FALL 2020 ISSUE
the journal L.L. MEDIA's
Illustrators
BRUNO MALLART
FRENCH MASTER ILLUSTRATOR
WENDY EDELSON
AWARD-WINNING CHILDRENS ILLUSTRATOR
TANYA MARRIOT MASTER DOLL & PUPPETMAKER
PETER SIS
HALL OF FAME KIDLIT ARTIST
In addition, Interviews with Rohan Eason, Agata Karelus, Julia Sidneva, Gail Armstrong, Alla Belova and others
Front Cover Art Santiago Cohen
The Illustrators Journal/FALL 2020
Contributing Writer Heather Leary Contributing Writer Leslie Cober-Gentry Editor Jade Dressler Publisher Lon Levin
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
FRENCH MASTER Bruno Mallart's brilliant artwork emplys various media and techniques that perfectly compliment subject matter ART THAT WARMS THE HEART Wendy Edelson specializes in colorful, fanciful artwork that features fantastic animals and families RUSSIAN KIDLIT MARVEL Julia Sidevea is the pride of Moscow State University
JULIE MELLAN French up and coming artist who's art is playful and sure to put a smile on your face STRAIGHT OUR OF POLAND Agata Karelus and her characters come to life as she creates a world of fantasy
"The great Miraculous
bell of translucent ice
is suspended in mid-air...
NEW ZEALAND'S FINEST Doll and Puppet maker Tanya Marriot brings characters to life with her superior skills THE MASTER OF KIDLIT ART Peter Sis is a Hans Christian Andersen Medal award-winner for his overall contributions to the chldren's book world among many other honors for his work ANDREA D'AQUINO One of the most unique kidlit artist around shows shares with us here multi-media prowess UBER- TALENTED PAPER SCULPTURE ARTIST Gail Armstrong give us a peek into her world of marvelous paper creations RUSSIAN ARTIST ILLUSTRATES FOR OUR PLEASURE Oleksandr Shotakin is a young rising star in the world of Illustration WHIMSICAL ILLUSTRATOR WITH A CHARMING TWIST Russian kidlit illustrator Alla Belova is an accomplished artist who is spreading her wings into the western world PEN & INK IS HIS JAM English illustrator Rogan Eason follows in the tradition of Aubrey Beardsley and others
All artwork that is showcased in TIJ is owned by the creators of that art and the work cannot be used or copied in anyway without the written expressed agreement of the creators ©2020 Levinlandstudio
There is no time to get started. You are where you are and that's when you start. - Henry Winkler
it's
just
my opinion by Lon Levin
time /tīm/
a point of time as measured in hours and minutes. Ever thought that there’s just not enough time in the day to get everything done? Wouldn’t it be great to have 5-10 more hours of time? Let me walk you through some ways you can save time in your week. Say "no" more often! If you’re a people pleaser like me it may be really hard to say no or to end a phone call conversation that has gone on far too long.. Years ago I never gave a lot of thought to how much time I was wasting talking to people well beyond the amount of time I should have. Especially when I was talking to someone about a job or a project. I wanted them to like me as well as my work. And most of the time they did…like me. The art….well not as much. It’s hard to excuse yourself from a conversation but it is necessary and the person you’re talking to will most of the time have more respect for you and your time. So yes, say no more often and free up some time for yourself.
Lay off TV and social media. I don’t mean to never watch them but endless watching of either is counterproductive and it eats up time you can use for other more significant endeavors. The discipline this brings will resonate throughout your work. And finally, schedule your priorities. First tackle the projects that are due first, even if others seem more interesting or excite you more. If you have the choice work on the most intense projects first. That way you will be able to control the pressure of deadlines better. As my dad used to say, “Your reputation is everything” and earning a reputation as a talented, trustworthy and easy to deal with illustrator is truly a great achievement. The bottom line is everyone has 24 hours in a day. How you use them is up to you entirely.
Batch your work. This requires thoughtful organization and a plan to stick to. You might think that this will stifle your creativity. But in fact it’ll help you to become totally professional and save you hours of time. I learned this lesson the hard way as a creative director in the entertainment industry. Frequently I had to work on and oversee 10-20 projects at a time. By moving forward forcefully and batching types of activities together we were able to discover solutions that were not apparent when we started Use your waiting time well. Use your waiting time well. Instead of cruising the internet and following inane stories down a rabbit hole of wasted time, you can watch a webinar, read a chapter in a book or organize your supplies. Important discoveries for solving creative problems are frequently found in useful down time.
Illustration by Lon Levin
Illustration by Lon Levin
All Artwork above was created by Lon Levin
Bruno
MALLART Every now and then I come cross an artist who blows my mind. I literally feel like I'm an art archaeologist who has unearth a great talent whom I had no idea existed. Bruno Mallart is that artist. His vision and execution are superior and it makes me feel honored to have his interview in our magazine. During the process of asking Bruno questions I realized a translation may not capture the full meaning of his answers and because we are read by artists around the globe I decided to print his answers in English and French - editor When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? L’école ça n’était pas mon truc, mais le dessin me réussissait bien. Dans ma famille tout le monde est scientifique, de mes grand parents jusqu’à mes frères. Pourtant mes parents m’ont encouragé et j’ai toujours senti de l’admiration de leur part. Ils étaient vraiment sympas avec cette « petite brebis galeuse qui ne deviendra pas Docteur comme tout le monde ». Je m’imaginais devenir prof de dessin. Il faut dire que de mes yeux d’enfant, vivre du dessin, c’était l’enseigner ou crever la dalle (traduction: mourir de faim). Puis, à sà
l’école d’art j’ai découvert l’ampleur infinie des métiers artistiques. School was not my thing, but the drawing worked well. In my family everyone is a scientist, from my grandparents to my brothers. Yet, my parents encouraged me and I have always felt the admiration of them. They were really nice with this "little black sheep who will not become a doctor like everyone else".I imagined myself becoming a drawing teacher. It must be said that with my child's eyes, you teach or "you burst the slab" a French expression that means "starving to death". Then at art school I discovered the infinite scope of artistic crafts.
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? Je suis né à Paris. J’étais un enfant rêveur, du genre qui ne veut pas grandir. J’ai toujours gardé ce côté là, pas trop sérieux, aimant la facétie.Ma première vrai influence fut un peintre Allemand, Pierre Schmmidiger, qui habitait à côté de chez moi et chez qui je prenais des cours de dessin, je devais avoir 11
qu’on est incapable de faire, en creux. Exemple: je ne suis pas bon coloriste: je privilégie le dessin. Je ne suis pas bon portraitiste: je vais remplacer les têtes par des objets… A style, it comes alone. There is of course the succession of works that we liked and the meetings that influenced us, but I think that the style comes mainly from what we are unable to do, hollow. Example: I am not good colorist: I prefer drawing. I am not a good portraitist: I will replace the heads with objects … You do a lot of whimsical art. How did that happen? Je ne sais pas, les univers que je représente n’existent pas, mais puisque le dessin me permet de les représenter, pourquoi ne pas le faire? Quand je cherche des idées, j’essaye de trouver des situations loufoques, absurdes.
ou 12 ans. Je passais des après-midi dans son atelier, il me laissait dessiner ce que je voulais, ensuite il commentait et me parlait beaucoup. D’histoire de l’Art, de perspective, de dessin de presse, de politique… Il avait un livre de Saul Steinberg: "The Passport", ce livre représente l’acte de naissance de mon imaginaire d’illustrateur. I was born in Paris. I was a dreamer, the kind who does not want to grow up. I always kept that side, not too serious, loving the joke. My first real influence was a German painter, Pierre Schmmidiger, who lived next to my house and where I took drawing lessons, I must have been 11 or 12 years old. I spent afternoons in his studio, he let me draw what I wanted, then he commented and spoke to me a lot. From the history of art, perspective, drawing of the press, politics ... He had a book by Saul Steinberg: "The Passport", this book represents the birth certificate of my illustrator imagination. Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? Un style, ça vient tout seul. Il y a bien sûr la succession d’oeuvres qu’on a aimé et les rencontres qui nous ont influencé, mais je crois que le style vient surtout de ce
Paradoxalement,il y a un certain ordre dans mes compositions. I do not know, the universes that I represent do not exist, but since the drawing allows me to represent them, why not do it? When I look for ideas, I try to find crazy, absurd situations. Paradoxically, there is a certain order in my compositions. Has the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally? Je faisais des illustrations mélangeant le dessin, l’aquarelle et beaucoup de collage. Je passais ma vie à
chercher dans les livres de quoi alimenter mes créations. Celles-ci étaient conditionnées à ce que je trouvais. Dans les années 2000, je me suis acheté un ordinateur et un scanner. Je voulais juste pouvoir remplacer la photocopieuse et le fax. Je ne m’attendais pas à découvrir un outil de création qui me plairait autant. Avec Photoshop, les possibilités de transformation des images sont telles que j’avais trouvé l’outil qui me manquait. Aujourd’hui je reviens au dessin traditionnel (toujours.
un peu de collage!). Le support physique me manquait un peu.
Are you aware of America and English illustrators? Does their work influence your work?
I was doing illustrations mixing drawing, watercolor and a lot of collage. I spent my life looking in books for feeding my creations. These were conditioned to what I found. In the 2000s, I bought a computer and a scanner. I just wanted to be able to replace the photocopier and fax. I did not expect to discover a creative tool that I would like. With Photoshop, the possibilities for transforming images are such that I found the tool I missed. Today I come back to traditional drawing (always a little collage!). The physical support I missed a little.
Ma culture vient beaucoup d’illustrateurs ou graphistes tels que Saul Steinberg, Ralph Steadman, Milton Glaser, Tomi Ungerer, André François… pas tous Américains, mais tous une histoire particulière avec les États-Unis. C’est surtout un attachement à une période précise: les années 50, 60, 70. Je suis né en 1963, c’est ma culture. Un peu comme si je disais que j’aime Bob Dylan ou les Pink Floyd. À une époque, je démarchais les agents sur Paris où j’habite, une réflexion que j’entendais régulièrement: "vous devriez démarcher aux états-Unis, votre écriture devrait plaire là-bas". C’est ce que j’ai fait, j’ai ainsi rejoint l’équipe de David Goldman à New-York.
What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece? Your fears, anticipation, confidence , etc. How do you know something is finished? Il y a plusieurs étapes dans la création d’un des sin: — L’inspiration, la recherche des idées, c’est le plus agréable et le plus facile psychologiquement. C’est une gymnastique intellectuelle très plaisante, avec les petits croquis sans enjeu, C’est mon étape préférée. — Le démarrage de la réalisation, c’est le plus difficile. Comme l’angoisse de la page blanche chez l’écrivain. C’est à ce moment que je procrastine à mort. — La réalisation proprement dite: alternativement grand plaisir, impression d’être un nul absolu, exaltation, déprime… Bref on ne s’ennuie pas. — Le dessin est fini: quand on est content, qu’on en a marre, on est fatigué et on voudrait passer à autre chose. There are several steps in creating a drawing: - The inspiration, the search for ideas, is the most pleasant and the easiest psychologically. It is a very pleasant intellectual gymnastics, with small sketches without stake, It is my favorite stage. - The start of the realization is the most difficult. Like the anxiety of the blank page for a writer. That's when I procrastinate "to death" (a French expression that means " a lot " - The actual realization: alternatively great pleasure, impression of being an absolute null, exaltation, depressed ... In short one does not get bored. The drawing is finished: when we are happy, we are tired, we are tired and we want to move on.
