Hello Ben and thank you for doing this interview with Colovision Magazine.

1 – To Start, tellus a bit about yourself where you were born and where you
live…

I was born in Hampshire, UK. Weirdly, the hospital I was born in was later closed down and turned into apartments, then a friend of my Mum’s bought one of the apartments and her living room was actually the room I was born in. I now live in Cornwall, UK with my wonder wife, Fi,
who’s originally from Melbourne, Australia, but luckily for me she moved over here. We work together, Fi does all the business and promotion stuff, manages our online shops, and also comes up with a lot of the ideas and concepts for my illustration work, I just make the pictures. We have a little dog, Doze, who is the best, and we’ve got a little baby on the way too, our house is getting much fuller!

2 – How did you get started in the arts?

It’s all I ever liked, drawing. All through school it was my main focus, then I went to art college in London after school, and then went on to study animation. After graduating in 1999 I worked on music videos, animating and directing, then ended up working as creative director of a small animation and design studio in London. I had a good time there and learnt a lot, but it was the illustration jobs I was doing on the side that I really loved, so I put down my pen and left the studio, became ‘Ben the Illustrator’. That was about 5 or 6 years ago now.

3- Where do yo draw your inspiration from?

Anywhere, lots of inspiration comes from nature really, the amazing stuff we all get to see on or travels. I also love a lot of old graffiti, the Wild Style era in NYC, real crazy ways of playing with
colour and also a lot of old packaging and comic books, just creative stuff where you know someone had some fun, like 60s candy packaging. I always try and keep up with what’s going on in the art, illustration and design worlds, I love Takeshi Murakami, Jeff Soto, Stephen Chan,
C86, Catalina Estrada, Phibs, Airside, anything creative, anyone who does their own thing.

4- Can you describe for us what a regular day is like for you?

Sure thing… I try and get up early, and if I don’t manage to then Doze, our dog, will help me along. Since Fi’s expecting right now she often needs a little more rest than me and Doze. Every morning we take Doze for a walk before starting work, for about an hour, we live near a magic little woodlands, with a river and little streams flowing through it, while we’re walking we often plan our day, or discuss any current projects, we often have the best ideas walking. Then it’s straight to our desks. Unless there’s an urgent job to get finished I usually start by checking emails and getting my inbox as empty as possible, I’ll be distracted by Twitter occasionally, but it’s getting emails sorted that is priority number one first thign every day. Then I’ll get on with the task in hand for that day, so it varies a lot, client projects, working on concepts or ideas with Fi on new commissions, drawing, website updates, all sorts of things. But generally I spend
most of my working days in Illustrator making pictures, that’s the absolute bulk of what I do. We break for lunch together and in the afternoon generally work through until everything is done. I try and finish the day doing any last emails and making sure my to-do list is up to date for the week and all set for another productive day tomorrow. I try and work quite systematically, to get as much done as possible.

5- What is your most common approach for completing a project?

Fi and I have come to work in a similar process every time. Once we get the brief we’ll go crazy with ideas, either while out walking or over a cup of tea, then we’ll refine the ideas to our favourites, what really works for the project. Then I’ll usually have some time for drawing, sketching out design or illustration approaches on paper, then we’ll go through them and see where to head next, this stage is usually an important time to work closely with the client. Then once I’ve got a finished drawing, a satisfactory rough, then I’ll take it into Illustrator and artwork it, create the illustration. Fi usually jumps back on board when we’re planning the colours, we like to see things through from beginning to end together, it usually gives a project a much stronger soul, with the best solutions to the brief. We like working closely with clients too, it’s good for the working relationship, but it also ensures we’re not wasting time creating something the client won’t be pleased with.

6- Out of all your work what is your favorite piece and why?

I often look back on work and feel ‘I could’ve done that bit better’ or ’that should be pink, not red’, but occasionally I make a picture that I really am pleased with, really proud of. I recently completed a piece for Vectortuts+ tackling climate change, I love it, we set out to create something epic, and I think we achieved it. I also have a soft spot for our ‘Feelgood By Numbers’ pattern/landscape. It felt like we were breaking a boundary when we first came up with it and I love the
colours.

7- Is it easy to make a living in the work that you do?

No. To be honest, it can be real hard work. When you get there, once you’re earning enough to support yourself, it’s a proper achievement something to be proud of, some people might get lucky with an easy career, but right now there are so many people trying to forge a career out of illustration, it’s quite a competitive world. I’ve had a real uphill adventure over the passed years, sometimes it was hard, but it’s always been an enjoyable ride. But if you stick to your guns, evolve
and develope your creative work, don’t rip people off, manage yourself like a business, keep motivated, be professional, be original, be honest… then you can make a living.

8- Who is your biggest influence?

In illustration, it’s an old British bookcover illustrator called Brian Cook, he’s not especially well known, but when I was about 12 my folks gave me a book about his work and it changed everything for me. He worked in the early – mid 20th Century, illustrating British landscapes and village scenes, but he used these wild colours, and broke nature into simple shapes, I still own the book and it can still inspire me. He taught me to think differently about things, to put into an illustration the feelings I take from nature.

9- How important is technology for the work that you do? What tools could
you not live with out?

Massively. I always start an illustration with pencil and paper, but it’s taking it into vectors where I really create, where I do what perhaps people recognise my work for. I would barely be able to breathe without my Wacom Tablet, my Mac and Adobe Illustrator.

10- How important is color in your work and why?

HUUUUGE! I love colour. Colours can completely evoke a mood, add fun and focus to an illustration. I’ve been blessed to work with some really great clients, and I am always so flattered when they commission me to create something colourful, because that’s what they’ve enjoyed in my portfolio.

11- Whats your favorite color?

This answer could go on forever! I could list about 42 colours that are my favourites, maybe even 47. I go through phases of liking different colours and colour combinations, right now I’d say a nice teal with a lime green, a deep pinky red and a good strong orange.

12- Where can people get in contact with you?

They can check out my site on www.bentheillustrator.com (or www.wywh.co.uk for our art prints and www.speakerdog.com to meet our little character). They can also get to know us on Twitter, we love meeting good creative people there, we’re @benandfi