Born in
Zagreb, there Trenc first went to the
School of Applied Arts, which is a high school, then studied film directing at the
Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Arts. While there, he started publishing comics and after graduation he worked at
Zagreb Film, where he created
The Blentons, an episode in the animated film
The Game directed by
Krešimir Zimonić. In 1985, Trenc became chief illustrator of
Start magazine until 1991. In 1990, he made the animated short
The Big Time (Veliki provod) for Zagreb Film, later shown at the
London Film Festival, which was particularly well received, becoming a classic in Zagreb Film's repertoire. Throughout this time he was also publishing comics and illustrating the covers of national and international publications. He also wrote and directed
Ghost Story, a film for Croatian TV. Trenc left
Start to move to
New York City, where he published comic strips in
Heavy Metal Magazine and illustrations in publications including
The New York Times,
Time,
The Wall Street Journal,
The New Yorker and
Fortune. He wrote and illustrated
The Night at the Museum, a children's book set in the
New York Museum of Natural History and published in 1993 by
Barron's Educational Series. The book was produced as a feature film in 2006 and subjected to a novelization by Leslie Goldman. Trenc's sequel,
Another Night at the Museum, was released in March 2013. In 2000, Trenc completed his own feature film
Zen Stories. Trenc has won awards from Print and the
Society of Publication Designers for his illustrations in
The New York Times. ==Works==