Your Full Name
Melissa Graf.
Tell us about you
I’m something of a drifter, when it comes to my personal interests. While art has been a constant in my life, the way I’ve approached it has varied quite a bit. Drawing was always a large part of my life, but so far I’ve also studied printmaking, typography and print design, costume and set design, and photography…with varying degrees of success!
I’m currently studying a Diploma of Photography in the hopes of making it a career, but illustration is an integral part of my life. I simply find it easier deal with commercialising my photography in a way I’m not with my illustration; a lot of my work is produced for personal reasons, and not to a brief. That said, I do dedicate equal amounts of time to both endeavours.
In your opinion, what would be the secret ingredients to become a great illustrator?
Constantly experiment, and be passionate about what you do. Whether it is different media within your own style, or different styles in the same media, or even different styles in different media, you must keep experimenting! A distinctive style is a good thing, because people will recognise you for it, but stagnation is not. Keep pushing yourself to try new things, and your passion for your work will come through in your art.
Where are you located?
I live in Sydney, Australia, with my immediate family. The rest of my family members are back in Switzerland, which is where both my parents are from.
What is the most fascinating part of being an illustrator?
The reactions people have toward your work. While the meaning of the work is so clear to you, the creator, each person brings such varied experiences, personalities, and memories to the viewing that they can interpret it in a completely different way. It is always intriguing to read or hear about what people think a particular work means to a person on a personal level, and how it affects them, because sometimes it can be so very different to anything you see in your own work.
Where do you get inspirations from?
Often just by asking myself: ‘What if…?’ Even the most mundane and ordinary situations can become fantastic, and fantastical, concepts for works just by asking this simple question of yourself and the world around you. Dreams are also another source of material; sleeping minds seem to come up with ideas we could never think of while awake. And when all else fails, nature itself is already often more strange and fantastic than anything we could conceive of!
Do you promote/ sell/ showcase your work? If so, how?
I use Flickr to keep my work organised and accessible online, but I don’t currently promote or sell my work ina very large way. If people want something they usually contact me to request a specific print or artwork. I’m working on my marketing skills, and hopefully I’ll be able to sell prints and originals more widely and actively in the future.
What is your long range goals in your life?
One of my current long term goals is to open my own gallery and studio space. Not only to showcase my own work, but to support and showcase the work of emerging local artists, and to give people in the community a space where they can come to see, do, and learn about art in a hands-on way.
What types of assignment/ project are you attracted the most? Why so?
I’m most attracted to projects that have fantasy elements. Whether it be high fantasy, urban folkore, myths and legends, alternate realities and timelines, or something closer to science fiction; all of it fascinates me. It is the idea that the human mind has limitless possibilities to choose from, but that each of these images that are so far removed from our current reality nonetheless deal with real issues, or have some sort of root in common experience.
Who is an illustrator that you look up to? Why so?
Sam Weber and Cor Blok. Both of them have their own unique and amazing style. And when applied to familiar subjects, they just transport me to a different world.
Describe a difficult work/ project situation and how would you overcome it?
Sometimes an artwork or a commission just isn’t easy. Either the client is unhappy with it, or you are, but either way it isn’t getting done, and the work becomes a tedious chore. This is the worst situation to be in, I think; when you are no longer enjoying what you’re doing, work becomes very difficult indeed! In situations like this I always step back, and remember why I took on the project in the first place. What drew me to it? Often, it is simply a matter of rediscovering that initial spark which convinced you that this project would lead to something great.
What do you think about the Internet and how it is affecting our lifestyle?
I think the internet is an amazing tool. Like any tool it can be used in a variety of ways; some are what we would think of as ‘good’ and some are what we would think of as ‘bad’. On some days I marvel at the way it has altered the way in which we communicate, and how we discover information about the world around us. Other days I lament the loss of care and respect that personal contact often promotes. How disassociated are we becoming from the people who are around us, because we are becoming ever more tied to our virtual experiences?
If you could turn back time, how would you do things differently?
I would change the order of the things I studied. While I wouldn’t leave anything out, hindsight would I would use the opportunity to reorganise my time so that I could get everything I wanted to do done in a shorter period. That would give me the same experiences as before, but with a greater amount of time to concentrate on doing the things I love.
How do you keep your work fresh? Do you need to consciously adapt your style or does it progress naturally?
Usually my work progresses naturally, and in its own time; I tend to change styles quite often without setting out to do so. On occasion, however, I become consciously unhappy with what I’m doing. At those times, I purposely attempt force myself out of my comfort zone and try something different. A new medium, subject matter I’m not used to; I try to challenge myself.
Name 3 of your favorite (art) books/ magazines.
- The Elements of Typographic Style, by Robert Bringhurst.
- Amano: The Complete Prints of Yoshitaka Amano, by Yoshitaka Amano and Unno Hiroshi.
- City of Shadows: Sydney Police Photographs 1912-1948, by Robert Doyle.
What is your life motto?
Fidelity in all things, particularly to self.
In what kind of a work environment do you do your best work?
Completely and utterly alone. I cannot stand to have people hovering about me, and do my best work in long stretches of time. I like to have at least a handspan of clear space around whatever I’m drawing on, but after that I like to keep everything I need within reach on my left side. My right side is reserved for a bottle of water and a bowl of sunflower seeds.
What do you like the sound of? Why so?
The sounds of a persons breathing, and their heart beating, when you rest your ear against their chest. I just think the human body is an amazing machine, and to be able to hear the heart pumping blood around the body, keeping someone alive; it is mesmerising.
If you have online portfolio, what is the URL?
I currently use Flickr to keep my work online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mgraf, but tend to post things to my blog first: http://calculare.livejournal.com I’m also currently learning a little more about CSS and HTML so that I can build and style my own site, for future use.
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