the effect of culture on an illustrator's style

The effect of culture on an illustrator’s style

Melissa Wong

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CONTENTS

Introduction

China

Britain

History of Arts

Chinese Illustrators

British Illustrators

Conclusion

Interviews

References

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I have always been interested in different cultures from around the world, and I have always wanted to go travelling to explore these cultures. I was born in England and have spent most of my life here, but I lived in Hong Kong when I was younger and my parents are from there. Which is why I am asking whether my work is

influenced by both cultures? Personally I don’t think that my illustration has been influenced by either culture but this report aims to ask whether I formed a style of both cultures within my work without realising and to explore other illustrators’ work and the arts and crafts within these cultures.

INTRODUCTION

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Mohandas Gandi said

“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of it’s people”

(Radhakrishnan 2000, p.309)

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This means that culture comes from people’s actions and makes up whom a person is. This could mean culture hugely influences people by making them think a certain way without them realising. My report looks at China and Britain; by only focusing on only these two countries it will allow me to research in depth. Culture is made up of, their history of arts and crafts, their language, their way of living, and their history. Case studies will be conducted into il-lustrators from both China and England. Interviews with illustrators who are from Britain and somewhere else will also be done. These can then be linked back to the research to have a more in-depth research into whether they have a style of both cultures and how much the British culture has had an influence on them.

You become part of a culture when-ever you live in the same location for a long of time. You notice this when first travelling somewhere and seeing a place that seems alien, then as time goes on it becomes normal. Then when you go back to the place you use to live in that seems slightly alien, but you quickly get use to it again quickly.

This could show that culture stays with you for longer amounts of time than you think.

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Your work comes from your ideas and the way you think about things. China and England have completely different mentalities about pretty much every-thing so comparing both cultures will be very interesting. This report will look at whether this will have an effect on their work, and whether when leaving this culture for a long time the influences stay. Of course within an illustrator’s life, there would be other life experiences that would also affect their work but this report will explore only aspects of culture. This report will mainly focus

on the history of arts and crafts within China and Britain, as this would be their main source of inspiration.I have found that most working illustrators online are too busy to reply to my emails and to overcome this problem, I will interview friends and colleagues who are illustrators and instead ask them my questions for my in depth case studies. However, I will still look at the better-known illustrators, but instead I will just analyse their work by myself.

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The questions I will be asking illustrators that will hopefully allow me to understand their illustrations and source of

influences

1. What nationality are you and where have you lived for an extended amount of time?

2. Which cultures in particular do you think influenced your life and work?(These 2 questions asks the illustrator where they are from where they think they were influenced, this can tell me the basic background information for me to start to analyse their work. By asking them to think about their influences they will start

to question whether their culture have been an influence.)

3. What techniques and media do you use within your illustration?(This question can inform me whether the techniques and media used in their illustration is similar

to what was used back then.)

4. Do you find that your illustrations/style have been influence by where you have lived and your culture?

5. Have you found yourself using the colours that are similar to that within your culture?

6. Have you found that the techniques used within your illustration have been a skill within the history of arts and crafts within your culture?

7. Within the arts and crafts of your culture, which part of it inspires you?

8. Please explain one of your illustrations.

9. What inspired you in this piece of work?

10. Has this questionnaire surprised you in any way about how culture has influenced you?

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Traditional lantern stall in Hong Kong

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China has always been a fascinating part of world, which is why more and more travellers go there to experience their unique and vibrant culture. Many tourists go to see calligraphy, pottery and various other arts and crafts. These have also inspired many travelling artists within their work, because of the skill needed to paint or cut or the vivid colour schemes within their artistic crafts. Other than these key parts of arts that could have been a large part of inspiration source, the way of living, history and language also takes on a large part.

China is spilt into 2 parts, the rural countryside and the fast and busy cities. I’m from one of the busiest city in the world, Hong Kong, although this city is very modern, it still kept all of its traditional culture. Deep within the modern architecture lies many small markets and shops that still sell and make traditional crafts such as the art of paper Lanterns are greatly enjoyed at Lantern Festival during mid-autumn. Showing the city still keeps largely to its traditional routes. Hong Kong was also briefly influenced by the British culture when it was colonised around 1841.

However, Chinese culture remains just as traditional as the ancient times, for example Chinese New Year is still hugely celebrated. Chinese New Year is also still greatly celebrated in my family even though we have lived in England for many years, again showing that culture stays with you. In Hong Kong people still own traditional ceramics and in schools children continue to learn the art of Chinese calligraphy this could be the first influence of future Chinese illustrators.

CHINA

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Oxford

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Britain on the other hand has changed a lot; this can be seen by the modernisa-tion of the country by moving away from traditional values. Although the Queen and the royal family are still very popular among the world, they are more of an icon than being in charge of the country. This change in politics occurred two hundred years ago in 1801 when the Houses of Parliament was formed.

You can still notice the old England when walking through cities such as Oxford and Cambridge where their traditional architecture still remains, this part of England still attracts many tourists today. These buildings stand out from more recently built buildings where are less ornate and have simpler designs. The houses of parliament are another example tourists come from all over the world to see both the tradi-tional home of British politics and also to admire the ornate and unique architecture of the building itself. Bath is another example of olden Britain how-ever, it dates back even older than the Norman occupation of Britain to the Roman occupation over the native Anglo Saxons. The evidence of this is shown by the Roman baths in the city, which are still maintained to this day. This gave the city its name.

Although Britain doesn’t have many of their own unique craftsmanship, as most are similar to Europe’s, Britain’s history of art and modern art today still influences many around the world.

The architecture is an important fac-tor within the British culture, but within the palaces around England still laid the great traditional arts that convey Britain’s history. However, the Castles that are located around the country share great similarity to those in France and other places in Western Europe.

