Joel Benjamin Illustration

Calle20 interview

A few lines of my babble made it into the Portrait Illustration article in Spanish trend and culture magazine ‘Calle20’.

Here’s the whole interview.

— From your own experience, which are the differences between portraying someone and any other kind of illustration?

I would say that the main differences lie in the level af accuracy required and the amount of personal expression you can use. With a portrait you have to put a lot of effort into achieving an accurate likeness. If you want the person to be expressing something you don’t have photo reference for then the challenge is much greater. The main point of the image is that the person depicted is easily recognisable. With any other kind of illustration you can let your imagination run wild a little more and rely on your artistic experience.

— Why do you think Portrait Illustration is conquering museums and art galleries in the last years and not before?

Is it? I honestly didn’t realise.

— You use Photoshop on your works, don´t you? Please tell me the positive and negative things about add technology to portraits

Yes, I use Photoshop to colour and finish my images. Every stroke I lay down with ink is permanent, but photoshop allows me to correct any mistakes I may make, it gives me a second chance. I often flip the image over and look at in reverse to check that eveything is in balance (I would recommend that all artists/illustrators do this).The only negative thing about photoshop is the computerized sheen it can sometimes leave your image with. Also staring at a screen for a long time can be a little soul destroying.

— When you are working on a portrait, wich physical and psycological elements do you pay more attention?

Physically I find I have to pay attention to every element and detail. I like to try to master the overall form of a person and really discover their ‘design’. As I usually make portraits of musicians I try to draw the psycological aspect from their music, be it playful, solemn, magical or soulful etc.

— Inspirations for your work…

I’m inspired by comic book art, classical painting, skateboarding, films, nature, everything really.