Continuing with our inspirational series of artist interviews, we’ve been talking to some of the magnificently talented creatives in Soply’s freelancer network. As custom, we would like to introduce you to a couple of our best illustrators – some carrying an abstract edge, while others taking note from their childhood inspirations. Yet, their different techniques is what makes them cater to so many of us.
Today’s blog post marks the third part in our series of ‘Glimpses of Art from Around The World’, by navigating through other ‘creative corners’ of the world, and offering insight into these artists’ work processes and the reasons for becoming the visionaries they are today! If you are still not convinced why you should hire them for your next creative project, keep scrolling down and discover why below.
How would you describe the approach and style of your work? My approach is constant - I go by the rules. Work that is both aesthetically clean and to-the-point. I spend most of the time educating my clients about their need for a logo or illustration, and then I execute it to the best of my abilities. It starts from pencils and paper, to digital [afterwards]. I probably follow the basic structure every graphic designer does.
Who or what has been the biggest single influence on your way of thinking? There’ll be a huge list of influencers for me. Single most influential might be Van Gogh. He literally blew my mind with the new styles he brought to paintings. Next will most definitely have to be my Grandma (a canvas artist whom I grew up with, watching her sketch and paint) and postal stamps (kudos to whoever managed to fit so much photo or illustration into such a small piece of stamp) :)
What do you like most about working as an illustrator? I love educating my clients and other people who come to me for designs. Once they are shown the real heart and soul of illustration and its methods, it makes me feel great. Learning new things myself is amazingly wonderful. Never stop learning.
What are you currently fascinated by and how is it feeding into your work? Logos/ brand designs have always been my love affair. It’s so cool because it is challenging to squeeze an entire business into an illustration or design. There’s a great deal of work, knowledge, effort, ideas (coffee and beers, too) that go into making logos. However, they will always be needed.
What originally made you want to become an illustrator/ artist? Since my childhood, I drew events related to experiences and activities. I still keep my schoolbooks of my first handwritings and drawings related to events. It’s interesting how these abilities start in our early age and are cultivated forever. I remember winning a first prize in an art contest in kindergarten; the work was made with tempera on paper representing a whale in the sea. This became my first motivation to describe fantasy.
But it was when I made my way to college in Italy that I really started appreciating and admiring all the positive energy in art. Art came to me through art, architectural and graphic design studies; however, it took time and effort to learn classic academic drawing, and the history of art (as I studied science and letters in high school). Today I acknowledge that my love for art has a modus of maturation in life. It delivers a direction that challenges my individual appreciation to grow in it.
How would you describe the approach and style of your work? To me illustration and painting have an optimistic edge because they are a direct and honest expression or message. They start at the origin of your inspiration, but you must feel it first, or let it define itself in the making, while the final result has to deliver an aesthetic and message at the same time. Through my career, I have always combined different techniques as part of confronting the best way to place my sensibility in the context. The hard edge and graphic style are my major concerns, and the use of different colours sets the mood or time. I primarily like simplicity in composition, but I sometimes venture in complexity as well.
What are you currently fascinated by and how is it feeding into your work? Today I draw on the tablet and took it onto the vector app and vice versa. It is an interesting way to experience your way into the final stages of work. But, the most amazing thing is how all this is done with very little expense and no physical mess. To reproduce something is so easy now, and you can take it to any format, size or media without losing almost any quality. If you ask me, some of my work is just meant to be digital as it was conceived to be on the web, plus it looks better and therefore I hope it will stay there forever!
What originally made you want to become an illustrator/ artist? I was good at drawing and English, but l really sucked at mathematics. I also think that my family helped me by enrolling me in Summer Art Camp as a child. Later on I was fascinated by early Pixar computer animations - that must have influenced choosing computer graphics as my media.
What do you like most about working as an illustrator? I can come up with imaginative ideas that are not existent in the real world, for example aliens with five eyes and geometric forms that are very difficult to make by hand. I have also previously worked with architectural illustration and it is the most challenging industry out there, I have to say.
How do you believe the illustration industry has changed? And how do you ensure you’re changing/ progressing along with it? The competition in the illustration industry is now very much scattered. It has its upsides and downsides. Companies are outsourcing their production and illustration work for countries with lower labor costs, which has lead into shortsighted thinking by company leaders with maximum profit and minimum wage for illustrators. On the other hand, freelance illustrators that are very talented can earn more in the freelance market than as full-time artists working in a company - as anyone today can have access to a digital drawing tablet and Internet.
That has also a lot to do with social media, but more importantly with websites like Deviant Art and CG Society. If you manage to get showcased on the Internet, then your popularity increases much faster than before, when you were constricted to your local scene. Creating a demo reel or portfolio is much easier too; you can get instant feedback and access illustration tutorials or other helpful free tools to finish projects faster than you would without Internet.
It takes some patience to keep up with the pace because there’s almost too much information available. I think the progress comes naturally with personal points of interest, and by filtering only the most interesting ideas and melting them together into your subconscious. I feel that I haven’t changed a lot, as much as the culture has, but I have become wiser for sure.
Interested in working with any of the illustrators above? Then head over to their online portfolios, or drop us an email at [email protected] with any questions you might have.
Many thanks!
The Soply Team
Portfolio Credit:
Prashanth Muralidhar: https://soply.com/Prashanth_M
Manuel Jaén: https://soply.com/manuel.jaen
Kimmo Rinta-Pollari: https://soply.com/kreativekaos
thanks :-)
