Archive for November, 2009
Nov
An Interview With Comic Book Artist Nic Klein
Hi Nic, let’s start with your artistic background. Were you the kid in class known for their artistic abilities? Did you go on to study art?
I started drawing while in High school pretty much, so from there on, yeah, I guess I was the drawing kid. I also had horrible grades in art class because I would much rather paint/draw fantasy frazettaesque things then take part in what we were doing at the time.
From high school I went straight to art school in Halifax, NS, Canada, where after the primary semester I took intro painting/printmaking, figure drawing etc. Pretty much all of the stuff I learned there I have already forgotten again. After 3 semesters there I went back to Germany to continue/finish art school. this time with a major in Illustration. I got my degree there some years ago.
The difference between the schools was like day & night, whilst the school in Canada was very much academic with a strict learning plan / assignments, the school here in Germany was basically a “do what you want” kind of thing.
It was all about experimentation. Which was great and bad at the same time, great because you could always do whatever you felt like, I took time in printmaking, film, classic animation. But because of the loose format of the school it was very easy to get distracted and not have any real goals to work towards too. This freedom we had here from the get go, was the prize you worked towards in the NSCAD (Nova Scotia college of art and design) program.
Once you have the basics you get to do work on your voice. In hindsight this would’ve been a lot more useful, as far as I know the schools administration realized this as well about a year after I was done, and have brought more structure into the program. Lucky me hehe….
How did you break into comics?
I had been doing comics for a long time, a lot of short stories for different German publications, but what got me into the US market was my friend marko Djurdjevic who showed my work to Marvels art director Chris Allo who liked my work enough to give me assignments. One of my first Gigs was doing covers for the New Warriors series that Axel Alonso was the senior editor for, he mentioned my name to Ivan during lunch, which is how Ivan (Ivan Brandon - writer of Nic’s current comics gig ‘Viking’ and me eventually came into contact.
Do you think moving back to Europe made a difference to your career? More or less opportunities?
That’s an impossible question to answer, I dont know what would’ve happened if I would have stayed in North America. Being in Europe I’m exposed to different input then I would be if I stayed, not just comics, even though European comics are very different, but the whole way of life here is different in a lot of parts, and similar in others.
What first drew me to your work was your beautiful sketchbook illustrations - do you still have time for sketchbook work?
I wish I had time for it right now, I really miss just screwing around with some paint in the sketchbook. At the end of the day when you’ve drawn all day its hard to draw for relaxation, there are people who can do this, unfortunately I am not one of them, so it will have to wait.
How often do you see experiments from your sketch books filtering into your professional work?
Never and all the time, its really all the same to me. I don’t make a conscious effort to keep them separated, for jobs I do what suits the theme the best, that’s the only difference.
You recently started a blog and have been posting some great sketches from your ‘drink & draw’ gatherings - how did these gatherings get started? Do you set a theme or just draw whatever comes to mind?
Well, the meeting happened pretty much the way it happens everywhere I am sure, most Illustrators work from home, or alone, so at the end of the day it is good to get out.
Most of my friends are also artists/illustrators so it was almost a given to meet and draw. Although on some meets I don’t draw at all, just shoot the sh*t and eat/drink haha.
You are currently working on the comic series ‘Viking’, tell us a little about the project and how you got involved?
Its a series following two viking brothers on their successes and follies in the criminal world. Ivan (the writer) contacted me about doing the series and after a bit of back and forth we decided to give it our all, that’s it really.
Do you have a favourite part of the comic book process?
hmm, hard to say, sometimes its the layout phase, figuring out how to tell the story clearest, that is also the bit that I am weakest at, so it is a challenge, which makes it fun.
Other times the actual drawing/painting is great. It all depends on where I am at in the story.
What advice would you give to aspiring artists wanting to break into the comics field?
Don’t. Get a real job. Seriously.
Unfortunately we ran out of time at the end with the interview as Nic was buried under deadlines, but I still think we got some valuable info and it’s also a great excuse to share some of Nic’s amazing artwork.
I’d like to thank Nic for his time and candid answers to the questions.
Links:
Nic’s Website >>>
Nic’s Blog >>>
Be sure to check out Nic’s recent process posts for some of his ‘Viking’ comic book work here, here and here.
Nov
5 Things Our Four Month Old Daughter Could Teach You About What It Takes To Become A Professional Illustrator
My wife recently wrote a beautiful post over on the Location Independent Professionals Blog called ‘5 Things Our Four Month Old Could Teach You About What It Takes To Become Location Independent‘ and it got me thinking how well these same lessons apply to an aspiring illustrator.
Head on over to the Location Independent blog to read the full post, but below is a taster of what I think is the most important lesson…
There’s No Such Thing As Failure
In her short time on this Earth, Mali’s become accustomed to failure. She tries & fails frequently to roll herself off her tummy when she’s had enough tummy time, she tries & fails frequently to sit up from a supine position (those mini sit-ups get her halfway there but not all the way!) – in fact, she tries & fails at multiple things a number of times a day!
But that doesn’t stop her from trying just one more time. Not yet aware of the concept of success or failure, all she knows is to keep trying – and she keeps on doing just that.
