James Fenwick Interview

Hi all, I'm pleased to say I've got another interview to post. This time it's with a great chap and illustrator named James Fenwick, who works out of Hull, UK. Big thanks to James for this interview, so here it is with some of his work...

1. I have trouble sometimes getting started on a piece of work, how do you approach a new image and how do you avoid hitting a wall?

-I always start with writing, just writing words and things that are related to the subject. I whittle down to just a few of them which work together and start scribbling out a load of thumbnails. Then I'll do some slightly bigger rough sketches just to make sure i can get everything in, once the composition and content is settled I'll then start a more ellaborate sketch.
It's surprising how often I get halfway through a project and suddenly have a new idea which fits better and start from scratch. Or how I'll finish inking a final sketch and realise it was never going to work out so I've wasted a day or so doing something that's going to get binned.

2. Is it difficult to know when an image is "finished" or do you just know?

-I can usually tell when an image is finished, but that's only when I've over-worked the hell out of it in Photoshop a few times and it has so many stupid little graphic bits it just looks awful. So I tend to take a few steps back and go with an earlier stage which in most cases works out.

3. Quite a few of your images have music as a theme and have a real energy to them. Is music something that is important to you and inspires you?

-I'm more into music than I am art, so I think I maybe try to mix the two which is where some of the energy of my drawing comes from. Like most artists, designers and illustrators I listen to music when I work so my heads usually bobbing whilst I'm working which probably keeps me pushing on with things (as well as so so much caffeine). It's not just a specific genre either, I listen to pretty much everything and anything.
Content-wise I think a big chunk of my work is based on/around music because it's something that's always around me no matter what I'm doing so maybe it's become part of my subconscious thinking process. I don't know, that sounded deep. I heard a quote somewhere that said "Good music makes you feel cool no matter what you're doing," don't think there's a better way to put it really.

4.Do you find yourself easily motivated, or do things like a strict deadline help?

-I'm one of the least motivated illustrators I know, but at the end of the day I'm only human and I get distracted by things really easily! I'm trying different methods of working like organising my time in different ways but I always end up working best in the early hours of the morning, no idea why. Deadlines are a massive kick when you need it though, when a project starts coming to a close everything focuses in and that's when I really knuckle down.

5. You can obviously draw really well, how much of it has come naturally to you and how much can yo say has come from your education?

-I've always drawn so I think my actual motor skills and hand-to-eye co-ordination are a natural thing, but I think I've become a lot more conscious of the content and quality of my line work during my time in uni which is something my tutors really pushed. Now I'm bothered about line thickness, what pens/nibs I use and even what paper I use which is something I wouldn't have even thought of a few years ago. So professionalism over talent is a big factor there I suppose.
I reference a lot more than I did before uni as well, so say if I'm drawing a rabbit riding a moped or something I'll get like 10 photos of rabbits and 10 photos of mopeds just to make sure everything's correct, then I'll draw it freehand which I think is where my own observational style comes into things.

6. What things have had a profound effect on you in terms of inspiration?

-Music was already talked about. That's the biggy. Films, books, other pieces of artwork, conversations with people and just general taking notice of what's happening in the world around you.

7.Finally, if you could interview one artist, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

-There's this guy called Ray Jones who's work I'm really into...he seems like quite a cool guy to interview. And he plays drums in a band I think.


A massive thank you to James for doing this interview, it's much appreciated and very helpful!

You can check out James' awesome work here: www.deadfuzz.blogspot.com

Interview : Dan Mumford

Hi all, I have a great post to make here, I recently got in touch with awesome artist Dan Mumford, and asked if he would answer me some questions, to which he graciously replied yes! Many thanks to Dan for this, I really appreciate it. Here's the interview and some of his work.



1. What kinds of things influence your work on a daily basis?

--Not that much really, but it tends to be music or film, I normally get ideas just walking about more than actively looking for inspiration.

2. I first came to know of your work through your album sleeves. Is music something that is important to your life and work?