My culture comes from many illustrators or graphic designers such as Saul Steinberg, Ralph Steadman, Milton Glaser, Tomi Ungerer, André François ... not all Americans, but all a particular story with the United States. It is especially an attachment to a precise period: the years 50, 60, 70. I was born in 1963, it is my culture. A bit like I said that I like Bob Dylan or the Pink Floyd. At one time, I was walking agents in Paris where I live, a reflection that I heard regularly: "you should approach the United States, your writing should please there." That's what I did, so I joined David Goldman's team in New York.
What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Have you worked for publishers in Western counties like America, England and France? J’ai un site internet qui est une vitrine de tout ce que je fais, ainsi qu’une page Facebook qui publie mon actualité. Mais c’est surtout la galerie, et mon agent d’illustration qui s’occupent de me promouvoir. Il le font bien mieux que moi. J’ai publié dans pas mal de journaux Américains dont le Washington post et le New York times. Je ne fais plus du tout d’illustration de livres comme j’ai fait à une époque, mais j’aimerais bien publier un beau livre, faire un recueil d’images sur un thème. I have a website that is a showcase for everything I do, and a Facebook page that publishes my news. But it's mostly the gallery, and my illustrator, who take care of me. They do it better than me. I've published in a lot of American newspapers including Washington Post and New York Times. I do not do any more book illustration as I did at one time, but I would like to publish a beautiful book, make a collection of images on a theme.
I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? Quand je travaille sur une illustration, c’est pas compliqué, Il s’agit de bien répondre à la commande. Mais je fais de plus en plus de créations personnelles montrées en galerie (Je suis représenté par la galerie Bayart à Paris). Le plus compliqué est de choisir quoi faire, il y a tellement de directions possibles! Le plus amusant c’est que plus on fait de choses, plus le champs des possibles s’élargit. Une sorte d’épidémie: une idée en amène une autre qui elle même en amène 2, puis 4 puis 8… C’est démoralisant et excitant! Si je parle d’un de mes dessins sur bois enduit comme je fais en ce moment, voici comment ça se passe: Je fais un 1er dessin au crayon sur papier. Je scanne le dessin et je le transforme à l’ordinateur pour l’améliorer, je m’aide de collages à partir de gravures anciennes principalement. Le mélange entre dessin et collage est souvent imperceptible. À ce moment toute la composition est parfaitement aboutie et je vais la projeter en grand sur un panneau de bois enduit blanc. Je sais exactement quelle partie va être dessinée, quelle partie va être en collage, il n’y a plus aucune surprise. When I work on an illustration, it's not complicated, you just need to answer well to the assignment. But I do more and more personal creations shown in gallery (I am represented by Bayart Gallery in Paris). The most complicated thing is to choose what to do, there are so many directions! The most fun thing is that the more we do things, the more the field of possibilities expands. A kind of epidemic: an idea brings another who brings 2, then 4 and 8 ... It's demoralizing and exciting! If I'm talking about one of my coated wood drawings as I'm doing right now, here's how it goes: I make a first drawing in pencil on paper. I scan the drawing and I transform it to the computer to improve it, I help with collages from old engravings mainly. The mixture between drawing and collage is often imperceptible. At this moment the whole composition is perfectly accomplished and I will project it in large on a white coated wood panel. I know exactly which part will be drawn, which part will be in collage, there are no more surprises.
What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? En travaillant avec la galerie, j’ai rencontré plusieurs sculpteurs, j’avais toujours imaginé faire un peu de sculpture. J’ai commencé timidement, mais j’aimerais continuer. J’ai plein d’idées, c’est plutôt la mise en oeuvre technique et le temps qui me freinent. Working with the gallery, I met several sculptors, I always imagined doing a little sculpture. I started shyly, but I would like to continue. I have lots of ideas, it's rather the technical implementation and the time that slows me down. If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why? Peu après être sorti de l’école d’art, j’avais obtenu un rendez-vous avec le célèbre Illustrateur André François (l’oncle d’un ami habitait le même petit village et le connaissait bien). C’était déjà un monstre sacré, il y avait eu une grande rétrospective de son travail à Paris peu avant. Il m’a reçu gentiment dans son atelier qui était gigantesque. Je lui montrais mon book, ce fut une vraie déconvenue. Il ne comprit pas mon travail et ne savait pas trop quoi me dire. Moi je voulais qu’il me parle de lui, me montre ses tableaux en cours etc… Heureusement l’oncle de l’ami me consola en me disant qu’il ne partageait pas du tout l’avis d’André françois, et qu’il voyait tout à fait l’intérêt de ce que j’avais montré (moi aussi!) Shortly after graduating from art school, I had an appointment with the famous Illustrator André François (a friend's uncle lived in the same little village and knew him well). It was already a sacred monster, there had been a great retrospective of his work in Paris shortly before. He received me kindly in his workshop which was gigantic I showed him my book, it was a real disappointment. He did not understand my job and did not know what to say to me. I wanted him to talk about him, show me his paintings in class etc...Fortunately the uncle of my friend consoled me
Wendy
edelson
An Interview with Lon Levin
ARTWORK THAT WARMS THE HEART When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I started drawing when I was two. Almost all children start scribbling around that age but I began in the back of the family station wagon when we moved from New York City to Southern California. To keep me entertained ( quiet ) I was given paper and pencils and began drawing mothers holding babies, animals, children playing, the landscape out the windows…I would hand my drawings up to my parents in the front seat, and from what they tell me,,, they were very surprised. My parents both had wanted to be artists, my Dad a sculptor, my Mom a fashion designer… so they were very aware, of art and drawing.
I never stopped after that fateful cross country trip. My Dad had a sort of studio in our garage and he mostly carved large figures in wood, from fallen trees. I would draw there, to be with him. I remember being tired and saying I was going to go in the house and he looked at my drawing and said, “ NO! you cannot stop until you get that foreshortening of the foot right! To be a great artist you must first be a great draughtsman, you must draw, draw, draw and make sure the anatomy is correct… that your figures can STAND on those legs… until then, any technique is worthless, color is meaningless…. The drawing, the skeleton MUST be accurate!!!!” He was very passionate and not kidding, so I’d stayed and drew until he told me it was good My family was enormously encouraging and never said I should, “ learn X in case
the art didn’t work out, so I’d have something to fall back on”, like many well meaning parents do. They were kind of all or nothing people. When I was in seventh grade a friend of mine’s father was a fairly well known painter. After a while I’d just go visit him in his studio. He introduced me to mediums other than pencils, like pen and ink and technical pens and gouache and watercolors. I was very fortunate and was surrounded by people who encouraged and supported me. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I was very fortunate and was surrounded by people who encouraged and supported me. To be honest, I was a kind of strange kid. I was an only child, the daughter of two bohemian parents who had no interest at all in “ fitting in “. I was a loner and spent virtually all my time drawing. I went from kindergarten straight into the second grade
so I was always younger than the other children. I grew up in Chatsworth, California. My Dad used to go to yard sales and estate sales all the time and brought me an OLD encyclopaedia for children called The Wonder Book of Knowledge, which was filled with engravings and B & W drawings and color plates by artists like Howard Pyle, the pre-Raphalite Brotherhood and Arthur Rackham. I was positively smitten and he brought me all the books he could find by them. I particularly loved “The Wonder Clock” by Howard Pyle and also the wonderful fairy tales from Russian illustrators. All of these influenced me greatly, the strong drawing, design and detail, imagination, and pattern.
"To be honest, I was a kind of strange kid."
You do a lot of whimsical art work. How did that happen? Do you prefer kidlit art to other forms? I really love drawing and painting the subject matter that often lends itself to children’s books, fairy tales and fables, natural animals or animals in outfits, magical creatures, children and elderly people, forests and gardens, imaginary scenes…I didn’t really start out wanting to illustrate children’s books…rather I wanted to draw and paint what appealed to me and it naturally led to children’s books. A lot of my work has also been licensed for puzzles, decorative items, fabrics…a lot of various applications. Has the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally?
I work traditionally almost exclusively. I use PhotoShop to clean up pencil drawings, occasionally flop or shrink/enlarge elements in a sketch and I print my final pencil drawings which I often change to a light
sepia onto 140# Arches hot press watercolor paper on a wide format printer. From then on, it’s all watercolor and often some acrylic gouache when I want to paint lights over darks, like sunlit leaves What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece? Your fears, anticipation, confidence , etc. How do you know something is finished?
The drawing is the work, it requires much more focus and more quiet. When it flows it is pure joy, other times a hand needs to be drawn 20 times until it just “ feels” right. The painting is my favorite part, I just love everything about it. While I’m painting I often
(continued from previous page) watch British mystery series or listen to audio books… often times a particular bit will become somehow embedded in the painting and I can look at a particular section of a painting and the scene from the movie or passage from a book will come flooding back! The piece just tells me when it is finished, and I’ve learned to listen. Your work is reminiscent of classic warm and fuzzy children’s art. Is that intentional? Who if anyone influences your work?
Not really intentional, it’s just how I see the world. I really would enjoy creating some “ fantasy art” projects but a lot of them need to be kind of dark and I just don’t pull that off very convincingly. As I mentioned before, early on I was influenced by the pre-Raphaelites like John Waterhouse, Millais and Burne-Jones…also William Morris, Arthur Rackham and Howard Pyle, Norman Rockwell and Maurice Sendak. I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? A lot of my work over the years has chosen me. As a working artist, besides being my avocation and calling, it has also been my means of support. Luckily for me, as time has gone by, because of my very particular and recognizable style, the projects that come my way are ones that I am happy working on. No one ever comes to me for an edgy, very graphic digital illustration with no detail! When I begin a project there is usually a period of percolating and marinating…if it is a commercial piece, an editorial or advertising piece that is usually very short as those generally have tighter deadlines. Then I begin looking for reference photographs, medieval villages, elephants, bumblebees, oak trees, people leaping….I don’t look to copy photographs but rather to look at the form of a wing, the texture of that particular bark, anatomical information. Then I begin scribbling. At first it is blobs which represent people, things, animals …just to get the rhythm of the piece, pieces, the book. If it is a book I need to get to know the characters… what do the people look like, who are they? Sometimes I’ll write little bios for them, for myself to help me know their personalities and how they carry themselves…all the little details that contribute to how I draw them.
My favorite projects are those stories written without many adjectives or adverbs. One of my heroes is author/illustrator and Caldecott Medal winner, Uri Shulevitz who wrote a book called “Writing With Pictures”. In it he describes how words and illustrations in a picture book should be like a string of pearls, that the illustrations should SHOW things that the words do not SAY, so together words and pictures create the book. When I receive a story to illustrate I am overjoyed if the words just say, “ Joe”, and I can show that Joe is tall and gangly and has red hair that sticks up and a long, sad face. From there I continue tightening and refining the sketches , adding detail, light and shadow. Eventually I feel the sketches are finished and then I submit them to the Art /Creative Director with whom I am working. If I am supremely fortunate they will tell me they LOVE my sketches and to go PAINT!!!! Often times some changes will be made, usually fairly minor and relatively painless….VERY ( luckily ) occasionally major changes will be requested and then one complies, happy that no one is a fly on the studio walls. Finally the go ahead is given and the painting can begin. I scan my very finished pencil drawings, clean up unnecessary pencil lines, fix previously unseen tangent, ghosts etc. and scan them, and colorize the sketch to a light brown Then I staple the printed sketch onto a brown gatorboard panel and slosh water all over it. When it dries, it is tight and will not ripple or buckle under subsequent wash. Depending on the image, sometimes I will paint a very light blue or raw sienna wash over the entire piece. Also, at that point I might apply frisket, masking fluid to certain details, areas that I want to remain untouched as I apply washes to the surrounding areas.