BRITAIN

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HISTORY OF ARTS

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The history of art in Britain began with traditional landscape and portrait oil paintings (on canvases) some were of the leaders that ruled Britain and other important figures. The painting of Elizabeth I became one the most iconic painting from that period and shows a great deal of history. These paintings were strong and distinctive within European art during the middle ages. During the Victorian period there were a large amount of talented artists that emerged, such as John Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner. These Victorian artists created landscape paintings. Many of their paintings can still be seen in many art museums around the world.

John Constable was famous for his great landscape paintings made in the 18th Century; and in the 21st century, graffiti artist Banksy also created a different version of one of his paintings. Showing that the British art carry on through different centuries and illustrators can also take on inspiration for their work in unlikely places.

HISTORY OF ARTS

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John ConstableBanksy

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On the other side of the world in the same period, Chinese paintings were more ornate and decorative than the British portraits of the leaders. Traditional paintings used a calligraphy technique using mainly black ink and painted on paper or silk. This technique uses materials that are completely different from those used for the portraits. China has always been known as a country with a long art heritage, the art have been developed for five thousand years and no other art uses the same unique elements.

Not many painters in the 21st century use the same painting tech-niques they did in the 18th century such as traditional oil paints. Whereas within the Chinese community, the great skill of calligraphy painting still remains in the 21st century and it is still practiced in schools.

HISTORY OF ARTS

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Classic Chinese Ink paintingClassic Chinese painting on Silk

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From the analysis of these great arts, British art uses a lot of big strokes and dark colours whereas Chinese art uses more flowing lines and the colours used are much more light and airy. This can be a way of comparing illustrators’ work and whether their work uses similar styles.

To fully understand the influences of British and Chinese illustrators, research into ancient illustration would be part of the history of art.

I have started by looking for illustrators from China; I found this to be quite difficult, because not many Chinese illustrators are known at all in the UK. This is probably the same case the other way round. If so it would show that British culture hasn’t had a large influence on China, or it may just be British illustration doesn’t have much relevance to China.

Painting of Elizabeth I

HISTORY OF ARTS

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The next pages will be in-depth analysis on Chinese and British illustrators. The only difference will be that there will be no interviews with Chinese illustrators and the British illustrators will mostly consist of the young and upcoming illustrators.

Britain has always been known to be a diverse place so it’s no surprise when I was looking for illustrators; some were a mix of different cultures. By interview-ing them, I can ask whether they feel their work have been influenced by their culture and whether they feel their influ-ence is different for different projects.

A Chinese Silk painting of wom

en beauty

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CHINESE ILLUSTRATORS

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Zhang Wen aka MENZ is a Beijing based illustrator; found from the 3030-press book (Mo 2008) that features 30 upcoming graphic designers and illustrators. As well as using some vivid colours in parts of her work, her work maintains to be very girly and sweet.

Zhang Wen (MENZ)

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Many paintings from ancient China are of women. Women were seen only as beautiful object for show and to admire more than anything else. The artists who painted these wanted to portray an ideal beauty. This trend in women paintings could have been a large influence for illustrators now to want to create the ideal beauty and featuring only women.

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MENZ’s illustrations do not portray many of the traits within ancient Chinese art, the strokes are harsh and not a flow of soft lines but the use of pattern can also be seen in the ancient paintings. Her use of pattern is much more vivid. Most of her work only features women.

Two Chinese paintings of w

omen’s beauty

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This piece of work uses harsh tones, unlike the ancient Chinese style of us-ing pale flowing lines. The characters, which should be the most important thing, are not in colour. However, what seems to be the sea is. This shifts the focus onto what seems to be on the sea due to the colouring. The harsh lines of the hair on the male contrasts with the simple outline drawings of the female making her stand out by contrast which links back to the fact that women are an important factor within the Chinese art.

This simple line drawing of the women can also be seen in the ancient drawing from the Ming Dynasty. This familiarity can also be seen in later paintings where the woman is not painted in but their clothing is.

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Jing Zhang (Mazakii) is originally from China but now lives in London. Jing Zhang is an interesting illustrator, from her recent work found online at YCN (ycntalentagency.com) you can’t tell that she is influenced by her Chinese culture is not apparent.

When you leave a place and live in another location for a long period of time, you become part of that culture. This could explain the non-apparent influence at first glance. Her later illustrations display many traits of Chinese art but her more recent work doesn’t show them.

Jing Zhang (Mazakii)

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Just from placing these two pieces of illustrations next to each other, the contrast between them is huge. One is much more digital and uses blocks, whereas the other uses flows of lines like ancient ink paintings. Of course this illustration was created to be the same style as a Chinese painting on purpose. The contrast between them is much that you can’t tell they are by the same artist. Because this illustrator is also living in London, her influence of London could be much greater than her Chinese culture, and her Chinese routes be forgotten.

Ancient Chinese paintings at first glance can be seen as simple ink drawings but it is all in the detail. When looked close up the pattern is always the focus. This illustration shares that similarity.

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Josh Cochran is half American and half Chinese and now lives in New York. Researching into him gives me more of an insight whether having a Chinese nationality causes a cultural influence. Jing Zhang’s style of work style also changed due to her location and moving to London, so it will be interesting to see the effect of Josh Cochran living in New York on his influences.

Josh Cochran

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In an interview (illustrationfriday.com 2009) he states that he growing up in Taiwan and having a mix of 2 cultures can give his work a spilt personality.

At first glance, his works consist of a lot of red. He uses red as main colour in most of his work, as the colour of the character’s skin in his illustrations. He could be using this colour subconscious-ly, as the colour red is a symbolic colour to China. The colour represents good fortune, joy and happiness. This colour is also used mostly during the Chinese New Year as it symbolists good luck. This use of the colour red can mean that culture can stay with you but without you realizing. Although Josh lives in New York now, his work still remains to have that colour red.