--Yeah, the only reason I work in this area of artwork and design is because of music, I grew up very much involved in the music scene and this is essentially just an extension of that.



3. How do you approach a new piece of work when you have a “blank canvas” in front of you? Is it mostly client lead or do you have more of a free reign?

--Its a mix of both, I don't like to have a completely blank canvas, its always nice if the client has at least some idea of what they might want me to do for them.

4. Do you find time to draw for yourself as well as commissioned work?

--Not as much as I'd like to, but I have my own clothing brand now, which allows me to do my own stuff.



5. How important has “networking” been to your success?

--Not as much as it should be, I don't feel I do enough networking at all, and if I did I could probably open up a lot more avenues to myself than I have now.

6. Finally, if you could interview one artist or designer, living or dead, who would it be?

--Probably Alfons Mucha, his works been a big influence.

Again much gratitude to Dan for this interview , very much appreciated and very helpful!

Check out his website here - www.dan-mumford.com

Raymond E. Feist

I have come across some books by the author Raymond E. Feist and looking at the front covers I believe that the publisher of his books, Spectra, could a be a good potential client.

I think my work would suit the style of these books as they usually have a plain cover with one image in an almost iconic way, on the front cover along with text. Obviously they're not exactly the same in style but in terms of having a single "element" on a plain background I think my illustrations would work well like this, in particular the images I made recently for Paradise Lost made me think that my work would be suitable for book covers like this.

Potential Client List updated again

Here's an updated potential clients list:

Publication - "The Children's book"
Publisher - Vintage Publishing
Author - A.S Byatt

Publication - The Cardturner
Publisher - Bloomsbury
Author - Louis Sachar

Publication - Harry Potter Series
Publisher - Bloomsbury
Illustrator - Clare Melinsky

Publication - Robin Hobb Novels (Assassins Quest)
Publisher - Harper Collins/Harper Voyager

Publisher - Faber
Publication - Faber poetry hardbacks
(Illustrator - Sarah Young, for the poem "Ariel" by Sylvia Plath)

Competition Brief - some more nice type...

As the title suggests, here's some more of my research for the competition brief I am doing for Penguin, James and The Giant Peach. I have come across these great examples in a book called "New Vintage Type" from the college library. The illuminated letters are woodcuts that are fantastic and along with the German illuminated letters have given me the inspiration to do some illuminated letter forms myself, as a way of including all the type that needs to be included and also being able to represent the characters of the story.

The image with the building on it I thought was a really nice example, not only of hand rendered type but also of the type going around an image on the page, which I think I am going to have to do on my front cover. Also I included the last image (the one with the words "beauty" and "pony") because I think the hand rendered type is fantastic and I am really quite jealous!

So, back to the sketchbook to nail these letter forms!

More type inspirations...

OK so here’s some more research for the Penguin competition for James and The Giant Peach. There is quite a lot of text that has to go on the cover so I have been researching a lot of different examples of text to help me, as it’s not exactly a strength of mine. My tutor and most of my class went to Berlin recently (I couldn’t afford it unfortunately) and he referred me to a book he purchased there, about German type. It has some great examples of beautifully hand drawn type and illuminated letters. The letters are a great example of how type can be beautiful (I can't believe I just said that, Mark will kill me) and the fine line work is reminiscent of a lot of other great hand-drawn stuff I have been looking at recently.

The very old, medieval feel of these letters really appeals to my interests and I love that the illuminated letters have warriors and knights fighting each other I think they are brilliant. These have inspired me to create some letter forms based on the characters from James and The Giant Peach, how I will do that exactly remains to be seen, looks like it's time to hit the sketchbook!

Potential Clients List - updated

Here's an updated potential clients list:

Publication - "The Children's book"
Publisher - Vintage Publishing
Author - A.S Byatt

Publication - The Cardturner
Publisher - Bloomsbury
Author - Louis Sachar

Publication - Harry Potter Series
Publisher - Bloomsbury
Illustrator - Clare Melinsky

Publication - Robin Hobb Novels (Assassins Quest)
Publisher - Harper Collins/Harper Voyager