The irony of this post, is that the method of delivery is the very thing that has robbed us of our connection. I remember life before the internet. It will never be that way again.
interview
INTERVIEW WITH VECTOR ARTIST – TASSO
By Ansley Berrones
San Diego / Los Angeles, CA –
Last year, we posted this video from Tasso (speed portrait of superfox Ribith Leang) – a great friend to Vectorvault and an amazingly talented artist. Just recently, we had the awesome opportunity to dig a little deeper into his brilliant mind and take an up-close and personal look at the artist behind the designs.
VECTORVAULT: Tell us a bit more about your background. What did you want to be when you grew up?
TASSO: The earliest memory I have is wanting to be an animator. I grew up watching traditionally-animated Disney flicks (“Aladdin” is still is my fav) and I was always captivated by the creativity and group effort it took to make a movie. I interned for “The Animation House” in Toronto for 3 months through my high school program, where I got a first-hand look at the animation process. I assisted on projects for Cheerios and the music group Prozak, who used animated characters before Gorillaz made cartoons popular for music videos. It was great! I learned a lot about the business side of art very early on.
Give us a little more information about your work. Did you go to school to study? How did you get started as an artist/designer?
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Vector Artist Superfex – Interview
Plymouth, England
Claire Latchem, a.k.a Superfex, is an incredibly talented, 20 yr old college student from Plymouth, England, currently studying illustration at Plymouth University. Some of you may already be familiar with Superfex and her creative abilities. I recently had the opportunity to chat with her briefly and get to know her history, her work and what inspires her with her creative process. Im quite sure there is something we can all learn from this inspirational interview.
VECTORVAULT: Hi Superfex! Tell us a bit more about your background. What did you want to be when you grew up? How did you get started as an artist/designer?
SUPERFEX: As a child when people asked me what I wanted to be it would either have been a zoo keeper or a vet. Since a young age I had always wanted to work with animals. As I got older I did a week of ‘work experience’ at a farm thats open to the public not far from my hometown. I guess thats what put me off! Waking up at 6am in the morning to go capture some goats that had escaped (and do escape on a regular basis) was not fun at all.
I remember when I was about 13/14, I was asked to pick my subjects to study at school. Of course you still had some that were compulsory but I looked at some leaflets and saw one for photography. I decided to take that class purely because I hadnt done photography before and my dad had a nice b&w film camera.
Over time, illustration became a hobby which I did in my spare time and it slowly took over my life. I find it funny that now I draw animals, sculpt animals, paint animals and I even have an animal themed exhibition coming up this year so although its not exactly what I pictured as a kid, its still related.
Give us a little more information about your work. Did you go to school to study? What or whom inspires you the most? Are there any particular websites that you frequent to find inspiration?
I studied photography for 6 years at various colleges and I even did the first year of a photography degree at Plymouth University before deciding it wasn’t what I wanted anymore and I transferred to the neighboring illustration course.
I started using Photoshop for photography; though I was hardly ever taught anything about it through the teachers. I started playing around with illustrator about 3-4 years ago because a friend implied that it would be too hard for me to use.
Well I guess I showed him!
I find inspiration from literally anything: posters, magazines, art, photography, food, sculpture, anything really. If I see something I like then I photograph it and stick it in my scrapbook. I always carry a small sketchbook and a camera around with me wherever I go.
Books and Magazines are a great source of inspiration. I purchase Computer Arts Projects and Clutter Magazine on a regular basis. Theres nothing like a good book to flick through too. I often go to my local Waterstones to look through their collection and if I happen to find one I like Ill order it from Amazon when I get home.
I found setting up an account on Deviantart years ago extremely beneficial to me. Not only was I able to talk to like-minded people and get useful critique on my work as I progressed, but I have also met some great friends and even picked up the odd job here and there. I think being part of an art/design community is a great way to improve your skills, develop your own style and have fun!
Some of the illustrators that have influenced me greatly are:
Jon Burgerman, Pete Fowler, Damien Vignaux, Karl Kwasny, Christopher Lee, DGPH, TADO, Superdeux, Flying Fortress and more recently Okkle, Julie West, Mcbess, Oliver Jeffers and Josh Cochran.
Websites that I visit everyday include: deviantart, flickr, bloodsweatvector, spraygraphic, vinylabuse, behance and lafraise.
Interview with retro vector illustrator Steve Millington
Diskursdisko has done an interview with illustrator Steve Millington.
His retro style has become very popular over the past few years. His company Hisknibs has created a niche for work that seems to take cues from old album art, and fashion illustrations from the 60’s and 70’s. He successfully wraps them up with modern polish, making his work marketable and highly sought after.
Read his interview and learn what makes this creative master “tick”.
INTERVIEW – CREATOR OF AKIZA
Here is an interview featured in Incubus’ Choice. Akiza is a character that immediately conjures an emotional response. We were captivated by this silent and simple arrangement of images and wanted to draw your attention to it. It’s dark and friendly and seems to form very naturally for this talented artist. Enjoy.
What message(s) do you want to express through your work ?
My pictures are the message, I prefer to show them…
What are your sources of inspiration ?
Typography and calligraphy, Japan, Giger, Hello Kitty, bondage, suspensions, body modifications, Fakir Musafar, icons, Chinese politic posters, Obey Giant, Otto and his dictature, symbolist painters… I have discovered afterwards Tetsuo by Shinya Tsukamoto and I loved it.
What have you gained by being on the internet ?
A lot of contacts, quite some visibility and a pathological interest in my site’s statistics.
Akiza has begun under strong technical constraints relatively to the inking: in what extend those constraints were creative of a freedom ?
I have decided to keep those constraints because they fit me well. I do not need colors to express myself, they are rather a brake to me, a constraint to work in colors. Without them, I feel freer and more efficient. I would rather speak of rules of the game. They are here to guide me, they help me to create strong and recognizable pictures. Those rules, and particularly the exclusive use and black and white, represent a huge space of freedom to devote myself to the main thing, a pleasant pause compared with my work as a graphic artist, and a technical easiness for the printing and the weight of the pictures on the internet.
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