I started with print design, which later led me into web development. My first website was danguba.net, built using WordPress. From there, I transitioned into frontend development, working with various teams and as a freelancer, often focusing on my favorite part of websites, animations.
Over time, I added backend work to the mix, and now I create entire websites as a freelancer. Clients have all sorts of requests, so you just roll with it.
aboutI'm Sladjan Ilic, but I often go by the alias isladjan.
I see myself as a web developer, a visual storyteller, and a bit of a designer.
With six years of experience in web development, I enjoy building websites that are interactive and dynamic, often brought to life through animations.
Originally from Serbia, I'm now based in Salzburg, Austria.
Although my current job is in a different field, my true passion has always been web development.
As a freelancer and hobbyist, I love spending my free time crafting websites, doing what I enjoy most while always aiming to satisfy my clients.
I have never believed in a one-size-fits-all approach to web design. Every project and every client is different. While I have my own design preferences, I am more than happy to adapt and work across a range of styles, especially when it comes to animations, which are my favorite part of any website.
As a freelancer, my work ranges from backend to frontend development, whether building entire websites or creating specific components, independently or as part of a team.
This site started as a side project, something I worked on between my day job and freelance work. Honestly, it's been one wild ride—challenging at times, but absolutely worth it. I wanted a space where I could experiment freely, try out new ideas, and bend a few web design rules without asking for permission. It's more than just a portfolio—it's a playground for ideas, animations, and unconventional designs.
A long-term collaboration with the amazing studio Geeks on the Beach from Vancouver, Canada.
This partnership spans a variety of projects—from animations and custom website sections to complete web pages. It also includes tailored WordPress solutions built through child themes, combining creativity and functionality to deliver unique and polished results.
A project that was created in the midst of the pandemic as a visual exploration of using particles in WebGL with custom shaders and Three.js.
The entire project is shown through distinct and interactive visual scenes, each built with animated particle backgrounds. Up front are sarcastic quotes that steal the show.
Be sure to check it out.
This was one of my earliest attempts at SVG parallax animation on CodePen, created for a GSAP competition. By using ScrollTrigger, I added layers of depth and motion to every scroll. My goal was to explore new possibilities and show how scroll-based animation could really enhance a design. To my surprise, it caught quite a bit of attention on CodePen, proof that even first projects can stand out!
This site was one of my first web projects, built back in 2019. It's a mini CMS for a blogging platform, created with PHP and focused mainly on backend development. The platform supported three user roles—User, Editor, and Administrator. Users could comment, Editors could write and edit stories, and Administrators had full control. While the original site is no longer online, this archived version now serves as a showcase of my early work.
The Lab is my creative playground—a space where I experiment with ideas, animations, and web technologies.
It's a collection of smaller projects, prototypes, and fun concepts that may not fit into full-scale projects but showcase my passion for web development and pushing boundaries.
This is my favorite part, where I get to explore, create, and test new ideas freely.
Just two colors, red and black, and a scrolling experiment. A mix of contrast and animation, just to see where it leads. Because why not? The entire page is driven by scrolling, revealing text dynamically as you move. This is my first attempt at creating a duotone site, designed as a sarcastic blog called Web Design Trend. Check out the site and leave a comment to let me know if this experiment was a success or not.
Live
Space is the ultimate playground for creative experiments. This project explores the cosmos using only Three.js and simplex 2D noise. The real MVP is Three Points, which renders countless simple elements always facing the camera. With Orbit Controls for smooth zoom and drag, you get an interactive universe ready for exploration. Animating all these elements without any additional library for the job was a bit challenging, but I think the effort paid off.
This module leverages Three.js and GLSL shaders to create ASCII effect by mapping pixel brightness to characters. Instead of rendering text, it samples a character texture generated by a canvas for better performance and flexibility.Configurable parameters include character set, font, size, cell size, color, and inversion. Note: The original three/examples/jsm library includes an ASCII effect, but it's too slow for production use. I recommend avoiding it.
Ah, my first love, SVG animation. This is a piece of a Hero screen from some long-forgotten project.
The visuals feature playful elements like clouds, the sun, ice cream, a human hand, and droplets.
What makes it unique is the use of the SMIL technique for animating SVG elements directly in HTML. Written in XML, this animation style was once deprecated but made a comeback after developer protests.
Another lab experiment with particles because you can never have too many. This module uses WebGL and Three.js to create visual effects. Integrated with GSAP for smooth animations and enhanced by shaders for precise control over particle behavior and appearance. A video texture colors the particles, creating a vibrant and dynamic display. The project features two phases: a particle 'wall' effect that can be broken and an animation where particles follow video pixels in real time.
codepen
According to Vanga's dreambook, seeing Jupiter in the sky foretells a fiery rain that will destroy all life and bring terrible destruction. Inspired by this ominous vision, this project uses Three.js to create a complex 3D scene featuring Jupiter, its moon, surrounding terrain, and animated stars. BufferGeometry and BufferAttribute optimize performance, ensuring smooth animation of a vast number of objects. A bit apocalyptic and mesmerizing, explore the cosmos like never before.
CodePen
This project uses JavaScript and HTML5 canvas to add a pixelation effect to images as they scroll into view.Images start in pixelated form and gradually sharpen, with customizable "steps" for controlling the transition intensity. To detect if the image is displayed in the viewport, Intersection Observer is used. Each pixelation step executes in about 10-20ms for smooth transitions.
This is yet another ASCII effect achieved using Three.js and shaders. The effect is generated by mapping pixel brightness to characters.The effect generates a texture containing specified ASCII characters using an HTML canvas, which the shader samples to replace image pixels with characters (a much better solution in terms of performance than using actual text). I apply this ASCII effect to an animated model created with a custom fragmentShader, which dynamically changes based on mouse movement.
One of my earliest SVG animation experiments, this project involved manually creating a viewport of hexagons instead of dynamically generating them.
Using GSAP, I transformed them into a chaotic animation where clicking the central hexagon triggers staggered animations, making the structure pulse and ripple before seamlessly reassembling.
A fun little experiment exploring the possibilities of animating along an SVG path, this GSAP-powered animation features a ball dynamically following complex motion paths, interacting with text elements to create a visually reveal effect.
It uses MorphSVGPlugin to guide the ball along predefined paths and CustomEase for smooth motion control. This experiment also uses the DrawSVG plugin to partially reveal a dashed line following the ball.
When I started this portfolio, I had four clear goals in mind.
First, I wanted the landing page to focus on 3D animations, with no loading screens or waiting — just everything appearing as quickly as possible.
Second, I aimed to optimize the animations so they'd run relatively smoothly, even on older devices, without sacrificing too much performance.
Third, I wanted a giant, cool cursor for some extra fun.
I hope I succeeded in that, and I certainly enjoyed every moment of building it, which was my final goal.
This site was designed and developed completely from scratch—no front-end UI libraries or frameworks, just pure vanilla JavaScript. The only libraries I used were those specifically for handling animations.
For a simplified, color-blind-friendly, JavaScript-free version of this website, optimized for screen readers and accessibility, visit the minimal version of the website.
This site also respects your privacy. It doesn't use third-party cookies, trackers, or any intrusive scripts—just minimal, GDPR-compliant analytics to keep things running smoothly.
My goal is to let visitors explore the site freely, with privacy in mind. It's web design with creativity in focus—and privacy built-in.