From that point on I apply many light layers, glazes, of watercolor, building up the color and working all over the painting. My process is slow, but I am pretty fast at it, and it makes me happier than almost anything else. When they are finished I scan them at a high resolution and send them to the publisher via an ftp service, or occasionally send the publisher the actual completed paintings… and feel a sense of accomplishment that another book has been completed but also feel a bit adrift and overwhelmed at the thought of beginning the whole process again. When I finish a book very late at night it’s a little weird, there one is, finished, after many months of work and one is just simply finished There is only the finished work and the silence, broken only be a softly snoring dog…. Once to remedy that my husband made me a recording of a cheering crowd, rousing applause. I feel silly playing it but it makes me smile just to know I can, What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Have you worked for publishers in European countries like England or France? If not would you want to? Not nearly enough. For most of my career I have had agents who took care of that for me, but at the moment I am unrepresented. I think about promo campaigns and mailings, postcards, portfolio sites, looking for new representation but I am currently busy with several projects so I tell myself maybe in the Fall since Summer in publishing is so sleepy. I have never worked for any English, or French publishers, but would love to. Many European books are very beautiful. There is a Russian publisher who is publishing some wonderful children’s books… I would jump at the chance to work with them given my love for Russian illustrated children’s books, fairy tales, and admiration for what they are publishing now. What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal?
Good things! I am involved in several projects that I am loving and the beginnings of something very special. Ultimately, I would love to author, not only illustrate picture books. If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why?
I would love to meet Uri Shulevitz. He really
brought home the magic and joy of picture books as an art form to me. His own illustrations and words are beautiful and clear and full of emotion and sweetness. I would love to thank him for being such an inspiration.
"My process is slow, but I am pretty fast at it, and it makes me happier than almost anything else."
COHEN SANTIAGO
Born in Mexico, Santiago has a BA in Communications Design from Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, and MS from Pratt Institute also in Communication Design. He has worked as an Illustrator for major newspapers and magazines in the U.S. and he designed 24 animated episodes of "Troubles the Cat" for The Cartoon Network and CTN (Children's Television Network). He designed and animated short films for children which aired on HBO (two of the programs won an Emmy and a Peabody award), and designed openers for the French TF! Over the last 10 years he's created close to 20 children's books for editorial companies like Marshall Cavendish, Viking, GP Putnam, Zanner-Bloser, Houghton Mifflin, Warner, Golden Books, Zondervon, Chronicle, Blue Apple books and Skypony. Santiago also designed the first logo for Comedy Central and a film for the Poison Control
As a fine artist Santiago has individual and collective art shows in galleries in New York and Mexico. He received a grant from the Xeric Foundation to self publish his graphic novel "The Fifth Name". When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? My father was a good artist and I tried to copy some of his cartoons when I was a kid, and couldn’t draw as well as he did; that frustrated me and I wanted to learn how to draw as well as he did, so I practiced a lot. Later on I became a photographer, but eventually I switched to art for good. My family was very supportive but they worried that I couldn’t make a living as an artist, that’s why I became a graphic designer and illustrator. I have a really good mentor who has supported me all my adult life, R. O. Blechman, who is a first rate cartoonist and animator. When I lost my father I took him as a father
N "One influence was living near a wooded area where
my friends and I could play “Army” and swing on vines." "
figure and he has given me confidence in my approach to everything creative that I do. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I was always a very curious kid opening old radios to see how they worked and learning how to fix them back together, not always successfully. I loved music and found all sorts of ways to create simple sound systems to hear them better. Music elevated my thoughts and ideas to higher levels. I always wrote diaries, or expressed my feelings with cassette recorders. I was born in Mexico and this country is highly visual. The handcrafts, churches, markets are all filled with weird, surreal images. The first artists that l loved were Van Gogh and Vermeer. But I was an avid comic reader, because in Mexico there was almost no children’s literature in that time that I knew about. So to me stories always were attached to visuals. We would spend a long time in Cuernavaca, where my grandmother had a house. In Cuernavaca my mother would take us to the
movies to see triple features in the afternoon, which was easier for everybody not to get bored. We saw Mexican movies from their golden age, old American action movies, comedies, and romance, everything except horror movies, my mother didn’t like them. I had a period when I loved them. My other influence was of course the Mexican muralists and the Posada woodcuts. Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? I began in my twenties to publish a comic strip in one of the Mexican Newspapers trying to be unique and very bold with a group of cartoonists that were incredibly talented. I just wanted to be more talented than them, but the same with my father, they were better writers and illustrators, but the difference made me unique in comparison, and that gave me an “edge”. I understood that in order to get the attention I had to be daring, and not always trying to please the viewer...at the end I had to please myself. You work in a few different areas like children’s books, animation, magazine illustration. How did that happen?
When I came to New York in the eighties I showed Pratt a portfolio of 50 comic strips that I published in Mexico, and the person who interviewed me for acceptance to the master’s program, Ethan Manasse, showed my work to his agent Michelle who was an illustrators rep. She asked if I wanted to be represented in New York? "What's illustration?" I was a cartoonist, and in Mexico illustration was only a word but nobody was doing it. She became my rep and I did Christmas cards for the MOMA, illustrations for different magazines, and I learned what illustration was. Later on I worked with Art Spiegelman and Francois Moully assisting them for Raw magazine and moved to work at the Ink Tank Studio under R.O. Blechman where I helped with the animation. I aso did animations for HBO and had a series of animation with my design, "Troubles the Cat". When that finished I started doing children’s books with Harriet Zeifert. I did five books with her company Blue Apple Books, including the cow book. I also created a graphic novel, "The Fifth Name", based on a story by Stephan Zweig, and won a grant from the Xeric Foundation. I just spent 5 years working on "Angelitos" with writer Ilan Stavans. Most of my work lately are ideas I have. I work on them until I find a way of publishing. I am working on a book of my life called "ExVida" that features 1150 paintings. How has the advent of the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally? I am old enough that I lived the transition between handmade everything to digital. When I started I did all my illustrations with acrylic paint on watercolor paper, and it was very difficult when the art directors had a change of mind or the editors changed the ideas, to correct the concepts. Most of the times I had to re-do the illustrations. I have hundreds of illustrations that I made in that period for all sorts of magazines and newspapers. Most of those got damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, because my studio was in the basement of my house in Hoboken, and they all got wet. All my friends came to the rescue and helped my wife Ethel and me to dry them in the backyard and the house with lasagna layers of bed sheets, towels and paper towels. I still have them, but they're not in great shape. When the computers started in the nineties I was one of the first illustrators to embrace it. I would do the line by hand and color in Photoshop. The results were similar and they were faster to finish, and correct. I worked with Nicolas Blechman doing op-ed pieces for the NYT, and sometimes the computer allowed me to turn in illustrations in matter of hours. I still do a combo of both, with my books and animations. I love working on both media, by hand and digital.
I’m fascinated by the animated work and how you got into working with Cartoon Network and HBO? It was when I worked at the Ink Tank studio with R.O. Blechman. I worked there until they closed sometime in the early 2000s, it was a great opportunity for me to work in the best animation studio in New York with an incredible group of talented artists.
Does living on the East coast give you a certain edge to your work? I think when I started New York City was a very rough place and everything was “punkish”, everybody wanted to be edgy and unique. When the computer started it was more homogenized because there is only one Photoshop, and everybody ended up doing similar work. I don’t think the East coast has an edge now...it is more universal. Illustrators from Mexico can do as good work as in India, or Kansas. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? If I do illustrations I concentrate on the story and then with an open mind like an actor who has to portray a character. I have to show the essence of what I have to tell with images and then I sketch a lot until I find the optimal solution. For books if I write a children’s book I try first titles with the ideas I have and with that I write the story. Sometimes with images first, design of the characters, and improvise on the narrative. For my paintings I try to create a series to connect one to the other in a direct or indirect way. But never one painting at the time, always series of images connected one to the other. What do you do to promote yourself and get more work? I use social media, send direct postcards to art directors or galleries, enter all the contests I can, I am starting to use mail chimp with a targeted list of art directors, but not over do it because people hate spam. But my best promotion is your work shown out there in published media, or my website.
What’s the future hold for Santiago? My future is to show more in galleries, keep painting, writing graphic novels, work abroad and in my studio and the sky is the limit. I've been doing work in Jersey City for the "day of the dead" parade. I love creating giant puppets and working with my community.
JULIA SIDNEVA WITH STYLE
"It was because of the big influence of the Polish illustration school that I finally found the way I want to develop my style. "
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers? It is difficult to answer this question precisely, it seems that this idea was with me from birth. My most favorite children's entertainment is to be alone with papers and pencils. My Parents immediately appreciated this state of affairs, because I could entertain myself for hours on my own (laughs). And then everything is simple: every year I grew and changed, but my love for drawing remained unchanged, so neither I nor my family had any options. And it's silly not +to do your favorite thing and do something else.
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I grew up in Soviet Moscow in a normal quiet apartment area. I dreamed a lot, I thought that someone was living under the bed, I was bored at school. And for the whole summer I was sent to my grandmother in the village and there my favorite place was a huge pile of building sand in front of the house. It was possible to build entire cities and highways. I painted all the time, I made up small plots, ironic scenes, for a long time I wanted to become a multiplier. When it became clear that being a professional artist was inevitable, my parents sent me to art school. Most of all I was interested in the image of any living beings, their characters, dynamics. I remember well a still life with a stuffed crow, which almost no one could do, but I was delighted. My classmates asked me to help when the teacher left the classroom. I could not refuse them, and instead of drawing one crow, I drew a 5 or 6! But a really big influence on me was the education at Moscow University of Press. It was a time of real discovery! Elena Nenastina has become my main teacher, with whom I was already a wonderful friend.
Has the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally?
Of course! I draw pictures on paper, but always modify them in graphic editors. Sometimes it's hard to see. First of all, I make the image clean, bright, remove unwanted garbage: random lines, splashes. A few years ago, I stopped at this. Now I increasingly combine drawing with computer graphics, it helps to achieve original effects and textures. You do a lot of whimsical art. How did that happen? I don't think that I do whimsical art. But I am primarily interested in character, emotion, moments. Always loved to watch different types of personality and explore their characters. That is why I often make sketches of the life of my city on the street or in transport - this is the greatest pleasure and entertainment for me. This is my personal library of characters! I think the plot is secondary, so all the attention in my illustrations is directed to the characters, and the environment and interiors are very conditional, without details. Still important to me is the composition of the image. This is primarily an analytical work. I love the combination of emotionality and analytics in illustration and I try to work actively in these two areas.
What do you do to promote yourself to get work? Have you worked for Western counties like America, England and France? I show a lot of my work at Russian and international exhibitions, sometimes I participate in markets, I show city sketches in social networks. Sometimes I have individual exhibitions in Russia. I always have a job here, but I haven’t cooperated with foreign publishers yet, but I would really like it. I think this is the next step in my professional development.
What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? Everything is very simple. I would like to grow to the world-famous illustrator!
Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? Undoubtedly, my style was influenced by 6 years of study at the Moscow State University of Press named after Ivan Fedorov, founded in 1930. The University emerged from a creative professional association that can be considered the first largescale design workshop in Russia. The ideas were close to the principles of the German Bauhaus school. The first teachers of the graphic faculty were the famous graphics of the Soviet Union, and the first dean was Alexander Rodchenko. I was lucky to learn from teachers who were students of the most progressive
theorists and practitioners of illustration in the USSR. This is a powerful composition base. This is the development of expressive images. This is a great foundation for an illustrator. I am proud of my school.At the same time, the tradition of Soviet graphics is very strong at the university of print, naturally this reflects on the drawing style of students and graduates. Therefore, several years after university, I wanted to make my drawings more modern and relevant. I am working on it so far, I try to study modern world illustration, I watch a lot of my Western colleagues. I want my style to remain recognizable, but at the same time I change a little bit all the time. I think it is very important to discover something new all the time and respond to the demands of modernity without changing yourself.
