London - Karl Bielik

One of the first things I did when I got to London was go to to Karl Bieliks studio.

Jayne arranged the visit but luckily he was more than happy to see the two of us.

Here's afew pictures I took of the studio, hes also in a band, so we sat in the music studio whilst we chatted.

He looked through my portfolio and suggested afew agencies I could contact, he was really helpful and seemed to enjoy my work.

We had a look at his portfolio too, however he told us he tends to work more as an artist than an illustrator now.

London - Mark Pawson

I arranged a visit with Mark Pawson during our recent trip to London. He answered my questions and let me takes afew pictures of his place [he works from home]he talked a lot about his books and badges ,most of which are produced from home. A great deal of his work is hand bound and printed, he sometimes uses a 'gocco' which is a Japanese printing machine.

The best part about the visit was that he gave me the kinder egg book!

Gillian Blease

After Education how did you go about starting your career?

Well I studied Fine Art so when I began illustrating I started from scratch.  I cut out comment pieces from newspapers and magazines and illustrated them until I gained confidence with a style. Initially I sent out home made postcards featuring a few examples of my illustrations and followed many of these up with phone calls to arrange a visit or dropped off my portfolio. I did this regularly for the first few years until I was established. It cost me very little. Now I get postcards printed and have a good quality portfolio, but it’s not necessary when you’re starting out. Lots of illustrators produce their own mailing material.
 
 You seem to have your own style and technique of working, has this always been the case? If not when did you initiate your style of illustration? 
At first I was split between different ways of working. I decided to make a choice and follow one route to start off with which was  the flat simple graphics I still do. In recent years this has developed and I now incorporate pattern and texture. In terms of content I work with metaphors a lot and this has really influenced my style – I often use found images in my newspaper work so these pieces are a blend of found and drawn.
 
 Is there any artists or illustrators you are particularly interested or influenced by? Who is you favorite?
Paul Rand, Hans Schleger, Abram Games. These were some of the first designers I came across when I started illustrating and they really resonated with me and helped direct my style. Other influences are the artists from my fine art days: Julian Opie, Claes Oldenberg, Andy Wharhol, Peter Doig, Terry Frost. They all combine interesting concepts with great design and composition. They have a real simplicity and richness at the same time along with being quite witty or clever.

What other influences do you have, cultural or social?
I look at work from all sorts of sources as much as a I can, especially folk art, textiles, graphic design (and logos), advertising, childrens illustration and lots of vintage images – posters and books. I’m also very interested in Japanese culture, traditional and modern. I love signage of all kinds, especially roundabout signs on roads!

 And finally Do you have any advice to give to me for when I graduate?
Make your work visible – whether by marketing or by having work in very visible arenas. It’s really necessary to keep reminding people that you’re out there working by doing mailshots and keeping in touch with those you’ve worked for before.  Try to get yourself in artbooks and exhibitions. Also, professionalism. It’s important to deliver work on time, be prepared to take criticism and make changes if necessary. Read up about pricing and have an idea of fees, although many will have a budget or offer a flat fee. Make sure you approach people who feature your kind of work in their magazines. Do your research – find out names of the right people to send images to at the right companies. A direct approach will be much more successful. And join the Association of Illustrators. They give invaluable advice on portfolios, pricing, invoicing etc.

Otto

I asked Otto a few questions,[ unfortunately I cant post it all on here. ]

Is there any artists or illustrators you are particularly interested in
 
or influenced by? Who is you favourite?
 
What other influences do you have, cultural or social?
 
Not so many illustrators, my favourite ones where Andrej Klimovski, 
 
Paul Cox (the french one), Jeffrey Fisher, Luba Lukova, and older 
 
ones like Gerd Arntz, Cieslevisz, and then way back the russian ones 
 
Rodchenko, Mayakovski, Klutsis,...
 
But more so I like to look at baroque painting, especially italian. 
 
With more modern influences I look mainly at film art, French 
 
nouvelle vague, Japanese and European movies, basically independent 
 
film makers. Culturally I'm not really fixed, as I don't have any 
 
artistic family background. But I usually follow the guideline of 
 
form following function.

Benjamin Lande

I e-mailed Benjamin Lande with afew questions and heres what he had to say... and another thing, want that whitechappel t shirt, going to see them live at the end of this month.

How did you go about starting your career after you BFA in illustration?

I did work for free for a few years while working various part time jobs. Once I had a decent portfolio I began charging bands for artwork until it became a full time job.


Is there any illustrators you are particularly interested or influenced by? Who is you favourite?

80's skateboard artists like Pushead and Jim Phillips really paved the way for crude, bright, obnoxious artwork I am interested in. Right now I am really into Alex Pardee's work. I read that you are interested in horror movies, old skateboards, 80's action figures.


What other influences do you have?

I've studied an insane amount of art history, so the classical influence is always going to be there. The darker and weirder stuff is definitely the dominate influence and inspiration though.


You've produced work for a lot of bands, how did you get into that?

I've always been obsessed with punk and metal music and the interesting artwork involved. Naturally I began to do it for fun and after years of building contacts it became a full time job. The internet and myspace have spawned thousands of bands and made the world a smaller place so I owe a lot of credit to that too.


The characters used in some of your work are very unique, how do you come up with them?

A lot of times I will just start with a nose or an eye. I also like mixing different parts of animals that I find interesting. I dont do a lot of sketching. I like to jump right in and see where the piece goes.


And finally Do you have any advice to give to me for when I graduate?

Figure out what the perfect outlet for your work is. It may take years to get off the ground, but if you network and do something unique with your art people will notice.