Today’s 6Q interview features my friend, the amazing illustrator Kim Rosen. Kim studied advertising and design and then worked as a designer for several years before becoming an illustrator. Knowing Kim personally I can tell you that she’s has a quiet, peaceful demeanor, she’s very smart, considerate and she cares a lot about her work and her clients, which include; Time, Starbucks, American Express, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and many more. Kim has also been recognized by the Society of Illustrators in NY and LA, 3×3, American Illustration, the Altpick Awards and others. I hope you enjoy the interview.

1. What made you want to become an illustrator?

Well, I have drawn pictures all of my life and while I was working as a Graphic Designer at an Advertising agency, I saw some Illustration portfolios. When I saw those portfolios I knew immediately that that was what I wanted to do. Illustration involves everything that I love about design (composition, problem solving, storytelling etc.) but executed through drawings and that made complete sense to me. To be able to capture an emotion, tell a story and solve a clients needs was/is what made me want to become an Illustrator.

2. Did you ever consider something else besides illustration?

Nope, at the time Illustration seemed like the perfect fit for me and my personality. I knew the types of clients I would be targeting and I understood the competitive nature of the field since I worked in the commercial art world prior to becoming an Illustrator.

3. What influences your style of illustration?

I am influenced by everyday situations and personal emotions. I love observing people and catching subtle expressions and sometimes not so subtle expressions. Interactions between people are fascinating to me as well. The way people move and go about their daily lives, whether it’s at the grocery store, a bar or even dancing, I try to capture an inkling of what I see in their personalities.

4. Describe your processes.

When I get a job for a client, I start with a list of words or phrases that might spark some ideas for sketches. I narrow down my ideas to 2 or 3 concrete concepts. I often look for reference or take my own images for reference and I start drawing. I normally draw really tight line drawings for sketches and I end up using those line drawings for the final art. I finish an image in a variety of ways, but mainly I use my light table to create layers using pastels which I then scan into the computer along with found textures or painted acrylic textures which I compile digitally in Photoshop.

5. What is your favorite illustration you have done, and what do you like about it?

Hmmm… that’s a tough one. I am my own worst critic. I guess if I had to pick a job that I thought was perfect for me and my style, I would say the posters I created for Starbucks’ Hot Java Cool Jazz event. Starbucks has been sponsoring a high school jazz band event in Seattle for the past few years and asked me to draw all of the students in each of the five competing bands. I had so much fun drawing all of the teens with their instruments. The folks at Starbucks allowed me to capture the humor and awkwardness and overall moodiness of the teenagers and it was a blast.

6. What would be a dream project for you?

I would love to illustrate book covers for Fiction books. It would be great to illustrate a series for the Young-Adult crowd. I would also love to illustrate a movie poster. I can think of a million dream projects, but I’ll stop there. All projects are exciting to me because they are all different, that’s the beauty of being an Illustrator.

Thank you so much Kim,for taking the time to do the interview. I really enjoyed it and look forward seeing new work.

You can see a lot more of Kim’s work on her website and see a bit of her process on her blog.

This is the first in what I hope will become a series of six question interviews on Farmidable. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. I hope you enjoy. 

I’ve posted about Sam Wolfe Connelly’s work in the past. He is a young and very talented illustrator living in Savanna, GA, who’s work has been featured in the Society of Illustrators NYC, NewYorkTimes.com, Creative Quarterly, CMYK Magazine and more.

Q1:  What made you want to become an illustrator?

I’ve always loved drawing, especially narratives, so when it came time to choose a major in college, illustration seemed like the obvious choice. I really have fallen in love with it since ‘deciding’ my major. If i had to pick an exact moment though, it was when I saw Sam Weber‘s cover of the 2008 Communication Arts Illustration annual (which was a portrait of a bloody vampire) and thought to myself ‘I need to be an illustrator’.

Q2. Did you ever consider something else besides illustration?

Right now I’m trying to invest my energy in the fine art field too. As much as I love illustration, I really like having my own voice heard through galleries too,; it helps me from feeling to stifled. In fact, I have an upcoming solo show this fall in San Francisco with the new Spoke Art Gallery.

Q3. What influences your style of illustration?