"Undoubtedly, my style was influenced by 6 years of study at the Moscow State University of Press"
Julie Mellan Interview with
Lon Levin
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I always loved drawing, since I could hold a pen. As a child, I used to draw and paint all day long, and I simply never stopped. When I was 5, I told my mother that drawing for children books must be a pretty cool job… Luckily, my parents told to my brothers and I that we could do whatever the jobs we wanted as long as we did it well, and with passion. Yes, I felt encouraged by friends and family despite I knew that working as a freelance won’t be a bed of roses everyday. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I was a regular, happy little bookworm! I’m French, always lived in France. My family is a real cliché: my
parents, my two brothers and I lived in a suburban area with our Labrador in the late 90’s. I was surrounded by friends of my age in this lovely neighborhood and (when I wasn’t reading), we spent entire days playing in each other’s backgrounds or rooms… We also watched a lot of Disney’ s movies. I definitely was inspired by these in the first place. After the high school, I entered an art school, in order to learn the animation. There, we studied academic drawing, painting, illustration and animation. But when I had to choose my path, I rather preferred illustration: its delightful for me to spend several hours painting a detailed scene, but a real pain when it’s for hundreds of animation’s keys gestures. Your style and take on creation of art is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you?
I don’t have the feeling I have my own style yet !
" could hold a pen.
I always loved drawing, since I
"
"I simply find animals funnier than humans to draw."
joy. Then, I transpose it with animals because I simply find them funnier than humans to draw. Has
the computer affected your work?
traditionally and digitally?
Do
you work
I still work traditionally, with watercolor. Some illustrators manage to do magnificent digital paintings but on my side, I’m so bad at it ! I simply can’t. That’s alright, because I love this traditional way, from the process to the final rendering. Sometimes, people tell me that they actually like this classic look, that it reminds them oldfashioned illustrations. Nothing makes me more proud
(Continued) I think this is like an handwriting, it comes naturally, you can try to improve it, work on it, but it represents intrinsically who you are. Several art teachers told me for years that my characters looked too much like Disney’s. I try to avoid that, to go beyond and add my touch, but this is what it comes naturally for me ! You do a lot of lovable warm character art work. How did that happen? Usually, I draw my characters based on a feeling, then comes what they will look like. I guess this process gives them more depth. Then, I’m inspired by nature: for example, have you noticed how cute a baby wombat is? Will you explain a little about the origins of your characters and their meaning to you? Do they come out of your head or from people you’ve seen or know? As I said, I start with an idea, a feeling, a posture. I’m often inspired by my two sons. Toddlers and kids have their own gestures and attitudes, their games or funny words. As an example, my son recently reached the minimal size to ride Space Mountain, I had to paint this smile ! There’s so much in it: pride, excitation and pure
than when I heard “it reminds me of Beatrix Potter’s art.” However, I do paint little colors thumbnails on Photoshop before I start the actual painting. It helps me to easily settle the color scale and harmony, the light sources, and the contrast of an illustration. What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece? Your fears, anticipation, confidence How do you know something is finished? Once I have my idea, I start sketching. I have two big fears: The first one is that it looks too much like Disney. (But I love Disney!) As practice, I copied the characters
"Some illustrators manage to do magnificent digital paintings but on my side, I’m so bad at it ! I simply can’t."
for years when I was a kid, and I still love the movies; but I heard so often that is was boring, that it gave a déjà-vu feeling, that I try to add my own personal touch every time. Also, my second fear is to be too classic, almost outdated. I work traditionally, I paint cute animals with watercolors. I’m pretty far from whacky, scatty and cool illustrations that are made these days. I do my best to go beyond my smooth, reserved nature. Also, I must confess I’m never really confident when I start a new piece. I’ll discover the final rendering at the very end: sometimes it looks like what I had in mind, sometimes it doesn’t. Finally, an illustration is finished, obviously, when everything is done. If this mouse needs whiskers, it’s finished when they have been drawn. But I really don’t know how to explain when the mouse needs whiskers or not. It’s like cooking: some people would add a little more salt, some wouldn’t! Your work is so unique, how did you attract clients when you first started out. Were you concerned about getting found by the right client? Oh, when I started, freshly graduated at 23 years-old, I was concerned by getting found, merely! Working in illustration: welcome to the jungle! I have launched dozens of portfolios to French publishers, with more or less success in the first months. In the beginning of my career, I did a lot of birth announcement cards and wedding invites, for living. Happily, I found editorial projects pretty quickly, and I keep working with my first publisher since then. Few years ago, I also started to post my work on social medias, it gave me some global visibility, and I am now represented by an international illustration agency who brings me some projects and support me with the contracts. I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? It was hard at the beginning, but today, I can afford to choose on which projects I want to work. Usually, I receive the text in the first place, if I like it, if it inspires me, let’s go for it! I start with tiny (and pretty ugly) thumbnails, I settle the storyboard this way, so I can have an overlook of the book and its sequence. I try to diversify the compositions in the several pages. When it looks good for me, I do the sketches in the right size, then I send to the publishers to get his green light, and continue on the paintings.
What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Have you worked for publishers(print and gaming)/animation companies in European countries like England or France or US? If not would you want to? In order to promote my work, I just post my latest illustrations on social medias and my online portfolio. And sometimes, between two paintings, when I have some time, I knock at publishers’ doors to let them know that I’m here… But in general, they rather come to me when a project is launched and they need an illustrator to work on it. I work with few publishers in France, from Netherlands and the US. My style of illustrations seems to be too classic, too formal for the French publishing… I would love to work with publishers from the UK! Fingers crossed! What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? I wish I could live from illustration for many years. Let’s go for even more books! And pretty good ones. Actually, I’m really often frustrated by the timelines. As I work traditionally, I need time to complete a book project while publishers schedule the publication just few months later. My ultimate goal would be to have the opportunity to work on a beautiful illustrated book, full of clumsy, cute animals, and having enough time to enhance it as much as it’s necessary. If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why? Does it sound creepy if I say I would like to meet a bunch of dead people? Seriously, I’m a huge fan of classical illustrators like Breatrix Potter (obvisouly, already said it), Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen, Grandville, Gustave Doré. I would like to know what their lives looked like at their time. All of them were real precursors in their field! But of course, there are also many great illustrators these days! I had the chance to study with one of my favorite illustrator, Jean Claverie, who was a teacher in my art school. He is a master of watercolor, and he undoubtedly taught me to be really exacting with this demanding medium. Beyond the living, I admire Rebecca Dautremer, Christopher Denise, Geneviève Godbout, Quentin Gréban, Frédéric Pillot… and many others I forgot. To be honest, I think I would be too shy to ask them anything, if I could, I would just sit quietly, and watch them working.
digital Agata karelus
painting "master digital Artist"
When did you first realize you were an artists or had artistic talent?
Do you have Parents, brothers sisters? A little family history?
Oh my glob! I didn’t realize anything - I’m too busy drawing! It’s possible that my talent is on it’s way - but it will take a lot more work for it to get to me.
I have both Parents and a younger brother. The female part of the family is artistic and little crazy, the male part is more down to earth - so when I need some precise help I call my Dad and when I need to cry over my shoulder - I call my Mom. And I’m in love with my nephew - he loves to draw - mostly mushrooms which btw is really narrow specialisation but I believe in him. We also have one old dog, one old cat, we used to have 3 horses, 2 goats, 1 pig and goose.
Did you have encouragement to pursue your dream of being an artist ? or did it just happen over time? Both! I had encouragement from my parents, now from my husby Tomek Karelus and being an artist and calling myself one - that happened over time. I’m never happy enough with what I do and that’s what keeps pushing me forward.
l
g " I grew up in Warsaw,
in really crazy times when Poland was still socialist country. I remember standing in a lonoong, looong, line just to buy a toilet paper - which btw was more of a sandpaper
"
"The female part of the family is artistic and little crazy,
the male part is more down to earth - so when I need some precise help I call my Dad and when I need to cry over my shoulder - I call my Mom."
Where did you grow up and how do you think where you grew up affected your art? I grew up in Warsaw, Poland in really crazy times when Poland was still a socialist country. I remember standing in a long, long, line just to buy a toilet paper - which by the way was more like sandpaper than the real one we have now. It was hard times but people cared more about others and I can’t say a bad thing about my childhood who wouldn’t love to be a kid in the 80’s! And sure it affected my art - look at colors I use - it's all 80’s! Your personal color palette is very saturated and intense. Does that come naturally or did you make a conscious effort to use color that way? Yes it comes naturally - sometimes even to easy - I tried, I really, really tried to be an adult and use colours like a pro should - and the end was always the same. It’s possible that it’s the only way I see my inner world - it’s a dream of kid living in 80’s and I can’t do anything about it.
Who influenced you? Artists ? Teachers, family? In my early days - my Mom as she is an artist herself then there was the internet and other artists - now mostly it’s my husby - he has this power to make me better person and better artist. He is an art director, director and an illustrator himself which makes him an artist, teacher and family all in one. And he has magic patience - that’s what makes him great wife puppet master! If you weren’t an artist or a photographer what do you think you’d like to do? I would sat on a stone and cry my eyes out than I would probably became a farmer. I’m pretty good with horses (not so great with cats - that’s why I have one - obviously) and I would drive a tractor all day long as I love to drive!
Tanya
MARRIOT
When did you first think about art/dollmaking as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? Anyone stand out as a supporter? I started making dolls when I was about 10 years old when I went to a school holiday doll making workshop for a day - we painted porcelain pieces and made a baby doll. I was really intrigued with the process and came home and had a go at making my own doll. I have been making little critters in Fimo, so I had a crack at sculpting a head, hands and feet, with a soft body construction and hand-sewn clothing. I made “Will Scarlet” played by Christian Slater in the Robin Hood film - now I’m showing my age!!! I took it back to the doll shop to show my tutors. One of the doll shop owners told me it was the most horrific thing they had ever seen!!! The other thought it was wonderful. She became my life long mentor and supporter, we have been friends for 30 years now :) My parents encouraged all of my wild creations. My mum is a textile designer and taught me to sew, and dad the engineer helped me with construction problems. They used to joke that my bedroom was like a museum and that they could sell tickets. They were immensely proud, even if they didn’t always get what I was making. My husband
Garry is my most stand-out supporter, he keeps me grounded and helps me to refine my craft. We share a studio together and often collaborate on projects. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?