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Nod Young lives in Beijing; his work is bright and inviting. Although he lives in Beijing and is from China, his recent work does not display any of the traits from the history of Chinese art.

Nod Young

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His older illustrations seem to be very much influenced by ancient arts and crafts like traditional paper cutting and ink drawings. His artistic style could have been developed by living around the Chinese culture influencing his work. His newer work doesn’t show influence but his older work does. This could be

because he has changed his style to fit in with current design trends or to do with China becoming more Westernised.

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With British illustrators I was able to gather more information than with the Chinese illustrators, and I was able to conduct interviews with them. I also know some of them well, which also gives me background information about them. I also went to the Images 36: Best of British exhibition held at Somerset House in October (somers-ethous.org.uk 2012). The exhibition gave me a clear idea of the styles of illustration that currently are being used by famous illustrators. There were a large range of different styles; hand-drawn, digital, three-dimensional and a mix of photography along with drawing. Not all of the illustrators exhibiting were fully British; most were of a mix of 2 different races. Therefore looking into illustrators from Britain will always be a mix of cultures, because Britain is such a multicultural place. This exhibition alone was not enough for me to understand the style of British illustrators and in December I went to an exhibition held at the Chris Beetles Gallery, which featured the British Art of illustration from 1837-2012. This exhibition showcased over 800 works with great illustrators such as Edward Ardizzone and Quentin Blake. There was a recurring theme throughout all these illustrations; all were illustrated by hand and using watercolors. This traditional hands-on approach is what influenced one of the illustrators I interviewed, James Hunter.

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BRITISH ILLUSTRATORS

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David H

ockney

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Britain was not heavily part of the history of arts movement. However, Bristish art was influenced by it. British art only became big when the pop art and modern art movement began. The world then started to notice our great artists, such as David Hockney and Richard Hamilton. These 2 artists were known for their paintings and collages. This style of collaging could have caused many illustrators today to use a similar style in their work.

Richard Ham

ilton

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Neela Goviden ‘s illustrations showcase this collaging style. As she said in her interview, she uses a lot of cut and paste method. Although she is still a student, she has explored a range of styles within her work and understands that her work is greatly influenced by her experiences and a collision of the two cultures she belongs to, Indian and British.

Her work can sometimes be dark, dis-turbed and uncomfortable at times but this was not due to her Indian back-ground but because of her experiences in her childhood.

Neela Goviden

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Painting of a Hindu G

od

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By having a very British home, Neela was never able to learn about the culture. In the interview she said seeing the images of the Hindu gods in her childhood has rubbed off in her work as these images which depicted as fiery, noble, bright and frightening in bold eccentric colours have influenced the colours that she uses. She believes that

‘…it’s psychological and has been ingrained in my subconscious because it was a lot of what I saw at a very young age.’ (Govinden 2012)

Colours can be a huge influence within an illustrator’s work subconsciously, the colours that we see from a young age can be an influence without you realising due to the fact that colours is the first characteristic which children can distinguish. (Psy.rin.ru 2001) So by using this, the bright eccentric colours which Neela once saw in her childhood stuck in her mind and therefore in her work and may be why she uses a more bold and eccentric range of colours.

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Nikit Singh, an up and coming illustrator whose work is admired by many and been featured on the cover of Plog Magazine is still currently studying. He talks a lot about his influences within his culture and what a great remark it made on his work. Nikit is also from India but the difference is he has lived there for 22 years and only just moved to England.

Nikit Singh

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A painting by RAJA RAVI VARMA

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He talks of being influenced mostly by Indian oil paintings by RAJA RAVI VARMA from a young age; because where he lived was more of an industrial area there weren’t many sources available to him. Therefore the influence of British culture would not have started when he was young.

In the interview he also suggests that his illustration style has change greatly due to moving to England, kind of by having more media available to him. Nikit’s recent illustration tend to get a lot of admirers, he uses charcoal and graphite a great deal and can create beautiful illustrations, but he has only started using this media since he moved to England. This shows that moving to a different culture can also introduce new medias to your illustrations. In the interview he also suggests that his line work is used a lot in his culture, in

embroidery, suggesting he has kept skills from his heritage.Although this interview with Nikit Singh is not relevant to British culture as Nikit has only lived in England for 2 years and his influence still lies greatly on his Indian Culture, this research has shown me what a great effect a culture can have on their illustration even in a short amount of time and how it can effects people differently.

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James Hunter is currently a student studying illustration at Falmouth University, he has lived in Britain all of his life. He creates simple paint and pencil drawings that are very attractive.

James Hunter

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In his interview he states that he likes to work physically rather than digitally, you feel very at home with his illustrations because of this style. In British culture, traditional craftsmanship is an important factor and after an interview with Neela Govinden, it has shown that the British culture encourages illustrators to make by hand, this kind of traditional art is clear through out James Hunter’s illustrations. Unlike the Chinese culture where the colour red is symbolic, there’s not one specific colour that we value in the British culture so to compare the works of British illustrators and find colours is difficult.

In the interview with James, he said

‘…I feel that when I work on a project of image I try to draw most of my influence for characters, colours, shapers etc from the story rather than straight from my person tastes.’ (Hunter 2012)

This is another factor with British illustrator, because of this diverse multi-cultural place, there isn’t much we can pin point to what British have influenced us on and the variety of projects some-times as illustrators we have to use the story and not ourselves to complete the illustration.

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Ed Grace, a professional working illustrator who has worked for big brands such as innocent drinks and BT, also has a history of art background and have studied Italian Renaissance, Chinese, Islamic and other traditions extensively. Although he has also lived in the UK for all his life, in my research I stated that we become part of a culture when we stay in the same place for a long period of time and you are influenced by this culture but I’m beginning to wonder whether illustrators who have studied other cultures extensively like Ed Grace applies to this rule.

