Jim: How did you get into doing illustration?
Kev: Through the harsh years of High School it was an essential way for me to develop a sense of self-worth. I was a small kid, an easy target from the council estate, but I learned that if you did something special with your time, people respected it, and enjoyed it, and seemed to see you in a different light. That’s why I kept drawing; it kept the other kids off my back for a few hours every week, but it gradually became my first Great Love in life, and I knew from early on that I never wanted to do anything else.
My first professional illustration work came along in 2002. After University I spent 2 years unemployed, during which time I did paintings of plants, animals, pets and portraits for people in between job-searching! This work helped me get a job as a level designer/ builder/ 2D texture artist for a video game studio in Sheffield, and during my time in that industry I made many friends and contacts. Seven years into my career someone introduced me to someone they knew who worked for a US Dungeons & Dragons gaming company, and that person like my pencil drawing enough to introduce me to one of their publishing clients. For that first job I was asked to design and draw 8 demon warriors, for £20 each. I spent up to 20 hours on each one! The detail I put in was insane, but that job led to others with numerous other publishers, and the snowball grew and grew. For 6 years I juggled my growing freelance work with a full time studio job as a videogame concept artist, but something had to break, and in 2008 I made the jump to being full time freelance! So, hard work, good contacts and word of mouth got me where I am today. Although, it really hasn’t been as easy as that makes it sound!
K: I don’t have an agent, and not many artists I know have one! I’ve always represented myself, and it’s always been down to me to find the work! Not easy! That said I’ve recently begun working with a guy who I became friends with online, and through him I’ve had a few successful jobs that have worked out well. I’ve really enjoyed this new way of working, and it’s also introduced an extra level of human contact into my working days, something you can become starved of when freelancing from home!
J: How would you describe your work environment? And given the choice would you prefer to work at a studio, in a company or at home?
k: My work environment IS my home. My wife goes to work, I take my son to school and I then get to work! I work in various rooms in the house, (digital stuff is only done in my studio though) and I sometimes go out into the countryside, find a nice spot under a tree by a stream and do some drawing there. I do miss working in an office environment sometimes, but I was always more naturally inclined to work better alone so it suits me fine!
J: What time of the day or night are you usually at your most productive?
K: I hate to say, I’m at my absolute creative best late at night and into the morning hours; between 11pm and 3am. That’s okay when you’re young and single and don’t have to get up early, but not so easy to maintain when you’re all grown up with all the responsibilities that come with that. However, I do still chase an idea if the ‘juices are flowing’, and frequently stay up late drawing, painting or writing! This is one reason why discipline is important. I’ve had to learn to get used to working early in the day, when my mind seems less inclined to want to! There are all sorts of methods to do this of course, but the simplest way is picking up a pencil and making marks! (A stiff deadline works wonders too!)
J: What Media and tools do you currently use and consider your speciality and is there a conscious or aesthetic reason why you use such media other then it being simple for you to handle?
K: I use pencils, acrylics, watercolours, inks, gouache, Photoshop, photography. I’m particularly fond of pencil art, so I would say that is my speciality.
I work using methods that give me the most pleasure, which is why I persist with pencils. Certain software applications make bold claims about their capacity to ‘perfectly emulate’ the experience of drawing with a pencil, but they don’t, and never will. Pencils get blunt in different ways, they snap, then you can make marks with the shattered tip, they get shorter as you sharpen them, forcing you to alter your grip and adjust your mark making. That might seem a pointless statement to someone who might spend all their time drawing on a tablet, but if you spend as much time as I do with real pencils, you’ll understand how special they are, and how vast their range is. Also, the quality of the paper/ card/ canvas that you draw on makes a huge difference, and that tactile quality feeds back through the pencil, up your arm and into your brain, again influencing your technical decision making process which in turn alters the way you develop interactions between tool and paper. (or card/ canvas/ bit of wood!)
So, I love pencil art, but I approach every other media in the same way. I learn how to use it then experiment until I discover a technique that I can lose myself in, and gradually, all the nuances unique to that media are teased out. This has been true for Watercolours, Gouache, Photoshop and Acrylics.
So, I love pencil art, but I approach every other media in the same way. I learn how to use it then experiment until I discover a technique that I can lose myself in, and gradually, all the nuances unique to that media are teased out. This has been true for Watercolours, Gouache, Photoshop and Acrylics.
J: Do you have a fond memory relating to your illustration work?
K: My favourite memories I guess, are associated with my private commissions, or the live sketching I do for visitors to the conventions I attend. There is simply nothing so rewarding as the look on someone’s face when you hand over a drawing or painting or sketch they’ve asked you to do for them. To give such joy and pleasure to so many people has been one of the greatest aspects of my life, and it humbles as much as it invigorates.