I was a very outgoing and noisy kid, always busy making something. I grew up in Taranaki and Wellington in New Zealand. All of my childhood homes backed onto farm or forest land, so I spent my childhood outdoors building tree forts with the local kids. My indoor time was spent sculpting, sewing and drawing, and building very badly made cardboard models! I was really into conservation and was a member of the Kiwi Conservation club, I was also a keen reader of fantasy novels. The Lord of the Rings was my ultimate favourite and the Dragonlance series, and my earliest dolls were characters from these books. Later on I was lucky to get work at Weta Workshop on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and more recently I did some volunteer work with Kakapo recovery - I feel my doll work has enabled me to come full circle to achieve my childhood dreams.
shows a signature style, so I worked really hard to define a style that was uniquely my own. I found drawing my ideas out before sculpting really helped to keep my design on track in the development process. Although trained in design, my dolls were always developed organically, as a reaction to what I was feeling when I worked with clay and fabric. The key I found to developing my style was ensuring I planned my designs, and staying true to the design schema throughout the making process. Your work is whimsical. How did that happen? My design aesthetic is guided by magical realism. I ground my characters within a believable reality, often referencing the lives and ecosystems of existing species, and then add a fantastical element. I am really interested in the notion of Kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and the relationships between my characters and those who protect, guide and nurture them. I use my characters to discuss difficult conservation narratives such as predation and habitat destruction, so I use the playfulness of my designs to engage the audience to empathize with my characters and their plight, and to take the time to stop and listen to their stories. Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? For years I just focused on becoming a better dollmaker and crafter - I honed my sculpting skills, and refined my modelmaking to build more elaborate and technically complicated pieces. I made a lot of dolls that were riders, so I needed to work out how to make animal characters, as well as making pieces that were structurally strong. For years my work was very dark and gothic - it was an aesthetic of the time and many of my fellow artists worked in a similar style. About 15 years ago I started to combine my doll and toy aesthetic together. I had been working in the toy industry and I was keen to try making more toy like designs. I was really inspired by the character personification that toys and dolls for play have. I was very keen to play with colour and more pure shape language. I wanted to develop a style that had shapes that were proportionately iconic (I was inspired by the golden section) and I wanted to bridge the gap between doll and toy. I was very inspired by the pop-surreal movement and my artist heros are Nathan Jurevicius, Tara McPherson, Jeff Soto and Femke Hiemstra. By then I was making almost exclusively anthropomorphic characters, I find animal shapes and textures really fascinating, and they have so much scope for characterisation. In 2011 I joined the National Institute of American Doll Artists as an artist member, it is a requirement for membership that our work
Has the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally? Computers have completely revolutionised my work! I still work in both traditional polymer clays and 3D printed resins, both have benefits in my making process and yield different aesthetics. I work in Maya and Zbrush and I work in Maya and Zbrush and then 3D print on a Formlabs
(Continued) Form 2 printer. We call it the “magic cupboard”. You send files down a usb cable to a cupboard, then several hours later a tangible design appears! I love being able to scale and iterate my work, and the digital pipeline enables me to do this. I can work with the same character and re-pose them in different dimensional illustrations and then print them out. I have made automata, and Zoetropes using 3D printers that would been incredibly difficult to make by hand. I still paint and costume all my dolls and toy by hand, and just use 3D printing in the sculpting process. I also sculpt by hand, but I find the output is slightly wonky and not symetrical - my hands shake a bit, but I see this as all part of the physical authenticity of the piece. I find nothing beats being able to see your work tangibly, and I find when I am working with polymer clay pieces I am definitely more experimental, as I still tend to work out the design as I am going along. What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece? Your fears, anticipation, confidence, etc. How do you know something is finished?
Something is finished when it hits the deadline! I am a bit of a night owl and I tend to keep working on my dolls right up until the moment they head to the gallery. I find doll-making really cathartic, and very really do I love the process. I find my technical limitations frustrating sometimes, and I need to take the time to do each step properly, especially where sometimes I am just too eager to get to the next step. Sometimes a doll just doesn’t speak to me and I need to put it aside and work on something else. I often work on several pieces at once so that I can vary the work. Even if I do put a doll down, I will go back and finish it. Some of my most favourite pieces are remade dolls. What does the future hold for your puppetry and film-making? We are seeing quite a resurgence for the handmade and tangible puppets, prosthetics and models being used within film and animation. Tangible designs are real, they are governed by real world physics and can do some really unexpected things when challenged.
I think audiences are looking for something more real. Digital effects and characters are amazing, and it is incredible what you can do in a CGI environment, this is also based on reality - but a more hyper fabricated reality. I feel there is nothing like working with the actual source material in front of the camera, and witnessing the serendipitous moments that only happen by happenstance in the “real world”. I have shot a few puppet films and it is amazing how quickly the characters become real living breathing actors. The magic begins when you start to play with the object. I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? Either a personal project or an assignment. Most of my characters are designed as character sets, with variations on the same scene so I can explore different personalities within each design. I generally start with a brief as to what I am going to create a doll or a toy. I spend time exploring the world they might inhabit, their environment, social structure, species, character personality, and then I start to draw. My drawings are usually quite rough and sketchy and they serve as a shorthand blueprint for the design that I’m going to make. The next stage is sculpture. Whether I am working in digital or physical clay, I start with a head and then move onto the hands and feet. Depending on whether the body is solid or fabric sculpture I will create a wire armature base which I will wrap with batting and fabric to build up the musculature and the body. Sometimes I will build up the body with epoxy clay to make a solid form and then sculpt back into the surface. I tend not to have a consistent form of making, rather I adapt it to what is required for each figure. Next, I sculpt hair, and then I begin to paint the figures. I use acrylic paint, and build it up with a dry brush technique, and then seal it with a matte coating. The costuming comes last and this is one of my most favourite parts of the process as this is where the character ready gets its personality, and I get to play with how they pose and how they look. Sometimes the character will start standing and I will adjust its position to sitting as I’m developing it in order to get the pose to best suit the story it needs to tell. I collect a lot of vintage fabrics and materials which are used to build the costumes. What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Do you work worldwide? I am an artist member of the National Institute of American doll artists and I exhibit with them annu ally in the USA and in Europe at a variety of doll shows. I have had my work published in various magazines and books through the years and through these opportunities I have built-up
a following, and have been picked up by a variety of galleries through these connections. I promote my work mainly on Instagram currently but I do use Facebook as a way of documenting my process. I am part of several New Zealand based creative communities which collectively help to give exposure to me work. In my professional work I am a senior lecturer in design, teaching into concept design for animation, toy and game. My character designs are part of my research work, so I also attend academic conferences to discuss the power of characters as communicators. I had my first solo show in 2003 in New Zealand I lived in Canada and the UK which really helped to connect me with the international character world. I have also participated in the Pictoplasma character Academy in Berlin, and exhibitions at Stranger Factory and Mothership Gallery which has opened up some amazing opportunities to exhibit with fellow international toy designers. What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? My immediate goal is to complete my PhD!. My project looks at how to effectively design toys with eco-fiction narratives, that encourage children to play in the outdoors. I see this as a wonderful opportunity for me to develop a variety of character designs and toy ranges that have been in my head for a really long time. I am doing my PhD part time while I’m teaching so I have another four years to go. Long term, when I’m old and grey I would like to retire to a remote island and run an artist retreat and work on designing my dolls and toys full time. In the midterm I really love the academic life, mentoring and supporting young designers in developing characters and worlds and telling amazing stories. If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why? I feel I’ve been incredibly privileged to have met many of my design heroes so I think the one person I would love to meet with the Lauren Faust who was the designer for the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic reboot. I am a huge My Little Pony fan, and have a large collection of the first generation ponies. I would love to talk with her about her design process and her reasoning behind the world she created for the new ponies. I have also recently been down a rabbit hole collecting artwork and researching toy industry packaging illustrators. In the 1980s almost all toy packages had hand illustrated watercolour images, which set the context for the product. The work is amazing! And I would love to meet and talk to these illustrators.
"I took Crista's Master Class and it was absolutely awesome! I highly recommend anyone who wants to sell their art sign up now! -Lon Levin/The Illustrators Journal
Peter Sis the master had a father who was a filmaker, traveller and a storyteller...and my mother who was a gifted, patient artist. There was no television or internet so I just drew stories of my parents.
I was a quiet kid and grew up in the city of Prague. It all started to change with the news of the Beatles and the pop culture...oh, and there were other influences: a collection of the Sunday Comics from the Chicago newspapers in the '30's. My grandfather brought them from America where he was a railway architect. He designed railways in Cleveland and Chicago. There were also books from America, magazines, records my father brought from his travels. I do remember seeing the art of Saul Steinberg from an early age. I still love it. Your style is very unique. Did you work on a style or is that what naturally came out of you? I never worked on my style. In the High School for The Arts I did not compare well with the students drawing in the "classic realistic" style. The teachers wedre putting me down, which together with adolescence was "deadly". Luckily after that in Art College I had a professor, a great freeform illustrator who took me under his wing.
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I drew and doodled ever since I was a young boy. I was surprised when my father said "You probably want to go to art school" or something like that. I was always encouraged by my parents – they were artists and had artist friends who became mentors of mine. The teachers at school were without imagination...I was in a communist country after all. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I grew up in a dull and grey communist country. But, I
That continued with Quentin Blake in London and after coming to America just observing and trying to fit in. How did you get started? And how did you progress? I came to America to make animated films. When that didn't work out I started to illustrate out of necessity....newspapers, magazines and books. The first projects were black and white then color. It just grew and grew - I guess it was the time and I was a novelty. Then the doors got bigger and I was paid more. There was almost no editorial - but, it would've been fun to try. Galleries and big agents seem to come after major recognition. They come and go...it all seems to happen in some organic way. I remember asking art director, Steve Heller after 17 years of drawing for N.Y.T.B.R. almost every week, if I'm not taking the place of some young illustrators. He said you'll know when it's time to go...and it did happen just like that. How has the advent of the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally or digitally or both? I am using tools I'm used to. Pens and brushes fit for my hand. The big problem seems to be with the
the availibilty of old fashion materials – ink, water color paper, paints and pastels. Everybody has gone digital! I am doing most of my art the old-fashioned way. I love to see paint dry. It's therapuetic for me. Your children’s books are marvelous. Simple yet elegant. How did the way you approach your books come about come about? Thank you for the kind words about my books. There were quite a few in 35 plus years. I grew up in Czechslovakia which always had (despite the politics) beautiful children's books. I was helped by wonderful people who made my books possible –
(cont.) publishers, editors, art directors. So many things have changed during my "life in books". First black and white, color separation, slowly more and more colors, large size, digital art. So I am really curious about what's to come... Can you explain a little about the origin and inspiration of Tibet Through The Red Box? "Tibet Through The Red Box" (I did that years ago!) - and when I look at it today - I think - this is pretty amazing, how did this ever happen? One thing is the story and I was in a hurry to complete the book because my father was diagnosed with cancer. Also when I started books in America I was talking everything out with my dad. He suggested I do a giant cook book and an explorer who went to Tibet and not only collected recipes but also stories ... (My father, who was a film director published a very popular book,"Counting of the Noodles in the Spring Soup" in Prague), so he knew it would work. I did not dare mention it to any publisher,
it just might be an interesting idea. So there I was creating a book – my stories about him and Tibet with lots of artwork and quite amazing layers – and was able to present it to him and the Dalai Lama when it was finished. I think he was happy and his Holiness blessed it. It was possibly my most important book. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? Process – Story – Write the story or more often draw the story. Get the interest of an editor (who knows me and doesn't think I'm crazy) same with an agent. This process can be swift but also, drag on a long, long time. Once you agree on the size of the book and create a few pieces of art it all starts to fall into place. There are moments when it feels like it's going to be easy, but then comes the time when you are in the middle of the tunnel and cannot see the light on either side. You fix things that come up –- draw, paint, proofs – and then the magical moment when the finished book is ready.
You won more awards since we last talked years ago. You achieved so much what remains on your bucket list? Any ultimate goal? The awards certainly were not and are not the goal. However, American Publishers use Award-Winning! Best-Selling! or Internationally Acclaimed! But what really matters is the person who really made a neat book. My ultimate goal would be to really, really let go and do something in simple line so beautiful and so smart just like Sol Steinberg used to do!
What do you do to promote yourself and get more work? I do not promote myself. I always thought I do not need to but I was wrong, especially since I have received two Lifetime Achievement Awards. Art Directors won't even consider getting in touch. I do not need more work, but I like new challenges.