Ed Grace

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Ed Grace’s sketchbook

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In his interview he said

‘I can’t remember who said that there is no looking, only stealing but I believe in that idea.’ (Grace 2012)

He repeats this saying again in another paragraph stating that he also thinks British culture is like absorbing other cultures like a sponge. This interview has made me question whether the British is a combination of different cultures, which therefore does not indicate a clear influence on British illustrators.But his style of illustration is very much traditional and uses a hand-drawn approach which both James Hunter and Neela Govinden shares.

As an illustrator is exposed to more cultures, they are more easily influenced by other cultures that seem to be brighter and louder like the Chinese culture. For Ed Grace, his studies in other cultures have also made a great impact on his work and therefore his British influence is not apparent.

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To an extent cultures can affect an illustrator’s style, however in the case of Ed Grace the effect isn’t apparent despite him having studied different cultures extensively. For others like Neela Govinden who has a mix of two cultures, has work which displays a mix of the two styles in such a way where she draws and makes collages, which is a traditional techniques used by British illustrators but uses colours from her Indian culture. The subconscious use of these colours in an illustrator’s work can prove that culture takes effect on their style from an early age. Josh Cochran uses the colour red in most of his work as a result of living in Taiwan at a young age. This colour has been embedded in his mind subconsciously. The effect of the his-tory of arts within the Chinese culture has resulted in Chinese illustrator Zhang Wen (MENZ) in using women in most of her works. Similar to many ancient Chinese paintings where artist would paint a beautiful woman in their art. This recurrence of women in ancient painting have may have embedded in Zhang Wen’s mind to produce work with beautiful women in.After exploring the styles within British and Chinese illustrators I have decided that I myself am also partly influenced by my heritage and by Britain. I hadn’t realised before that I also use the colour red a lot, like other Chinese illustrators. On the other hand like British illustrator James Hunter, I also enjoy using hand-drawn techniques.

This report has let me explore the variety of styles within the history of arts from both China and Britain, and I used it to see if it has had an effect on current illustrators. It has also shown me that if you are from both areas, both techniques and styles can be used by the illustrator.

CONCLUSION

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INTERVIEWS

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Neela Govinden

1. What nationality are you and where have you lived for an extended amount of time?

By nationality I’m British, born and raised in the outer London area of Sur-rey. I have travelled to quite a few places. I lived in Lisbon, Portugal for a month during the summer. i have also lived in Winchester, Hampshire for

2 years during university time, and I have lived in an urban area of South-ampton for approximately 4 months.

2. Which cultures in particular do you think influence your life and work?By ethnicity, I’m from Northern Indian descent. So I think some of my

values have stemmed from this, such things like the caste system, honour and wealth. I could say it’s made me slightly egocentric. It’s also influenced the colour style in my work. Seeing a lot of images of hindu gods depicted

as fiery, noble, bright and frightening in bold eccentric colours has definitely rubbed off in my work. Perhaps it’s psychological and has been ingrained in my subconscious because it was a lot of what I saw at a very young age.

And children like bright colours, so it always stuck out. In my everyday life I think I’m about as British as any other British person.

My family are not traditional whatsoever, we don’t really eat/cook curry, or celebrate Diwali, do prayers or anything. We have a roast on a Sunday and then I go to the pub. I don’t speak any other languages and I dress

like your typical 20 something art student. So you could say I’ve been cor-rupted or Westernised. I don’t really know much about being part of any

other culture. I only consider myself of Indian ethnicity because my skin is brown. If it weren’t for that, I’d be English British. This rubs off in my work

too in a different way. A lot of times the colour schemes in my work are usually analogue colours, because I want things to be subtle and match and fit and blend and just look complimentary to each other or be soft to look at. I use a lot of cut out shapes too and the cut and paste method,

and a lot of the time I get frustrated because I’m striving for perfec-tion with it when you can’t with cut out shapes- the point is that they are jagged and should fit awkwardly. Exploring this vague idea a bit more in

depth, you could say that this is how I feel subconsciously about not fitting in perfectly with one culture or the other. It’s just rubbed off and expressed

through image making.3. What techniques and media do you use within your illustration?

I mostly use processes done by hand; collage, painting, graphite pencil and fine liners. I make each thing for one image separately, and then stencil

them all out. I create scenes for these to fit in and play around with it until I find an appropriate composition. All of this then gets scanned in and put through Photoshop processes to touch up little things, turn to CMYK colour

and that sort of thing, ready for printing and mounting.

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Yeah definitely, I think I answered most of that in question 2. But as well I find that my concepts or subject matter are usually quite dark, disturbed or uncomfortable, because I really enjoy exploring the human condition visually. I think a lot of the interest in this area of my work is because I

didn’t have the happy childhood and I had to grow up pretty quickly, which encouraged me to judge and analyse everything as it happened. This is

probably why I find it easy to explore, assess and visually try to explain the human condition, because I’m prone to constantly analyse everything.

5. Have you found yourself using the colours that are similar to those used within your culture?

Yup, thats all in question 2 too. I also use a lot of dark and dreary analogue colours like hues of blues and greys and blacks, dirty yellows and burnt

browns, to set a tone to a lot of the difficult subject matter that I explore. 6. Have you found that the techniques used within your illustration are also

used within the history of arts and crafts in your culture?I don’t think so, not in traditional Indian art anyway. Probably in British

culture yes.7. Within the arts and crafts of your culture, what part inspires you most?In British culture, its the way we are always pushing the design boundary

in contemporary art,; going one step further with creative thinking or creat-ing mind blowing digital visuals, or articulating a simple narrative with very

emotive or expressive imagery. That inspires me to never stop trying.8. Please explain one of your illustrations.

