I didn't get to meet Nik Titanik, as there was massive interest in the exhibition, with easily 500 people - including some of the key people in the Croatian media - completely filling the main reception room of Mimara. And there were long queues to get to the basement where 300 pieces of Nik Titanik's work were on display. As my phone had died, no pictures from the evening, but here is a nice overview of some of them in this interview with Nik Titanik in the HINA video report, below. (And click here for a video report of the opening night on RTL).

Apparently Nik Titanik had been expecting about 50 people for the opening, and it was pleasing to see so many people turn up to celebrate his genius over 25 years, as well as to observe how many of them were clearly enjoying the memories of long-forgotten absurdities of the past in the 300 drawings on display. I plan to return again before the exhibition closes on October 24 to take a closer look. If any Croatian speaker would like to join and help me understand some of the contexts of the cartoons, that would be great. You too can visit the exhibition, of course - the event page is here. 

So why do I owe Nik Titanik a blog? A couple of years ago, we were searching for a gift for PR guru, Kresimir Macan, on the occasion of 20 years of his PR agency Manjgura (Manjgura is a dialect word for 'girl' in Macan's native Dubrovnik). We wanted to capture some of the highlights of Macan's career, as well as bring out the Manjgura celebration. We suggested three events - President Tudjman calling Macan an idiot for confirming the fall of Vukovar, arguably his biggest success getting Kerum elected in Split, and the anticipation of current Prime Minister Plenkovic who was about to hire him as Communications Director. 

And Nik Titanik got to work, producing this gem two days later, which proved to be a big hit at the Manjgura party. 

A really fun exhibition that I heartily recommend. You can follow the latest from Nik Titanik on Facebook.