Takeaway lesson:
In your quest to become a professional illustrator, you’ll probably experience failure at least once if not multiple times along the way. In fact, most of you probably have already – I know I certainly have.
The trick to succeeding is to keep on trying. Imagine if you had no concept of failure – you knew only one way…to keep on trying. How powerful would that be? You literally couldn’t fail. Ever. Not a bad mindset to have, is it?
I hope you enjoy the full post and it gives you as much food for thought as it did when I read it.
Next up…An Interview with comic book artist and illustrator Nic Klein
Nov
Does an Illustrator choose their style or does it choose them?
I was asked in a recent podcast interview on Escape From Illustration Island about how I arrived at the style of illustration that I currently work in - this really got me thinking.
Style is such a tricky thing for an illustrator and something that I’ve definitely struggled with. There seems to be two schools of though on this subject, each with pros and cons:
1. You must have a signature style to set yourself apart from the crowd
- Pros - Your work is unique and so you become known as the go to guy/girl in your niche
- Cons - You may be narrowing the field of job opportunities by only working in one very specific, unique style
2. You should work in multiple styles so that you are able to serve a wider range of clients
- Pros - You open yourself up to many more job opportunities through being able to adapt your style to work with a wider range of clients
- Cons - Art Directors may be hesitant to hire you as they they don’t quite know what they are going to get back
I tend to lean towards the ’signature style’ way of thinking - but then I am a big believer in business that finding a niche is always the way to go. The problem then becomes…what is my style?
This can lead to a lot of over thinking, procrastination and could ultimately become crushing. These are some key lessons that I learned along the way - hopefully they will help you too….
Put away the art books and turn off the computer (unless you work digitally of course 
)
It’s fine to have inspirations but you should never set out to mimic another illustrators style (you’re never going to out-Jon Foster, Jon Foster). Your influences are already going to be locked in to your illustration DNA, so don’t surround yourself with images by your favourite illustrators and let them become a crutch. Produce your illustrations not someone else’s.
Don’t force an illustration style
Your style is something that will and should evolve over time - observe, but don’t get in the way of your work. This can be tricky when you’re trying to put together a coherent portfolio of work and each piece looks different. Keep at it, and over time you will see certain elements of your personal style bubbling to the surface.
Just make sure you stand back from time to time to allow yourself to see these elements or ask a neutral person to look through your work if you’re struggling to see them - this can be quite eye opening.
Try a bit of everything
Experiment with different media and subject matter, try working in pastel, try working digitally, try collage, try working in oils, acrylics or watercolour. You’ll soon realise what you do and don’t enjoy and what you naturally gravitate towards.
It isn’t set in stone
Just because you may land on a specific style now, it doesn’t mean that you are trapped into working in that style forever. Your style will naturally evolve and change over time, but this should be a natural progression. Keep it authentic, experiment on your own personal projects and the interesting results are bound to naturally filter into your professional style/work.
On a side note, check out what super talented and successful illustrator Sterling Hundley had to say about influences and style in this great sidebarnation podcast interview.
I’ve pulled together a few pieces of my work over the past 12 months to demonstrate how my personal illustration style evolved through experimentation with different media and subject matter.
Clockwise from top left: Paint/pastel, pastel, digital, digital
Clockwise from top left: Traditional collage/acrylic paint, traditional collage/digital, traditional collage, traditional collage
As you can see, it wasn’t long before a pattern started to emerge and my love of animals and birds started to filter through into my work. It also became apparent to me that my favoured media to work in was traditional cut and paste collage.
Why not try this exercise yourself - gather together pieces of your work from the past year and see if you can see patterns naturally bubbling to the surface? You might be surprised at what you find.
I also asked some other illustrators their views on illustration styles, influences and how they developed their own style. Here’s what they had to say…
Viet-My Bui
I started out, as many fledgling artists, idolising and emulating anime. As a child, I had been completely enamoured with shows like Sailor Moon; I spent hours trying to perfect the style. I gave little thought to colour and depth, and focused only on executing clean lineart.
However, as I got older and my interest in anime waned, I realised that I was pouring effort into imitation rather than innovation. So, gradually, I began to observe realism and Western-styled cartoons. I sat in cafes and sketched passersby. I attended a few life-drawing classes, and took more note of perspective & anatomy. I started to explore numerous types of art: animation, photography, graphic design, concept art, fine art, music and fashion, etc. My influences grew exponentially and I began incorporating what I’d learnt into my art – particularly expression, emotion, colour, composition, costume & character design.
My artwork has since evolved into what some describe as ‘semi-realism’, or a mixture of Western & Eastern influenced illustration. While I’m partial to digital painting, I’m quite open to experimentation with different concepts & media. I’m also trying to be looser & more expressive with my colours & brushstrokes. However I’m still growing and still trying to find my own voice, and as such, still trying to find my ‘own’ style.”