I did a series of illustrations for a poem I had written, which was later bound into a book. It was written in third person, about a small girl, and I kept the language innocent and light with it’s mixture of sad and difficult

subject matter. This gave a great contrast linguistically and visually, where I had depicted the girl as disturbing to look at, but also small, frail and vul-nerable, using those hues of blues and greys, turqouise and blacks. I tried to express the difficulty of the subject matter with the spaces of the rooms she was in within the house, painting odd visual angles, large airy concrete spaces when she was only small enough to take up the small corner. I tried to express her as trapped and fearful, and unable to flee, kept prisoner by her fear. At the end of the poem, she finds solace when she realises that she can close the bedroom door, and all the scary noises that petrified her had stopped. The last image for the ending of the poem was the girl sitting on a shelf in her bedroom, next to some books. She returns to her doll like

state, and the reader’s realise that she was never a real girl at all.9.What was your inspiration in this piece of work?

Definitely my childhood. I had written the poem before I had any therapy, so it was strong in emotional content and subject matter, and I hadn’t

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realised I was exploring all these bizarre memories and feelings that were constipated in my head. It literally just fell onto paper quite naturally and poetically. It also gave me the chance to step back from myself and per-

sonify these feelings and memories constructively and creatively, into char-acters and scenes and compositions and colour schemes.

10. Has this questionnaire surprised you in any way about how culture has influenced you?

Yes and no. Most of this I realised because I’m constantly analysing myself and the world. Probably because I’m trying to make sense of everything at once. Although the end of my answer to question 2 surprised me, and was

actually quite eye opening.

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Nikit Singh

1. Which nationality are you and where have you lived an extended amount of time?

I belong from India. I have stayed in India for almost 22 years, before com-ing to UK for my higher education. I am currently perusing BA in Graphic

Arts form University of Southampton. My country is a very dynamic nation, full of colors, different culture, and even the most interesting background

of myths and legends. Being an Indian, accepting the cultural diversity in a part of me now. Coming from a land where there are so many colors to be part of, that its gets really easy to get along. My land has talent that has its own place in the world. Music, dance, food, art, the way people dress,

there language, there is so much which can only be experienced by oneself, being part of it. I am very happy to be a part of such background, which I am sure I am not totally aware of as there is so much to explore. There is always a new surprise waiting for me, be it food, or art, I just can get

enough of it. Coming here has been a big step for me, but being an artist I really needed to explore the entire dimension even the western world. I see lot of difference here like lot, but it’s the adaptation that keeps me going. I guess for an artist the best way is to communicate is through his talent, and if you are putting me here because of my talent, I am sure you under-

stand this Indian without saying a word.2. What culture/cultures do you think you are?

I am a Hindu, from my religion. I wont say I am a proper believer but there is no denying either. I believe when something good happens it’s just not “Thank god!” and when something bad happens its “Why god!” I strictly

believe in my actions, and my potential. It’s me who is driving my instincts, my choices, my way of living. So what I do, I do for myself, out of my

values and morals. Its is hard to say, how I got into thinking like this, but again growing up in a Hindu family, I think that’s how I have learnt all this

way. “Love yourself, and people will see love in you.”3. What techniques and media do you use within your illustration?

Ok. This is interesting, its kind of tricky in a way it self. Coming form a business family background, I was always more into business stuff from my

family side, but deep inside I knew I want to be an artist. My school was more of a academic institution, art was more like a hobby there, so I use

to take part in elocutions, debate and house activity just to do what I really wanted to do. I remember I use to do my doodles in class, even reading

books under my desk, as my school just thought I should be more inclined towards my academics than art. I did my Senior High School with Econom-ics and Commerce. It was actually a tough fight to do what I had to, but thankful my parents were very supportive, especially my mother. I did my Diploma in 3D Animation and visual effects to understand the world that I

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did my Diploma in 3D Animation and visual effects to understand the world that I can create in 3D studying lightening and depth. It was really hard to actually make a way out of it, and to mark myself up to my potential, but I am really happy with the passion I have in me that I keep driving and

exploring every possible opportunity.I was always into sketching, really since I was a kid, I always wanted my sketch to be life like. With my practice, I understood, the light, shading,

the scene, negative, positive, balancing; everything I do was to make me happy, to achieve what I desire. I remember I started with water colors, but there was something missing with the way colors merge with there

hues. Without any guidance, and anything I started with oil painting, I liter-ally use to ask the shopkeeper how and what the linseed, turpentine and all

the other oils do. And by 15 I knew that I want to do designing.So for me the mediums, were limited, I use to see people work, but there was something that always wanted to do something with what I have. So doing my art in secrecy, I did not have much freedom to explore all the

fact, so I did my best with what I was left with.4. Do you find that your illustrations/style have been influence by where

you have lived and your culture?As a kid, I loved the work of “RAJA RAVI VERMA” his oil paintings were just

so picturesque. There wasn’t much source available for me in my home-town as it is more of an industrial estate. I just have to depend on the

magazines I saw in library, and some books on western artist, which I think just gave me knowledge but not influence me in my work as Raja Ravi Varma did. It was actually after seeing his paintings on Indian God and

Goddess, I was like I have to try oil, and the first painting I made was one of his original paintings copy. Painting for the first time was a good shot. I started with human anatomy, their language and the expression. I just did not feel like making still life, no landscape just human figures. That is why perhaps, I take into my consideration “expressionism” a lot. It’s all about

expressing what I feel. How I feel, and the moment I feel.Sideways I was very much influenced by Harry Potter cover art. With Mary Grand Pre, illustrator for Scholastic Edition of Harry Potter series, I literally

just explored this new dimension of artwork. With expressionism, cub-ism, and still having that magical element. I was running a good show for myself, and I knew that no matter what happens, I would do what I love

to do. It was then I started following some of the known Indian artist “M.F. Hussain, Ram Kumar, Tyeb Mehta, Amrita Sher Gil and F.N Souza.” Steeping into the contemporary, I started admiring “Prasanna Musale, Surendra Pal Joshi and Sharad Bharadwaj.” It was then I realized that the possibilities

are endless and I have to do good just good to be better.5. Have you found yourself using the colours that are similar to those used

within your culture?

