Chrissie Abbott Interview with THE 405

December 17, 2008, Written by The 405, LONDON

Hello Chrissie! Could you describe to our our readers what you do and how you got started?

Hello. I am an illustrator / graphic designer / artist hybrid I guess. I draw pictures that utilise collage and an occasionally structured layout. I started drawing when I was very small. Art was the only lesson I actually liked at school. I studied illustration at the london college of communication then left after my second year to work at design agency Zip, where I worked for three years and now I'm freelance.

Who or what would you say are your inspirations?

Umm I would say pretty much anything and everything and everyone. Music is definitely a big inspiration. At the moment the apocalypse is inspiring me. I like to use themes that are pretty dark but convey them in a nice happy way. Life can be pretty gnarly, I would like to bring a colourful interlude to all the negative imagery that we are constantly bombarded with. Well, that's what I try to do anyway.

Your artwork is used in all sorts of formats like T-shirts and Posters etc but which gives you most pleasure to see? I can imagine seeing someone walking down the street wearing a t-shirt with your design on it would be a real buzz.

I have actually never seen anyone wearing any t-shirt I've designed apart from in catalogues so I am suspicious as to whether anyone has actually bought one...one day that would be cool though. My favorite format is still a 12" record sleeve I would say.

If you had to chose one piece of work you've done so far in your career as your favourite what would it be? Personally I really like the piece you did for the YCN Exhibition.

Thanks! Umm I actually don't know, I sort of have this weird thing where I end up hating things I've done because I've seen it so much. The piece I did for the YCN book with the beach boys lyrics is probably something I dislike the least...

Chrissie Abbott's current designs

I know i have previously blogged Abbott's work numerous times on this blog, however her work is such an inspiration to mine. She is where i want to be, what i want to be doing and who i want to be designing for. her work has heavily influenced the way in which i have designed the booklet to go with the Music Experience brief. Combing hand crafted collage against brightly colored vector geometric shapes. By adding this technique i feel it gives more value to my illustrations and makes them more appealing and eye grabbing - especially if the colored vectors are in a bright bold neon color.


Here are some of her latest illustrations which i saw after reading her interview with  magazine.

Chrissie Abbott Interview with LAND 1st OCT 2009

Your work has become really fashionable these past couple of years. You seem to have tapped into something with your intricate, maze-like, tapestry doodles that you see high school kids trying to do in math class but never getting quite right. What is it about these time-consuming pen and ink drawings that drew you in in the first place?

I think I started drawing more intricate, time consuming images when I worked full time as a designer. It acted almost as an escape, a place and time to zone out from doing often mundane work that I wasn’t massively into, so working on my own stuff after hours was a form of escapism and a creative output that during the day was a bit stifled. As much as I was learning loads initially and was in a high paced environment I definitely needed to do my own stuff. There’s something really therapeutic about spending ages on a drawing, and at that point it wasn’t for an audience or particularly communicating anything. I definitely wasn’t trying to be trendy, and I never thought it would amount to anything, I just enjoyed it. I still do.

The fact that you’re a self-employed artist at such a young age is pretty huge. How do you manage to keep the energy flowing knowing that its your bread and butter?

I think it is exactly that, I know that by being lazy or not into it means that I wont have any money and subsequently pretty dire consequences. I started out with the attitude that I wouldn’t mind working a shit job during the day in order to make ends meet and be able to subsidize the career I wanted to pursue. In actual fact that hasn’t happened and I really hope it wont ever get to the point. I don’t have an awful lot to fall back on or anyone to financially support me but in a way I am glad because I like the fact that its a bit of a challenge, I think I work better under a bit of pressure so I try and harness what is essentially a fear of failing miserably and turn that into motivation to work hard and do well and enjoy what I do. I feel really grateful and lucky that its worked out ok so far, which is a nice buoyancy aid.

How do you connect your work with representing a band or musical genre? Who approached who?

In terms of music I’ve always been approached by the artist, I guess because they thought that my work would visually interpret their work appropriately, which is an amazing compliment when I like what they do too. Usually we have a bunch of conversations about visual direction and all the things behind that, what they want to achieve and their vision and it goes from there. Its by no means an easy process but I feel that the stuff that I’ve done for music projects has had the most content and depth.

You developed your own style at a young age. How did you deal with other people telling you to change the way that you work?

Hah, it really gets to me initially, by nature I don’t react well to being told what to do. But do I try to see where they are coming from and take it positively because often something good can come from outside perspective and bring a lot to a project and even to how I work. I try to take something positive and grow a bit from every project and see that criticism can be constructive rather than an attack as its the kind of situation where everyone has the same goal- to achieve something that looks good that everyone is happy with. Its a real lesson in stepping away from the ego voice in your head and work for the all round greater good. In fact I think maybe seeing that in writing I now need to apply that to my all round daily life.

What are you working on now? Any more unicorns in the mix?

No more unicorns at the moment! as much as I would love to do that again and again I am wary of repeating myself, it has been pointed out in the past. My only defense is that I make work that makes me happy and certain themes can sometimes reign more predominately.

At the moment I am literally designing the next little boots single sleeve and I am working on a project with Wallpaper magazine about utopia which is right up my alley, a cover for Computer Arts magazine, T shirt designs for Fenchurch, and an exhibition in the Mother advertising agency alongside great heroes and friends of mine Marcus Oakley, Valerie Phillips and Jiro Bevis. Happy times!

CHRISSIE ABBOTT - LONDON.UK

1 OCTOBER 2009

Interviewed by TRAVIS LEE STREET

Mystery Jets Cover art

A selection of Mystery jets album and EP cover art work from the there latest album. Designed by Tim Ferries the art work is bold and emphatic using desaturated staged photographs as the main focal point. Text runs along the edges of the frame full bleed. This is a technique which i would like to incorporate into the Music Experience brief which i am currently doing, using a photograph or set as the main imagery and having it full bleed with a small amount of text overlaid.

All the singles and EP's run using this reoccurring theme so they work as a set and the designs can be easily replaced and applied to future singles etc.

Mystery spot poster deisgn

This was the header design for a blog which i came across called, 'The mystery blogspot'. it is a collective blog showcasing work from over 20 illustrators and fine artists. the work actually n the blog did not appeal to me, however i the header did. The use of hand rendered, rough typeface and finger painted background was really back to basics and original and above all eye grabbing. 

Very simple but effective, reminding me of how i used to use alot more of my own hand rendered typefaces over the last past module.

MARIO HUGO

Mario Hugo composes typographic and illustrative works with a clear and careful eye fixed on progressive experimentation. His illustrative skills are amazing, demonstrating control and laborious time and attention to detail. 


His hand-rendered font for The Decemberists' The Hazards of Love album (a collaboration with illustrator Carson Ellis) is just one example of his shape-shifting approach to design - using and playing with the viewers perspective. 
But so too are his bold geometric letter forms for Beck's Modern Guilt album sleeve, pieces that look more like woodcarvered sculpture than design which have been rendered from a computer. He is an extremely talented man.

His work combines themes of surrelaism and the sky at night, whihc is also in fitting wiht the dreams aspect of his work. using minimal colour ways, normally greyscale or one other colours this draws attention to the deatil wihtin the peices and makes the illustrative letter forms stand out more. How he combines geometric imagery has similarities to Chrissie Abbots work.

Elisabeth Moch

What particularly caught my eye about her work was not what she was drawing but the photography an her application of the set photos to publication or product. 

\

Very interesting and minimal, could be a nice format to try and use within my publication considering how the interviews could be composed within? If they could be written actaully on an object within the set design? Or maybe this is to ambiious and may make it harder for the viewer to read.