Ciaee Ching
When I started taking up some freelance projects (mostly concept art) after graduating from art school last year, it made me question what my heart really wanted to do. I guess I was living someone else’s dream. I really thought that I would be happy as long as I was drawing or painting for a living but I found these jobs to be quite stifling to my creativity. Because I was required to follow the brief so closely most of the time I became extremely frustrated with the lack of flexibility and little room for personal interpretation. Although I learned a lot and gained some experience on the inner workings of the industry, I knew that I do not want to be doing this for the rest of my life. I wanted to convey my own feelings, tell my own stories and I wanted people to be able to learn something about me and my thoughts through my paintings.
I don’t know how I came to work in my current style. Someone told me once that it is not we who find the style, but rather it is the style that finds us. What I do is to mess around with the paint- values, colors, composition… until something ‘clicks’. These days I don’t have a very clear image worked out in my head before I paint, but I usually have a very solid something that I want to say. I keep that in mind, and make my decisions along the way based on the message or feeling that I want to convey. If anyone feels something by looking at my painting, my work is done.
Rowena Aitken
I suppose my style takes a lot of it’s cues from cartoons and animation. I have always loved drawing and being a child of the 80’s I was heavily influenced by the fantastic array of cartoons on offer. This lead me to study as a 2D animator at Duncan of Jordanstone, University of Dundee. Looney Tunes, Warner Brothers and Chuck Jones had a huge influence, as did the Hanna Barbera classic Fred Flintstone.
After graduation I lost my love of animation, animating 1 1/2 minutes of abstract footage traditionally can do that to you! I decided to work more in photoshop and found that it was a great medium for drawing and not just processing and colouring frames. Between 2006 & 2007 I worked for a couple of mobile games companies which harked my art back to my simple cartoon style days, and definitely influenced my art. From then I have experimented with a lot of styles and genres from realism to more cartoon children’s illustrations. Right now I am branching out into more fantasy work and I see little things creeping through; organic lines, big character-filled eyes, bold colours. I have always been conscious of style and never really felt I had one until recently. I suppose that’s just it; one tries to be unique and have that certain something but at the end of the day your style is just going to be what and how you like to draw.
Andrew Smith
When I look at Bamfurlong (see right) I see the influence my love for cartoons and comics has had on my style. I can see the comic proportions of Farmer Maggot and the exaggerated posturing of the Black Rider. I can see the illustration leaking out of its borders in the same way a comic panel bleeds into the next. The foundation of my style is the detailed line-art that started as a homage to Travis Charest and then more recently borrowed strokes from Charles Vess. I want my line-art to stand on its own with the colour being the cherry on the top. Until Bamfurlong I had never rated a coloured version of my work above the original line-art. With this piece, though I felt the colours have finally taken the lines to the next level. Where previous work the colouring had been “by the numbers”, filling in white space, Bamfurlong allowed me to explore mood in a way the line-art alone could not.
If I were forced to choose one word to describe my style I would choose ’stylised’. In the end, any attempts I make to draw in a realistic style are twisted and distorted by my comic heritage. It is a consequence of absorbing the styles of the artists who excited me in a medium that was accessible to me. My jaw drops at the work of Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo too but I know I don’t have it in me to paint like that. To emulate my comic illustrator heroes, on the other hand, I only needed a pencil and some paper.
Andy Fox
I started doing this kind of figurative yet cartoony work back at uni, (7 years ago now) originally using gouache paint with areas of flat colour. I later convinced myself to learn Illustrator which obviously made life much easier in terms of adding detail, the speed I could work and the versatility of what I could do.
A year or two down the line, I started taking what I’d done in Illustrator and messing about in PhotoShop with textures and all kinds of other effects, which again seemed to open up all kinds of other possibilities. I’ve also recently bought myself a stylus which has meant I can get back to working in a bit more of a painterly way. I think it’s fair to say that my style has developed as my computer skills have grown - although my work still relates to how it looked back in the old days when I was working with a pencil and paintbrush, only much improved (I hope).
Influence wise, it’d be hard to pinpoint really. I’ve been drawing pictures for as long as I can remember and have always had an interest in art. If anything, perhaps Pop Art is something I was into back at uni, so maybe this has rubbed off a little. I love travelling too so I think you kind of pick things up as you go that make their way into your work. But generally, I think all areas of pop culture influence my style.
Jeffrey Lai
I think I realized after uni I needed a better understanding of the basics, such as form, tone etc.. which I don’t think I did enough (too many essays for me..) so went back and read lots of books about it! I used to really dislike colour, and work only with b+w pen work for a while (but wow I think thats changed quite a bit.) Digital is just a tool I suppose, I like the flexibility of it. (I’m horrible with the cleaning up phase with traditional media).
I love John Singer Sargent, Monet, Russian artists are amazing eg: Repin and Shishkin (I don’t think I could nail it down to any one person, the list could go on forever). I think i’ve become a little bit looser in terms of mark making, seems more.. painter-ly. Its a constant learning process! which I will never seem be satisfied with!
Subject matter hasn’t really changed though, I love fantasy stuff
I’d like to thank Viet-My Bui, Ciaee Ching, Rowena Aitken, Andrew Smith, Andy Fox and Jeffrey Lai for taking the time to share their thoughts and wonderful artwork with us. Be sure to check out their websites to see more of their amazing work.
What are your views on single or multiple styles within your portfolio? How did you develop your illustration style? Why not join in on the comments and share your experiences.