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I see a lot of yellow used. It’s like the color of celebration in India, and I guess I use shades of yellow in particular. I easily get attracted as well as distraction by yellow. Red is what we use in our festive season especially Diwali, which is a big festival in India. With all the Rangoli people make

with red and white is just what makes you feel freezing the moment. I love Diwali, The way people dress, the traditional sarees and suits. Its just one time of the year, celebration is groundbreaking and I just feel its just all

what I need. I see colors everywhere, the shades, and the world I build in my head with them is just what makes me feel happy about this world. We all have our shades, but add a bit of hue in it, and you will be pretty sur-

prise how scenic things can go.Going back, I think with oil painting I just realized that colors are just an-other world. The way they merge, create a mood, make you feel sad and happy. Its just I am thankful for my eyes that I see colors everywhere.

6. Have you found that the techniques used within your illustration are also used within the history of arts and crafts in your culture?

I guess my line work is something, which is a lot used in my culture. The way they do embroidery in garments, adding an element of twist and giv-

ing it a shape form a flower to a bird is defiantly I think I have learned form my background. As a kid I use to study the illustration in our Holy book

“Geeta” I use to try making them, but the element of mixing always use to miss. I ama big fan of pottery, and Tanjore Paintings. They are full of deli-cacy, powerful attraction and use of gold (yellow) use to drive me so crazy asking, “how you do it?” But, sticking to what I was doing, I knew I have to just keep going and doing what I can. There is so much to learn and so little time. I am a very traditional artist, but I keep myself open to all what I can learn. There has been a major curiosity in me to know the western

culture, their way of expressing, and their style and hence the reason I am here to learn it all.

7. Within the arts and crafts of your culture, what part inspires you most?Tanjore Paintings, pottery, marble sculpture, temples architecture, and our

traditional dressing. These have been a definite influence over so many years. I simply adore the architecture of our Hindu temples, the way our

God and Goddess are elaborate, and heavily dressed with ornaments. Even the Mughal architecture has been a complete blown up for me, they are so

defined, that one cannot just get enough from them.8. Please explain one of your illustrations?

With my current practice of charcoal and graphite I just can’t stop loving the use of them. I never used charcoal until like an year back, but its never to late to try new media. When I did I was completely blown by it and the way my hand moved to make it work I my favor just made me so content. I am very much intrigued by natural patterns; veins in a leaf, wooden con-

figuration, smoke out of cigarette, melted wax, honey dripping, clouds,

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and most of all, hair, the way they fly, they are my muse. The way people put my work is, “Your work is amorphous, coming out of nowhere, hav-ing a feel of semblance and yet capturing, you use repeated strokes, but just add some thing different, (be it a circle) that it starts flowing in some other direction” and I very much agree to it. If they are able to see what I want them to see, I guess my purpose is solved for the day. With the use of charcoal and graphite, they give my work so much texture and depth

and using them in correct way or method just brings out the life. With my continuous practice, I have learned so much that it’s just hard to put in

words; all the important factors for a good piece of work-paper to texture, negative to positive, brightness to contrast, I think this all comes when you are in a continuous practice, and just embrace all the new opportunities to

make your self better.9. What was your inspiration in this piece of work?

The inspiration for this piece of work, which I call “Memoir”, I know how this will sound, but it was actually a gush of wind, when I saw my friend’s

hair. The sunlight was so bright that the ray with the background of a wooden house just took a snapshot in my head. It was that moment when the construction has already begun in my head, that how I will place this on paper. The simplicity of it was just so divine. It’s been a a couple of years that I have been following artist who work with pencil or lets say black: David Callow, HelloVon, Si Scott, Pomme Chan, have been some

people who have influenced this traditional artist in such an contemporary captivating way that I am finding such beauty in every little thing.

Mostly my inspiration is form people I meet, be it random, but there is something about everyone that interest me. Some one said to me “Why I always make people who are pretty looking?” to which I answered, its not the pretty face that I capture, it that pretty feeling that made me feel good

about myself.10. Has this questionnaire surprised you in any way about how culture has

influenced you?Honestly, I never gave my self a thought that how much I have been in-

fluenced over these past years. I sat down to answer your questions and I was just not able to stop writing that there is so much that you have to be introduced with. I realized I am a very traditional guy in a contemporary

way. I have my way of expressing through my art, yet standing on my mor-als and values I am brought up with. Answering you, and thinking all over, I just realized how my ride has been, where I can say, “YES I am a design-er!” and I simply love what I do. With all the ups and downs, the way you grow up, how small things that we look from the corner of our eye, stay in our head and you don’t even realize that you are acting on them without any intention. I can say, we all are defiantly influenced not by people, but by seeing them and learning about their journey. When I start any new

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piece of mine I don’t intend to make it beautiful, I only intend to capture the feel and that moment in my head, which has so passionately driven me to do something I love and cant live without. I believe a good piece of work

is the one, where a viewer stand there, staring at it, not understanding anything, yet trying his best, he is giving a minute in acknowledging some-

thing he doesn’t understand yet end up taking it home.

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James Hunter

1. Where nationality are you and where have you lived an extended amount of time?

British, lived in England all my life. Oxford area to be specific. 2. What culture/cultures do you think you are?

I feel I’m quite patriotic and traditional. I’m not religious in any way so I wouldn’t say religion was part of my culture at all.

3. What techniques and media do you use within your illustration?More traditional paint and pencil techniques, I like to work physically rather

than digitally. I use Photoshop often to finalise my imagery, but I like to start with thumbnails in a sketchbook and I like to physically produce as

much of the artwork as I can before moving to a computer.4. Do you find that your illustrations/style have been influence by where

you have lived and your culture?I’m not sure it has been influenced by my area specifically, but I’d say the

cultural relevance of something being ‘handmade’ has made me drive away from digital techniques with my work. The idea of traditional craftsmanship and techniques is something that I’d like to keep alive. So I suppose that

the cultural idea of keeping the past techniques alive in the wake of digital advances is quite a strong thing for me.