You can find out more about Peter at http://petersis.com - Editor
age. Then as a teenager, I loved the Beatles to an obsessive point, and I drew them over and over, and people loved it! That was enough for me to keep it going, and then when it was time for college, there was no question that I’d go to art school. I opted to major in graphic design. I come from very working class roots, so – fine art was not even a consideration, and that came only from my own instincts. I studied the history of graphic design from the Bauhaus to Russian Constructivists to Pushpin Studios and Herb Lubalin, to Massimo Vignelli and Michael Beirut and Pentagram to the 80s new wave like April Grieman, etc . It was just pre-digital age by hair, so – I feel lucky to understand that design is not about knowing how to use software, yet – I also became very comfortable with it as soon as that became the norm in ad agencies that I worked in. Long story short – I became an art director and worked at some of the very best and most creative agencies in the 90s, with some of the very best people possible. Creativity still reigned in those places, and it was a good time.
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I started drawing at about 10 years old, I recall drawing the gymnasts from the Olympics, and it seemed to come very naturally to me. Everyone said “wow”, so, that was enough encouragement for me to continue. I suppose I was fortunate, I never had anyone give overly practical advice, or discourage me. That may be because I am female, I suppose. There is less expectation to have professional success, at least in the 70s when I was that
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I grew up specifically in Mt. Vernon, NY, which is just minutes beyond the Bronx border, so I had benefit of suburban life, with immediate proximity to New York City of the 70s and 80s, which was a very rich time, and almost bears no resemblance to what exists today. I was very fortunate. Therefore, my influences were literally everything and anything from high art in the best museums and fanciest stores which I recall as very glamorous and cutting edge, to the street which was still pretty grimy and rough…and much in between. Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? I think everyone’s style is what “naturally comes out of them”, but that is also the result of much work. I think there is a lot to be said for a simple work ethic that is not unlike any other, there is nothing special about art – you still have to just put the time and effort and countless hours in. That is usually pleasurable, but I think you need to have an almost irrational drive to keep coming back to it, even after many failures. You have to be the kind of person that just comes back to it the next day and
"I recall drawing the gymnasts from the Olympics, and it seemed to come very naturally to me. Everyone said “wow”, so, that was enough encouragement for me to continue." the next, who knows why. That’s just how it is. You look at a lot of art, but eventually – you just have to do what you do. I might have gravitated toward using collage – even if I’m just drawing and painting, I still work in a collage manner, as an outgrowth of the cut and paste, moving around methods of traditional analog graphic design. I read that even Dekooning worked that way for similar reasons, so – it must make sense!
What markets does your work appear in? Newspapers, magazines, galleries? How did that come about? All of those, though I think my work is most naturally for picture books (or animation). I like the problem solving aspect of editorial assignments as well. Galleries, its on a modest scale, or more accessible ones, group shows. That said, this is something I see pursuing more of in the future, perhaps, less commercial work – as a future goal. I am always getting tired of one “world” and wanting to crack another. How did it come about? I feel essentially that the right audience and clients will find you eventually if you are true to your own point of view. You can’t please everyone, so – stay the course with your own instincts, even if they may be pretty quirky. That’s all you’ve got to be unique and it’s important to remember that What tools do you use when you’re painting digitally? And why? I actually almost never paint digitally. I use photoshop more like print making – as simple layers
of analog elements. I always use a Wacom tablet, though actual drawing on it is kept to a minimum. I use photoshop and InDesign to plan out rough ideas or general assembling. I may do some color shifts, etc. I like to be able to move elements around easily, or extend a backround, etc. I also have a huge library of my own art elements organized on file. There are excellent digital brushes around now, but I rarely use them, I like the analog, organic feel more than faux effects. It can start to look artificial very fast, even with great tools and filters. The end result is not the same. I want to experiment more with an iPad pro though, it can be efficient, and certainly for animation, which I enjoy. For editorial assignments, I tend to work more digitally as time and flexibility is of the essence. Your Alice in Wonderland book is marvelous. How did the idea of mixed media, collaging mixed with watercolor come about?? Can’t say it was an “idea”, it just is what comes naturally to me. Those are the mediums I typically use. (Though I’m much less into watercolor these days). I like to play around with every art supply I can, in
an almost childlike way. I may learn the proper way to use these things, but…then that is boring and too careful and correct, so – I just mix gesso with ink or just experiment the “wrong” way, and chemically, interesting things happen! That is much more interesting to me than doing things properly, whatever that means. But, it’s interesting to learn the classical techniques, also. I just tend to get tired of that and want to see what happens if I spray hairspray or soap on to wax paper and then……? Whatever! It’s like cooking without a recipe. I’m not a precise or by-the-book personality. If you want to do something unique, you have to break the rules. That comes with both success and big failure, so, I think it takes more guts to leap into the void. But, it’s worth the risk. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? Think. Extremely loose sketches probably only I understand. Think more. Take a break (things are still happening in this stage, its important!). Sketch more ideas. Brutally narrow to the few best, in my own estimation and then bring to a next level of finish. For me, this may mean jumping right in and doing a “finish”, particularly with with my more personal, analog style. I can draw something very carefully, but it often gets discarded in favor of the more spontaneous and “honest” interesting chance mark that lands on the paper…. careless, more or scrap of paper that is in right place at the right time. You can’t overplan for these things. Even with editorial, where I may be playing around with elements digitally, it’s still in same playful way that leaves room for a haphazard, non-sequitur chance thing – which inevitably makes it all come together. You can’t plan for these odd connections. But they do always happen. What do you do to promote yourself and get more work? I used to do a lot of email blasts, but found that for every thousand people you hit, maybe 10
even see it, and 3 vaguely interested… and that’s with a focused list. I guess I did get some excellent assignments from it sometimes, but the odds are not in its favor. Now, I try to see who is most specifically doing work I admire, or may be inclined to respond to me, personally. I post work on both facebook and Instagram, some Pinterest…some decent assignments come from that, but, it’s a mixed bag. If you stick with what you do long enough, the correct people do find you, but you have to keep working and updating all the time. I wish I had a more failsafe method! What’s the future hold for Andrea? Any ultimate goal? Mine is to drink white wine and paint. I know you mean this tongue in cheek, but – I think it’s important to have visions that are 100% based in actual possibility. And reality can be quite amazing, and jaw dropping - but I suspect you don’t really expect to drink white wine all day! : ) So, rather than make it into a kind of “impossible” dream, what do you truly visualize as what you wish to do? For me, its actually somewhat similar – I wish to have a big space that is free to be messy and work on larger scale, and yes – be closer to nature. I will drink wine in moderation. However, I actually think that after decades of working my butt off in ad world, making decent financial decisions like buying an apartment that I will eventually sell….I can actually take steps to make this something how my future will look. Whatever way it goes, I can guarantee I’ll always be “working” in some way, as long as I’m physically able, as that has always been a constant in my life, even since childhood – so it’s clear to me that aspect won’t change. We who find pleasure in work and the process of making things are about the most fortunate people on earth, far as I can tell. I can’t figure out what other people actually do with their time, to be very honest!
gail armstrong paper sculpture master
I was trolling through the internet one day (as I regularly do) looking for interesting artists and stories. I somehow landed on artwork, specifically paper sculpture that knocked me out. The craftsmanship was so superior it was hard to believe. I thought to myself I must contact this person, whose name was Gail Armstrong, and convince her to be interviewed. Our readers needed to aware of the magic an artist can do with bits and pieces of paper. I found out how to contact her and to my delight she agreed. Gail Armstrong has been creating paper sculptures for over 20 years and her enthusiasm for the medium hasn’t waned one snip. She still wants every image she creates to be better than the last, and this approach has led to plenty of awards, including a Cannes Gold Lion for her Kleenex campaign. She finds inspiration in contemporary art and, not surprisingly, the huge Paperchase outlet on Tottenham Court Road in London. Gail did her foundation course at Sheffield Polytechnic before gaining both a BA and Post Graduate Diploma in Graphic Design and Illustration at Glasgow School of Art. Paper may seem flat to most of us, but Gail sees in it the
potential to create new worlds with their own look and feel. Simple sheets are manipulated and transformed into 3D sculptures, imbued with beauty using a gamut of stocks, textures and colours. When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I knew from age 5 that I wanted to go to art school. We drove past our local art school in Sheffield on our way to primary school, and the people going through the carpark just looked so interesting and were always carrying weird and wonderful objects. I knew I wanted to be a part of that. My grandmother in particular was so pleased when I finally went, as she had wanted to study art but been forbidden by her parents. My family are generally more science-based and I was quite academic (I think my father would have loved me to be a doctor like him), but no-one ever blocked me like they did my Granny. Then when I was accepted at Glasgow School of Art, my parents were so pleased, not only because it such an internationally acclaimed art school, but also because I was reconnecting with my Scottish roots,
myself. I always loved any form of crafts. Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? The first time we had a paper workshop at Glasgow School of Art, I knew I had found my medium! I just seemed to know how to get paper to do what I wanted (I think a lot of that comes from the years of making clothes). Someone once described my style as “drawing with a scalpel” rather than making and constructing and I think that’s a pretty good description. The paper sculptures are very like my drawings. I’ve always been attracted to images with a dramatic perspective, or that have a flow to them and that’s what I try to achieve in paper. Before I discovered paper, I tried all sorts of drawing and painting styles, but this is the style and way of working that just naturally worked for me.
I also have to mention my amazing art teacher at Brantwood School, Mrs Carpenter - an absolutely incredible art teacher, who never let you rest on your laurels! She really did nurture and inspire me from a very young age. Being at Glasgow School of Art when I was, has had a long-lasting affect on me. There was a spirit and creative energy in the place that kept building - there are several successful artists who were there at the same times me. Looking back it seems like I was there during a golden age, but at the time it felt more like having to work really hard just to keep pace with everyone!
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?
What markets does your work appear in? Newspapers, magazines, galleries? How did that come about?
I grew up in Sheffield, England with an older sister and a younger brother. Sadly my sister died when I was 17, just a few months before I left home to study in Glasgow. I’d say she was one of my biggest inspirations growing up, along with my mother. The pair of them had amazing imaginations (my sister was a writer and my Mum made up inspired games when we were little), and had a “joie de vivre” and “I can” attitude that still influence me today. My sister never let her ill health compromise her ambitions or used it as an excuse. As a child I spent a lot of time drawing and making things, especially clothes for my dolls, then later clothes from
All of them! Probably galleries least of all, but I’m working on rectifying that :) I don’t really like it when people describe illustrations as being “publishing” or “editorial”. To me, illustrations are more than just being about a style or a category. A good illustration conveys something more, whether it’s a complete narrative or a lifestyle moment…a good illustration actually says something and is more than just a pretty image. On that score, an illustration has to work much harder than a gallery piece. I’ve also know of illustrators who will only work for advertising or “blue chip” clients and frown upon editorial. For me every job I do has it’s own merits and appeal.
Personally, I know editorial is the lowest paid and fastest turnaround so doesn’t appeal to everyone, but for me, some of the best images I’ve done have been for magazines. I think when the next issue is pending and each issue has to make it’s mark, I’ve found the art directors are a little more willing to take risks and let my try new things that help advance my work.
