Tell us a little about your background and how you came to work as a professional illustrator?
I never intended to become an illustrator I didn’t even know I could draw before I was 20. I first went to school for advertising which led me to graphic design school. There I was exposed to some illustration but it wasn’t until someone told me to create a website for my illustrations, which were more like doodles, that I started illustrating for real.

After not finishing my degree I worked as a designer and art director for a motion graphics company my husband and I started in Brazil. After a couple of years i moved to USA to work as an art director at the Boston Ad agency Modernista! It was during my time in Boston that I realized that it was illustration more than anything else that I wanted to do, so I left my job to pursue a career as a freelance illustrator instead. I think it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

You have a very unique style that is just a pleasure to look at, how did you come up with this look?
I’ve never worked on creating a look. I also think I have many different styles depending what medium I use and depending what my mood is at the time. Sometimes this can make it difficult for me when a client refer to something I made along time ago because I can’t really recreate the feeling I had making that particular piece.

Could you take us through your design process from the point you are told the brief to presenting the final work?
It’s so different depending on the project. Some clients give me free hands to do basically whatever I want while others like to direct every line. However, when I get a project I always ask the client to reference some pieces from my work that they like so I have an idea of what they are expecting stylewise, If they want me to work with photographs or if it’s just pure illustration etc. That way I can also see how brave the client is and how far I can push the illustration. From there I usually start drawing, either using Bic pencils or MICRON ink pens. I don’t really do sketches but I doodle. I also make elements and drawings that will be the main part of the illustration. Mark-making and texture making is also a big part of my process. The background textures are sometimes painted, sometimes photographed. You can almost say that my illustrations are more like collages. I have a library of approx. 500 textures that I’ve made over the years. I basically scan everything. When I feel that I have a good start I begin building my image using photoshop. I work in layers and usually end up with 200-300 of them before I’m done which can be really great if a client wants a change that only affects one layer, but when a “small” change in fact means I have to change 50 layers it’s not as much fun.
If the illustration is for advertising I usually go through 3 rounds of revisions. I keep in touch with the client either through email or phone and all files are delivered digitally.

How much do you get paid for a typical illustration, how do you work out a price to tell clients?
It varies a lot depending on who the client is and what the usage and distribution is. I have an agent in amsterdam, unit.nl and one in sweden, soderbergagentur.com who negotiates the fees for me.

What would you like to be doing the whole time if money was not an issue?
I wouldn’t like to do anything the whole time but many different things at different times, it could be a walk in the forest or baking a delicious cake which I would enjoy together with my husband.

What single piece of advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
stay away from photoshop filters

Interview conducted by Nick, thank you Linn for answering my questions.

To see more of Linn’s work why not visit her website.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2007 at 2:25 am and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.