Well having just gotten out of school, I had a lot of anxiety about creating a unique style and trying to branch away from my own illustrative influences, but as of right now, I’m pretty comfortable with where my art is going. These days I usually spend a lot of time on my tumblr, collecting photographs that help me generate more ideas for my own ‘world’. I feel like using photography as a creative jumping off point really helps in not generalizing my work and allows for style to come more naturally.

Q4. Describe your processes.

My process generally fluctuates depending on the type of job I’m working on. Some, especially the ones with tighter deadlines, are more digital heavy than others, while some are all traditional. What’s usually always the same though, is beginning with a solid drawing in graphite on paper. Sometimes I take this straight into photoshop, while other times I’ll lay down washes of acrylic/colored pencil, and build it up to get a nicely glazed look. I hate painting though. I’d say nearly all of my pieces are drawing-heavy.

Q5. What is your favorite illustration you have done, and what do you like about it?

This is terrible, but all my illustrations are kind of dead to me. By the time I finish one, I try and focus on the next, because I’m usually sick of looking at it. So, in all honesty, I couldn’t tell you which is my favorite.

Q6. What would be a dream project for you?

To do a huge collaboration with the most talented illustrators I know. That, and to illustrate a Pokemon card.

Thank you so much for agreeing to do the interview I really enjoyed it and wish you all the best. Please keep us updated on your endevers.

Readers can view Sam’s portfolio here and purchase a limited edition print at 1200 Posters shown above.

One of the great parts of Farmidable is people sending their work in. Thanks to Kevin Davis for sending me a link to his illustration blog. Kevin is currently studying illustration but already has a lot of great pieces. Including this fantastic bird pattern.

It’s great when after searching the web a bit you land on something like Betsy Walton’s work. Betsy is a native Kansan that now lives in Portlandia as an artist for hire. She draws inspiration from Byzantine icon paintings, American folk art, and geometric abstraction so you’re not going to see her just putting birds on stuff. See more of her work here.

Alice Wellinger is a self taught illustrator living in Austria. I really enjoy her sense of color and it’s great to see the brush in her pieces. The texture she incorporates in her backgrounds really makes them feel timeless. Like all of her pieces, second image, titled Can’t Stop Talking Nonsense, is great conceptually and fun too. It really stood out to me. You can see more of her work at alice-wellinger.com or on Indiesart.

I am a little hesitant in referring to Nate Duval as a commercial artist. On one hand, his ability to maintain a full portfolio across a variety of clientele does in fact make him commercial. On the other hand, Nate is so darn good at making exciting imagery, it almost seems like an insult. Nate, if you’re reading this, I mean no disrespect in my terminology and do not by any means hope to diminish your illustrative street cred.

Nate’s well thought out line work paired with a pallet of local color allows his work to be both simple and meticulously detailed.

Nate’s website can be found here. Some of his process documentation can be found on his tumblr.

Robert Burden creates the type of art that I look at and wonder “why didn’t I think of that?”. On top of having a fantastic handle on rendering and color, his subject matter makes his art a sophisticated meeting place of high and lowbrow art. The magnificence of the paintings of his childhood toys mirror the magnificence he saw in these action figures as a child.

Robert Burden’s paintings can be found on his site. His process videos are also fantastic.

A special thank you to Sergio Membrillas, who sent me a link to his portfolio about two weeks ago. Sorry I didn’t get to posting it until now Sergio. I’m so Glad you sent me the link. Sergio’s work is clever, a little bit cute and a lot of fun. In this digital age it’s great to see hand painted illustration. My favorite is the grey watercolor painting (at least it looks like watercolor) of the man in the window. It’s a beautiful painting. The nobility of that fox in the last image of this post is also amazing. Over all I like that you can see the brush strokes, the layers and the washes the pull each piece together so well. Here is the link to his portfolio.

I wish I could remember were I found this so I could give the site credit but I can’t. The RGB exhibition is just amazing. Aside from the concept, which is great, what really brings the work to an the amazing level is the scale. Who wouldn’t want to see giant amazing creatures drawn realistically like etchings swimming crawling and slithering around a giant wall. Oh yeah, you can buy the wallpaper too. Would you put this in your house? The site.

My friend and talented fellow illustrator, Kim Rosen, posted a great Sufboard she just did for Billabong. Kim has a unique style and a great sense of texture, movement and emotion. See more of her work including her patterns on her website.