How has the advent of the computer affected your work? Hugely!! It’s speeded up the drawing stage of my work and allows me to make changes and edits at that stage more easily. And previously, I was entirely reliant on a photographer’s input to get the paper sculpture looking at it’s best. Now I only work with photographers when the image requires something extra special with atmosphere or lighting. Otherwise, I’m now photographing the individual elements of the overall image and then putting the final illustration together in Photoshop, supplying the final artwork as digital files. Which also means I now work with clients all around the world, rather than shipping off paper sculptures as I did previously. Which all means the process of getting to the final image is far less time consuming and completely under my control. I also use the computer for scanning textures or creating patterns that I can then print onto papers to use in my sculptures, so I have much more paper to play with now :) When I first started there were only 5 of us in the UK working commercially, creating images in paper and each of us had our own distinct styles. Now I have to compete internationally with a multitude of paper artists (also digital artists that mimic a paper style). I’m glad I started when I did, as my work practice has been able to develop organically over the years along with the developments in computing, so I’ve built up a wealth of experience and a substantial portfolio of work over that time. What tools do you use? Do you ever worry that an injury or arthritis might curtail your ability to work with paper? Would you or could you work in another medium if necessary? Ha! When I first started one of my first pieces was 9ft long. Now if I made the same piece it would be about 2ft long, but with the same amount of detail.
The biggest hazard is paper cuts or when I accidentally knock the scalpel off my desk (I’ve had several near misses of my foot). But the worst thing for me is neck strain and muscle spasm, which unfortunately does incapacitate me or trigger migraine. I’ve discovered pilates and that’s a huge help, and I adjust my work position throughout the day to try and prevent getting set in one pose. The worst thing recently though is that I now sometimes have to wear glasses for some of the smaller fiddly bits. There’s nothing like your eyes going and your back aching to make you feel old!! I guess the biggest adjustment for me to prevent injury is learning how to say “no” and not get overloaded with work. I get so excited by the ideas that are sparked by new briefs, that I sometimes to take on more than I should. My main tool is a scalpel with a 10a blade - the callous on my finger only appears when I take a holiday. I think it’s constantly being worn away for the rest of the time! I also work with a self-healing cutting mat, small rulers from Muji, a ball-end, burnisher and a hat-pin! I find the best weight of papers to use are between 170-240gsm. I also have a Silver Bullet cutting machine, which I use if I’m doing lots of repeat cuts and want them to be consistent (and not get neck strain!). I think it’s every artist’s nightmare to go blind or get arthritis in their hand. Personally I’m very biased to my right hand and couldn’t possibly do what I do with my left. But then Monet produced his best work when his eyes were failing, so perhaps there’s hope for all us artists if parts of our bodies fail!! Your work appears all over. How did that come about? What is your favorite venue to work in? I’ve been around for a very long time!! I signed with my wonderful agents, Illustration Ltd, about 25 years ago and in that time they have expanded and grown all over the world. So I get clients from just about everywhere! With the efficiency of working with the internet though, there’s never an excuse for me to go and meet the clients in person, so I don’t get to go beyond London. What would be lovely would be to get work from Japan and have to go out and install it - it’s one place I’d love to visit and somewhere that had definitely had an influence on my work. I did get much more noticed after winning awards for the Kleenex campaign and then again when my United Nations stamp won a Philatelic award. International awards have really got me noticed.
Do you do Gallery shows or is your focus mainly commercial? It’s largely commercial with an occasional gallery piece, although sometimes the client purchases the
What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? I start with rough doodles of concepts and compositions, which I then work up into drawings for the client to approve. I use those drawings like templates to make the actual paper sculptures, cutting and scoring through copies of the drawing onto the actual final papers. If there’s a tricky bit I’ll work it out in white paper and masking tape, but usually I work straight onto the final paper I want to use. If the finished piece is to be a complete paper sculpture, then I make supports for the individual paper elements and stick them all to a base board. If it’s to be supplied as an illustration, I take photos of the sculptures against a white background and import the photos into Photoshop for minimal retouching. I digitally cut out the paper sculpture image from the white background and layer up the final image, adding extra shadows if required. Voila! What do you do to promote yourself? Most of my promotion is done through my agent, with them suggesting competitions to enter and books to advertise in. I also have clients who enter my work in competitions. Most notably JWT, London entered the Kleenex “Feelings” campaign into so many competitions and it did so well that it ended up The Big Won awarded it 1st place in the Top 10 Press Campaign in the World, having previously scooped one Gold Lion and 2 Bronze Lions at the Cannes International Advertising Festival (the advertising equivalent of the Oscars). That’s the kind of promotion you really can’t buy and it got my work noticed internationally and I haven’t looked back since. On a day-to-day basis I try to post reasonably regularly on Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr as well as project samples on Behance. Since I don’t have a personal website (my online portfolio is exclusively with my agents at www.illustrationweb.com/gailarmstrong ), it’s my way of having a more personal presence on the internet, with my agents handling the professional one. Instagram : www.instagram.com/gailarmstronglanksbury/ Facebook : www.facebook.com/gail.armstrong.paperart/ Tumblr : www.gailarmstrongpapercraft.tumblr.com Behance : www.behance.net/gailarmstrong
What’s the future hold for Gail? Any ultimate goal? I already have my dream studio. It’s the front room of our gorgeous early Victorian London house with.
a bay window overlooking the busy road outside. No peace but lots of activity! It’s a large, light room with enough space for my enormous 18-drawer plans chest that houses my multitude of paper, 2 large desks (one for drawing and cutting and one for computer work) and lots of bookshelves crammed with more papers and reference books. I would like to squeeze in some more time for life drawing for pleasure and have a bit more time enjoying gardening, but my ultimate goal would be to have published a children’s book project that I’ve been tinkering with for about 10 years. I would really love to get that finished and out in bookshops…maybe with some accompanying animations and merchandise?!!! And I would also love to see my large scale sculpture made and installed….in fact, why stop at one! I’d love to see more of my work in galleries and on show to the public :)
SHOTAKIN Oleksandr
by Lon Levin
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? My father drew a little. and for me it was like some kind of magic to watch as he draws something. I tried to catch every movement of his hand when he was painting. at that moment I felt the need for drawing. I was lucky because my family always supported me in my desire to draw. they were very serious about my hobby and it really helped and motivated me.
What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences? I was a calm and enthusiastic child. I could spend hours drawing without being distracted. I grew up in an ordinary family in Ukraine. I always felt the support of my relatives, so I drew it boldly and with passion.
Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? Thank you. You know, at some point I was obsessed with finding my own style. but this, in my opinion, is the wrong approach. I began to draw a lot just as I wanted, to look at other illustrators who inspired me and I stopped thinking and looking for my style and it seems the style found me.
You do a lot of children’s art work. How did that happen? I don't know. Somehow it turns out that such images arise in my head. It will be necessary to go to the doctor.
N While I draw, I am in anticipation of the final result. It's like watching a movie.
""
Has the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally? Now I work on the ipad. I draw in the Procreate program. Now I like to draw digital illustrations. For a long time I worked with traditional materials and techniques. Both in the digital and in the traditional illustration there are my own charms and I am very glad that I have the opportunity to draw in different ways. It helps a lot in work. What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece? Your Fears, Anticipation, Confidence , etc. How do you know something is finished? When I draw, I'm not sure about the final result, the picture may differ from what was intended. There is some magic in it. Therefore, while I draw, I am in anticipation of the final result. It's like watching a movie. I just feel that the illustration is complete. Time to stop.
Are you aware of America and English illustrators? Does their work influence your work?
If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why?
I look through many different illustrations and honestly I don’t even know the famous illustrator draw them or not, an illustrator from America or England or something else. There are very strong illustrations that inspire and motivate me. but I do not remember who the author of these illustrations.
I think that there is no specific illustrator that I would like to meet. I would be happy to talk and what is more important to see in the work of any illustrator who has achieved something in his activity through his work and skills.
I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? Before I start drawing, I look for images, forms, items for which I can catch on. and then it looks like a camera flash, a picture appears in my head and I start drawing an illustration by changing it and correcting it. This works for me when I make illustrations for an order or when I draw for my own pleasure. Very often I draw without a preliminary sketch. Immediately proceed to drawing in the course of changing something or adding. What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Have you worked for publishers in Western counties like America, England and France? If not would you want to? First of all, I post my work on social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Behance. Very often customers come from there. It is also important to take part in contests and festivals, if possible to cooperate with illustrator agencies. The most important thing is not to be afraid of showing your work to others and constantly drawing and believing in yourself as an illustrator. If you like that you draw, then there will surely be those who are ready to pay for your work. Unfortunately, I did not work for foreign publishers, but I would really like and always open to any suggestions. What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? In the future I will be releasing my first book for children about a pig that is crying up. This is a great joy and event for me. I would like for more similar projects. I would also like to talk about my understanding of the illustration and how I work on my projects and illustrations (lectures, meetings, conferences). Of course I want to cooperate with foreign publishers and companies. My main goal is more books with my illustrations, more travels and interesting meetings.
alla belova
An Interview with Lon Levin
FOM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? I was born in a family of artists. My mom and dad were both artists.During my childhood I start drawing, I used oil paints and then started figure painting as well. My favorite books were a big book of Bedosch paintings and the book of anatomy for artists. I loved to examine each tiny thing, sometimes I created stories and explanations. At first I wanted to be a great artist, but changed it to be a great fashion designer and after that I wanted to be a character designer and illustrator. I drew from memory. I needed to go to Art School so I changed my mind
and successfully graduated Mathematics School at the University (Masters degree). It was great to study math. It opens your mind and imagination. Now that helps me in creating books for kids. Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you? I think that my style is still developing. I love to try new things and techniques..to experiment. I think your style is you. It's recognizable but differs from time to time, like a living being growing and changing.
(continued) You do a lot of whimsical art. How did that happen? I think it’s very natural for me. I’m very curious and a little bit crazy (or maybe more than a little). I have so many questions all the time that I need to google them constantly. I can’t stand not knowing the answer. But at the same time I like to fantasize on the questions if the answer is too boring or easy. That's how my magic worlds are created with strange animals and other things. Has the computer affected your work? Do you work traditionally and digitally? Now my works are all made digitally, especially on my iPad. I love to draw in different places that helps me concentrate more and the people around energize
me. But sometimes I want to draw traditionally so I draw:). I also have a great hobby - hot enamel on copper. Its very traditional, a lot handwork and not only to draw but to cut copper, to anneal the copper in a furnace, to skin copper from a scale and after that you start painting. After that you need to anneal the copper plate with enamels on it and you can repeat this nearly 5-7 times. So I try to combine traditional and digital in my life. I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? This is very hard question. Most of the time I think I should have stopped earlier. And the great thing about digital art is that you can undo. I start with reading the text of the book
(or when I’m an author - I start with writing or searching). Oh no! First is Idea. And then creating the text. Ideas always start as a question to myself for which I have no answer. I start googling and searching. And a huge file of texts, facts and pictures start to appear. After that I try to make it simple and easy to understand. Once the text is ready I make a board of everything that's associated with this text. I need a week of thinking on the whole project. I try to see all sketches in my mind and don’t touch paper. After this period I can draw the whole book without sketches, just all finish illustration. Most of the time I have very few corrections. I combine finish illustrations with dozens of sketches. Sketches are in color and are about the color dynamic and composition rather than character creating. During this period I feel only joy. When the project comes to an end all my fears come to me at once. I calm down and try not to look at others great illustrations because I can’t be someone else. Are you aware of America and English illustrators? Does their work influence your work? Of Course, yes. My feed in instagram is full of great illustrators from around the world (UK, USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, China, Europe, Africa, Australia, of course, Russia and many more).
I like to see their process of making illustrations, how they work and then try their methods. What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Have you worked for publishers in Western countries like America, England and France? If not would you want to? Another hard question. I have differents accounts in social media like Instagram, Facebook, Behance and even my own website. I try to post illustrations regularly. But I'm not very good at all that Social Media marketing. I really want to work with publishers from other countries not only Western but also Eastern, like China. It’s my next step. I think I'm too shy to write them, I always think that I not good enough. But I must step over this fear and make my dreams come true.