5. Have you found yourself using the colours that are similar to those used within your culture?

That’s not something I’ve ever thought about. I suppose colours that personally appeal to me I am probably drawn to subconsciously within my work, but I like to feel I would use colours relevant to the project/artwork rather than just the same ones over and over. I think I’m always likely to use colours as another tool within the image, using them to highlight a

feeling, mood or setting within my imagery. 6. Have you found that the techniques used within your illustration are also

used within the history of arts and crafts in your culture?As I’ve said before, I think my use of traditional techniques is down to the fact that I personally feel that there is more skill and personality shown

within physical work. I use paint because to me digital work is starting to bunch together, and obviously using a computer is a limitation, whereas my

hands can do whatever I want them to!7. Within the arts and crafts of your culture, what part inspires you most?I’ve spoken of traditional craftsmanship a lot, and I feel that is my main

influence. 8. Please explain one of your illustrations.

My most recent piece was based around a short story by Roald Dahl called The Butler. It depicts the character of the butler from the front and the

back in two separate images to show the two sides of the story.

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9. What was your inspiration in this piece of work?My inspiration for the work came mainly from the story. Obviously my style is influenced by my previously mentioned cultural influences, but I feel that when I work on a project or image I try to draw most of my influence for

characters, colours, shapes etc from the story rather than straight from my personal tastes. If there was a particular cultural reference within the text I

would definitely research that to inform my colours etc. 10. Has this questionnaire surprised you in any way about how culture has

influenced you?I don’t think I’ve had any revelations about influence as an illustrator, pos-sibly because I’m writing my dissertation on my own thoughts about the

appeal of handmade work to me personally. I feel the discussion of cultural influence on work is very important though, and speaking about personal colour palettes is very interesting, I just feel that nothing culturally has

influenced my colour palette too much!

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Ed Grace

1. Where nationality are you and where have you lived an extended amount of time?

British, London & Edinburgh 2. What culture/cultures do you think you are?

British, although increasingly part of a much larger and less distinct world culture which is growing and blurring faster than ever before thanks mainly to the internet. I have a History of Art background and have studied Ital-

ian Renaissance, Chinese, Islamic and other traditions extensively. I’m extremely interested in music and the artwork and visual movements which accompany music. I grew up during the 1980s when American culture had

enormous influence on the UK and have spent most of my life living in South London where I am exposed to sights from around the world on a

daily basis. I can’t remember who said that there is no looking, only steal-ing but I believe in that idea. So I’m British but my education and experi-

ences have exposed me to lots of other cultures and I’m sure I’ve absorbed aspects of them like a sponge and ooze them out when I work. British

culture is like that, it acquires and absorbs bits of other cultures. I mean, look how we’ve adopted tea; it’s become a bedrock of our society and part of our national image even though we pinched it from the other side of the

world a few hundred years ago. 3. What techniques and media do you use within your illustration?

Mixture of hand-drawn traditional (eg brush and ink) and digital but I’m not set in any particular working methods.


Of course, there’s no looking, only stealing, I reckon. Everywhere we go we’re exposed to human-made marks, whether they’re road signs or draw-ings on adverts or printed material, and visually-oriented people absorb this

and are influenced by it whether they admit it or not. 5. Have you found yourself using the colours that are similar to those used

within your culture?I’m quite a fan of vivid or nauseating colours and I think this comes from

cheaply-printed 1980s comics or American skate graphics which themselves have roots in comic books and psychedelic art.

6. Have you found that the techniques used within your illustration are also used within the history of arts and crafts in your culture?

I think that the brush and ink style which I keep coming back to is probably heavily influenced by British and American comic art of the late 20th Cen-

tury, so yes. 7. Within the arts and crafts of your culture, what part inspires you most?Usually music and the other things it brings, eg album art and music-in-

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spired visual trends, but comics were a big part of my early visual learning. 8. Please explain one of your illustrations.

There’s a jpeg here, I’ll attach it to the email but this is something I’m do-ing for myself which is unfinished at the moment. It’s brush and ink and really the aim is just to cover the (A3) paper I’m working on with images

and shapes which please me. I guess that to please me they probably have to reflect something I’ve seen before which pleased me, so in a way this is me vomiting up other cultural influences. As there’s no real aim to it be-

yond what I say above it’s probably quite a good example of this although I hadn’t thought about it like that until just now.

9. What was your inspiration in this piece of work?There’s probably a pretty obvious comic book influence here what with the speech bubbles and flat style and cartoon figures. The kind of death ray

coming out of the skull’s mouth is definitely influenced by 1970s American superhero comics (I remember thinking that as I drew it) and the clouds / bubbles around the place (which will eventually contain lettering) are

certainly linked to 1960s underground cartoonists like Robert Crumb. The skull itself is probably inspired by 80s skate/ music graphics. I can see a

heavy graffiti/hiphop influence here but a huge part of graffiti art borrows from comics. In the repeating patterns, lines and textures I can actually

see the influence of my Chinese Art education as these techniques for filling space come into play in a lot of the minor arts, especially lacquerware. I

did my dissertation on Chinese lacquerware so there must be some cross-pollination! The more geometric, angular shapes are probably influenced by industrial signage or graphics which everyone in an urban environment sees tons of every day whether they want to or not. Underpinning it all is probably this desire to ram unrelated things together as a kind of collage

and that’s a 20th Century idea which probably started in Dada, was a huge part of punk and was later re-expressed in hiphop. So actually this is prob-

ably a great example of different influences on my style. 10. Has this questionnaire surprised you in any way about how culture has

influenced you?It has, actually. I think I can see my roots a bit more clearly now which I

wasn’t expecting.