"When the project comes to an end all my fears come to me at once." What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal? As I wrote previously I want to work with foreign publishers. Also want to illustrate 10 children’s books this year. I also want to win a contest someday (not just once!), maybe to get an Andersen award (hahaha very impossible dream). And I have a dream to write a young adult fantasy novel and illustrate it. If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why? Oh! I want to meet some of the illustrators that I follow. Right now is a period of Richard Jones for me. His texture are insane, I'm totally in love with them. Benji Davies - his stories are great, I want to create like him! Joohee Yoon - her colors and dynamics are insane, so vibrant. And last but not least Marie Muravski - her atmosphere is fantastic and magical. I'd like to meet with each illustrator because it’s a great pleasure to speak with each other.
Rohan Eason Rising Star They were brought in one day to the heads office, with my art teachers, and the discussion, was as to what i wanted to be, an artist or an illustrator. The idea I couldn’t be both didn’t make sense to me, that there was even a difference didn’t seem something I would ever concern myself with. To be an artist was my dream, it was the poetic journey through torment and discovery, love and hate, as an artist I could make illustrations or artworks, they were one of the same. Its an age old argument, and I think I will always think of myself as an artist first, but the work I make professionally is illustration, and thats the difference. What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?
When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors? My Parents are both artist, my grandad was a sign writer and my uncle was a Royal Academician, so there was certainly the seed of an idea, that art was something inspiring and imaginative, something I could delve into even from a young age. I remember in primary school I was drawing fully formed figures and faces, while the other kids were still not joining the sky to the ground, and that was because I was so interested in looking and recreating what I saw. I remember my teachers at High School never knew what to do with me, which way to steer me.
I was born in the industrial city of Middlesborough, on the same road as the football stadium, Ayresome Park Road. It was a great community, everyone knew everyone, doors were open all day. Then we moved to a small town in Lincolnshire, and everyone said I talked funny. I got very quiet and introverted, and didn’t really enjoy the whole school thing. I think most kids are bullied, and i wasn’t any different, bullying comes in different forms, and I just happened to be the sensitive type that couldn’t really deal with the constant push and pull of friendship circles. My parents both worked so I would often not go into school, instead staying home and drawing or reading, anything to not face a school day.
From Rocker to Artist, how did that happen? And how did you progress?
But those days made me more interested in looking at life from a removed viewpoint, in a way there was no other way I could look at it, as I had removed myself. When i reached art school I had already decided that there were two ways to live your life, take part, or take notes, my artworks were my notes. A constant running dialogue, a description of what the other people did, but not what I did. When I left University with an art degree, everything fell apart, life came flooding back in, and I couldn’t cope. The idea that I would go on just making art, came crashing down, when I couldn’t afford food or rent. Music got me through this time, companionship with my band mates helped me find a structure and drive again, and I was finally creating something that related to my life, while I took part in it.
It was around 2002, I was playing lead guitar in a band called Cyclones, having left University with a BA HONS in Fine Art, and having not really done much artistically for a while, other than I would sometimes do a quick sketch. The girlfriend of the lead singer, Rina, saw a drawing one day, and suggested I come see her boss, who owned a high end fashion boutique in Notting Hill. The owner Annette Olivieri, decided I had a little something, and chucked me a bag in white kid leather, “tattoo that” she said. So I found pens that would work on leather, and I tattooed the bag. The drawing was black and white, and involved very detailed flowers and hair. Annette was impressed and gave me a leather jacket to do, so I did, this time with a horned girl, feather wings and flowers centre back. From there I went on to create fabric prints and artworks for Annette’s label for the next 2 years. I did private commissions, one was sent to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and later created my own glove collection, with the first pair of dress leather gloves going to Yoko Ono. Two shoe collections followed and a spattering of other commissions, but I believed my career lay in fashion. This didn’t last long, fashion is not the nicest industry to work in, and I quickly felt like I was back in school, the bitchy back stabbing, the creative theft,
and the broken promises, left me a thoroughly broken man. The upside was the pens I used for the leather, Rotring Rapidograph became my pens of choice, and the style I developed in this period with it's intricacies and magical detail, and obsessive qualities became my illustrative style. My first children’s book came soon after I quit fashion, a collaboration with the great writer Geoff Cox, and music mogul Stuart Souter, saw a wonderful return to children’s books of old. Dark and frightening, with a psychedelic undertone that resonated with the peers around me, Anna and the Witch’s Bottle was critically acclaimed, released through Blackmaps Press, it was a beautiful cloth bound hardback, and it finally brought me attention for my artwork. You do a lot of dark whimsical art work. How did that happen? Do you prefer workinging in B&W or color? My Aunty had a wonderful treasure trove of house in deepest Sutton, Surrey. She had worked for Lord White, and entertained Frank Sinatra, Marylin Monroe, David Niven etc, so visiting her was like visiting an aladdin’s cave of wonder. In her downstairs bathroom were several black and white prints by Aubrey Beardsley. I was completely hooked on them, they were incredibly rude, giant penises and fucking, but they were also simply beautiful.
The quality of the line, the craftsmanship, the composition and balance were just mesmerising, and Iwas transfixed. During my A’levels I did my thesis on Aubrey’s Work and life, and visited the Victorian Albert Museum in London, where I was lucky enough to paw through hundreds of his original prints in giant cloth bound albums. The effect was deep and resounding, Black and white felt the purest way of describing an image. No dusty shading, or rainbow water-colour techniques, just simple beautiful crafted line. The effect on me was so great, when i first went to draw commercially for the fashion label, that aesthetic just tumbled out. Colour is something I have dabbled with in many different forms, I’m not sure I’ve found the right method yet. In a way its similar to how I always played my guitar, without effect, no pedals, just the pure sound of a beautiful instrument. Has the computer affected your work? For the majority of my professional career I held true to my artistic values. My aim was to be the very best
craftsman, that my line was the truth, and no augmentation was allowed. When a final piece went wrong, just a little, I would tear it up and start again. The computer was only ever a tool to get my work into a format for reproduction. But as I grew in popularity, and projects were coming thick and fast, my ability to keep up became less of a joy and more of a struggle. My work ethic began to hamper the depth of creativity in my work. Working to tight deadlines for tight budgets meant I could waste a weeks work on a simple slip of the nib. I am now willing to use the computer to correct mistakes and on occasion, depending on the value of the project, even move an element here or there to better exercise an aesthetic requirement. What the computer is incredible good at is at the sketch stage. I can create a drawing, and then play with it endlessly on the computer, until I’m really happy with how it looks, then print it, and use it as a base for a new sketch, before I go to final. This speeds the process up no end, when I first started I would sketch and re-sketch endlessly, and every time the new image would be very different, with its own merits and flaws, it was an infinite loop, which I would inevitably have to stop at some point. What’s going on in your head when you work on a piece? Your fears, anticipation, confidence , etc. How do you know something is finished? Something I learned, actually from being in a band for 15 years, was the moment of joy and clarity you get, when your connection between instrument and mind is fluid and seamless. When the hand has been so well taught, you no longer need to consciously move it, but instead free yourself to wander amongst the music, you become part of the music, intuitive, open and alive. I know when I draw and that feeling happens, when the lines just flow from my pen without any intervention from my conscious brain, that I am creating something good. These days I can spend weeks at my desk on a single project, so I use audiobooks to occupy my mind, I listen to the same stories over and over, they become a comforting background babble. In a way the voice works to occupy my conscious brain, which allows my subconcious brain to take charge of the drawing.As a professional illustrator its important to have a very high level of quality control. Simply I know when its not good. I rarely believe its really good, but I always know when its not good enough, then its for others to judge, as long as I know its my best.
I’m not sure I’ve found the right method yet. In a way its similar to how I always played my guitar, without effect, no pedals, just the pure sound of a beautiful instrument. Your work is reminiscent of Beardsley, Steadman & Silverstein to name a few. Is that intentional? Does their work influence your work? As mentioned before, Beardsley is most responsible for my work, others being Arthur Rackham, Gustave Dore, William Wallace Denslow, W.H. Robinson, to name just a few. Inspiration lasts a lifetime, mine is a combination of so many things, not just other artists, but places, and times. My work now is quite different to how it was when I started, but the techniques and drive are the same, to make something beautiful and balanced, with a little magical wonder every now and again. I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. What’s does your process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? I’m represented by one of the largest agencies in the world, so the vast majority of my work comes through them. They send me an offer of a project, and generally speaking, unless it offends my moral code, or is simply a bad project, I will happily take it on. It is our job as illustrators to teeze out the extraordinary from every project we work on. First and foremost is research, all projects start with looking, and learning, seeing everything and anything related to the subject, product, story etc. Its important to understand what you’re working on in as much detail as you can, so when it comes to the drawing, the brain is full of all the possibilities, letting the hand get on with doing the real work. I like to spend a lot of time sketching, there are so many elements to a drawing and so many combinations, its rare I hit on the perfect solution immediately. Sketching is the most fun aspect of the job, because its how I started, drawing for fun, with no limits or expectations. Once I feel I have a framework to go on, I'll scan it into the computer and do any reworking needed. The computer provides a good a level of separation from the work, an almost dispassionate viewers eye, things that may have not been obvious on paper, suddenly scream out on the harsh reality of a computer screen. I will then print off the sketch, and sketch it again
using a light box, this is a great method of freeing oneself back up, but having the confidence of a defined idea to work directly on. When I first started I would redraw free hand everytime, and never really move forward in the work, as the new drawing could never quite reproduce the first's freedom and immediacy. Even the great Quentin Blake use this method, so I’m in great company. This process is repeated as many times as it takes to get the composition and any characters just how I want them, before I scan it back into the computer. Next I print out a final black and white sketch of the final piece, before moving back to the light box with my final piece of paper ready to create the original artwork. Generally I will work straight on the paper with ink, on a good day, the new piece will almost disregard the sketch beneath, and the new work will feel like the first time all over again. On a bad day, or when working on something which doesn’t capture my heart completely, I may redraw in pencil, before taking the work to the desk, and inking under the desk light. When finished it goes back onto the computer, for the minimum retouch, and is made ready for whatever publication it was made for. What do you do to promote yourself and get work? Have you worked for publishers in Western counties like America, England and France? If not would you want to?
Through my agency I’ve worked for projects in America, Germany, France, Italy, UK, China, Australia, Japan, and many more. The great thing about the job, is I can sit in my studio in London, and work for a brand in China, and my unique way of looking at things and my skill as a craftsman and artist are then just sent down the internet to the client. I can actually be anywhere in the world and work for someone anywhere else,...magic.
What’s the future hold for you? Any ultimate goal?
The wonderful thing about a profession in the arts, is I am always developing my practice It never remains still, if it did, I would bore, and my clients would dwindle. I don’t reinvent myself, but I try to get better at what I do, and bring new methods to my work, which can add to the aesthetics I have honed over the last 12 years of professional life. There are stilll a few books of my own I’d like to illustrate and publish, if I ever get time, and a few old classics I'd like to breathe new life into. My main focus at the moment is the new studio I’m building myself in my garden, its been a long time in the planning, but I’m finally happy with the designs, and ready to build. I am so blessed with this career, I get to draw all day if I choose, and produce work that makes people smile, its not a great service to the world, but at the least it makes people a little happier. If you could meet anyone in the field you’re in who would it be and why?
I'd like to have lunch with Quentin Blake, I think he’s got a remarkable eye for movement and emotion.
Lon Levin • 1129 S. Point View Street • Los Angeles, Ca 90035 • 818-268-9953 • lonfellow@gmail.com ©2020 Illustrators Journal/Levinland Studio. All Interviews and stories contain with the publication are the sole property of The Illustrators Journal and Levinland Studio and cannot be reproduced in any medium without the expressed written permission of the publisher.