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REFERENCES

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Arts.cultural-china.com (2009) Women in Chinese Painting . [online] Avail-able at: http://arts.cultural-china.com/en/62Arts4818.html.Arts.cultural-china.com (1911) Besuties Painting in Ming Dynasty. [online] Available at: http://arts.cultural-china.com/en/62A4818A10961.html.Behance (2011) James Hunter on Behance. [online] Available at: http://www.behance.net/jameswhunter.Cargocollective.com (n.d.) neela0_0. [online] Available at: http://cargocol-lective.com/neela0_0.Chinaculture.org (n.d.) Chinese Ancient Painting. [online] Available at: http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_artqa/2005-12/27/content_77518.htm.Chinaonlinemuseum.com (1911) Chinese Painting | Chinese Art Gallery | China Online Museum. [online] Available at: http://www.chinaonlinemu-seum.com/painting.php.Chrisbeetles.com (2012) THE ILLUSTRATORS 2012 | Chris Beetles Gallery. [online] Available at: http://www.chrisbeetles.com/exhibitions/illustra-tors-2012.html.Chrisbeetles.com (2012) QUENTIN BLAKE 2012 | Chris Beetles. [online] Available at: http://www.chrisbeetles.com/exhibitions/quentin-blake-2012.html.CLARKE, D. J. (2002). Hong Kong art: culture and decolonization. Durham, NC, Duke University Press.Edge.neocha.com (2010) imaginative & inspiring illustration work from beijing’s menz . [online] Available at: http://EDGE.Neocha.com/chinese-cre-atives/menz-zhang-wen/imaginative-inspiring-illustrationwork-from-beijing-based-menz/.Edge.neocha.com (2010) imaginative & inspiring illustration work from beijing’s menz . [online] Available at: http://edge.neocha.com/chinese-cre-atives/menz-zhang-wen/imaginative-inspiring-illustrationwork-from-beijing-based-menz/.Edgrace.co.uk (2013) Ed Grace : Freelance Illustrator in London, UK. [on-line] Available at: http://www.edgrace.co.uk/.Govinden, N. (2012) British Illustrators. Interviewed by Melissa Wong [in person] via email, 7th December 2012.Grace, E. (2012) British Illustrators. Interviewed by Melissa Wong [in per-son] via email, 7th December 2012.Hockneypictures.com (n.d.) DAVID HOCKNEY. [online] Available at: http://www.hockneypictures.com/.Hunter, J. (2012) British Illustrators. Interviewed by Melissa Wong [in per-son] via email, 7th December 2012.Illustrationcupboard.com (2013) The Illustration Cupboard - 17th Annual Winer Exhibition. [online] Available at: http://www.illustrationcupboard.com/exhibition_details.aspx?eId=199&ePage=0.Illustrationfriday.com (2009) IF Interview with Josh Cochran. [online]

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Available at: http://illustrationfriday.com/2009/11/if-interview-with-josh-cochran/.Indiaart.com (1964) Indiaart | Indian Art | Artists | Buy and sell Art | Exhi-bitions | Buying Art | Affordable Art | Emerging Artists| Childrens Art | Art News. [online] Available at: http://www.indiaart.com/.Joshcochran.net (2013) Josh Cochran. [online] Available at: http://www.joshcochran.net.KAMPEN-O’RILEY, M. (2002). Art beyond the west: the arts of Africa, India and Southeast Asia, China, Japan and Korea, the Pacific, and the Americas. New York, H.N. Abrams.London, C. (2012) British Printed Images to 1700: British Book Illustrations 1604-40. [online] Available at: http://www.bpi1700.org.uk/research/british-bookillustrations/britishbookillustrations.html.Mazakii.com (n.d.) Jing Zhang portfolio. [online] Available at: http://www.mazakii.com.MO‎, J. (2008). 3030: new graphic design in China. Hong Kong, 3030 Press.Nodyoung.com (n.d.) Nod Young. [online] Available at: http://www.nody-oung.com.Psy.rin.ru (2001) Colour and children within Psychology at RIN.ru. [online] Available at: http://psy.rin.ru/eng/article/231-101.html.Radhakrishnan, S. (2000) Mahatma Gandhi. p.309.Singh, N. (2012) British Illustrators. Interviewed by Melissa wong [in per-son] via email, 7th December 2012.Slideshare.net (n.d.) Ancient Chinese Illustrations. [online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/Nubiagroup/ancient-chinese-illustra-tions-3430960.Somersethouse.org.uk (2012) Images 36: Best of British Illustration Somer-set House. [online] Available at: http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/about/press/press-releases/images-36-best-of-british-illustration.Sullivan, M. (2008) The Arts of China. 5th ed.Tate.org.uk (1922) Richard Hamilton | Tate. [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-hamilton-1244.Telegraph.co.uk (2011) Richard Hamilton - Telegraph. [online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/art-obituar-ies/8760860/Richard-Hamilton.html#.The Guardian (2012) Chinese children’s and picture book illustrators . [online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/gal-lery/2012/apr/16/gallery-chinese-illustration#/?picture=388596960&index=1.The Guardian (2010) Heritage crafts at risk. [online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/22/heritage-crafts-at-risk.TURNER, G. (1996). British cultural studies: an introduction. London, Rout-ledge.

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Wu, M. (2007) Creative Chinese Illustration Work by Mazakii. [online] Available at: http://www.oneinchpunch.net/2008/11/29/creative-chinese-illustration-work-by-mazakii/.Ycntalentagency.com (n.d.) YCN Talent Agency — Illustrators. [online] Available at: http://ycntalentagency.com/artists/category/illustrators/jing-zhang.

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Melissa Wong

Melissa Wong

the effect of culture on an illustrator's style

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