BCL: Give us a brief history on your career to date:

CW: I was born and bred in the big city, studied Graphic Design at Johannesburg University qualifying in 1985. The same year I was offered a position at TBWA where I gained valuable experience from advertising doyans John Hunt, Basil Mina and Jenny Groenewald.   Won a few Art Direction awards for my share done on the Exclusive Books account as well as a Loerie for the South African Optometric Association (poster) and a Clio for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (poster).

I took a break from practicing advertising to lecture in Graphic Design between 1993 and 1995 at the AAA School of Advertising as Deputy Course Director where I assisted in formulating the syllabus with Peter Forrest-Smith. In 1996 I accepted a Senior Graphic Design position at Ogilvy's in their promotional department working mainly on the Amstel Lager and K-TV (M-Net) accounts and later briefly reunited with old fellow colleague; Graham Lamont to work on KFC. After Ogilvys I freelanced a bit and Adrienne du Toit offered me a position as CD at Turquoise Twilight. In 2001 I sold my house and moved down lock, stock and easel to Cape Town. Times were tough even then and worked for a short while at a printer in Woodstock doing desk top publishing where I gained valuable printing experience especially with the machine minders on the floor.

I disembarked from the factory environment when offered to freelance as an illustrator for educational publishing companies such Maskew Miller Longman and Nassau Via Africa as well as doing some illustrations for Ogilvy’s.In 2004 I freelanced for a few design studios in Somerset West, designing labels and promotional items for the wine industry. In 2008 I started  operating on my own, working on The Green Times, designing some of the covers for Renaissance magazine and building up my own client base in the wine and restaurant industry. Besides my Graphic Design career, I have also been commissioned for artwork in various illustration media i.e. Pen and Ink, Watercolours, Oil-Pastels and Oils by the advertising industry and private clients. 

BCL: How did you come to being an illustrator?

As a final year student in a state of desperation for feedback, the penny dropped when I consulted my drawing lecturer at art school, Garth Blake, about one of my illustration projects. He made a pertinent comment on a particular acrylic illustration of two polo players on horses I had believed to have “completed “.

“I would paint a wash over the whole thing.” was his non-chalant comment. After a long silence he commenced to tutor me in some contemporary styles of illustration, introducing me to the styles of contemporary American illustrators such as Peak, Heindel, Ziering and others.
I appreciate the potential my drawing lecturers saw in my work and their encouragement for me to continuing my illustration style, but with so many projects at hand in my final year was exhausting to complete. I saved all the knowledge they imparted on me later on in life in my spare time. Burn Hogarth (the creator of the Tarzan comics) was a major influence in my life in terms of capturing and teaching the anatomy of the human figure from memory.

The set of two polo player paintings (before and after) I sold to an enthusiast three years later. Even though my career started working as a studio artist at TBWA, I rendered many storyboards for television commercials at the time. Sometimes the pressure was so intense there was no time for initial pencil work and presentation frames were executed in markers directly with minimal colour smudged in dry pastel. This consistent request for my ability to capture images on demand, resulted in my set of basic “loosening-up” illustration lectures I formulated to impart on my students when I had the opportunity to teach.

Due to the pressure to complete other parts of the syllabus, my set of lectures never came to fruition and I will perhaps release them one day on-line as a potential “crash course” in illustration. When designing a syllabus, the amount of research and practical demonstration exercises are immense and sometimes overpowering. Especially if you have to conduct a lecture the next day, including demonstrations. This was my initiation into the glorious and endless world of illustration.

BCL: What is your most fabulous project you worked on and why?

Difficult question since there were so many but I’ll mention 5, one from each of the following categories; Outdoor, Oils, Drawing, Product Design and Print. Outdoor: Back in the 90’s when I was working on K-TV I had to come up with some ideas for the M-Net December Road Show. It was a traveling show that went to 4 or 5 popular beaches around the coast.

I heard the words of the Beatles singing “Octopus’s Garden” in my head. I made a sketch of two inflatable Octopi; each sitting on his own tower either side of the stage. One bright pink and the other bright green. I added some inflatable objects such as palm trees and sharks to round it off. The client bought it hook, line and sinker. It was amazing to see this concept come to life when I drove down to Hermanus and as I arrived from the main road saw these two bobbing octopi bobbing on the beach. The beach was packed. Thanks to the Beatles.

Oils: Illustration-wise It must be the running albatross attempting to take off from some source of water. Recently I rediscovered the hard contrasting black and white photocopy I made about 20 years ago in an old file while cleaning my new studio.  I immediately set up a piece of loose canvas and working wet-on-wet with oils mainly yellow ochre, burnt sienna and some Paynes Gray. It’s a composition I will continue to exploit and am currently working on a much larger version.

Drawing: “ The Smoking Senorita” I executed in oil pastels on black paper is one of my favourite pieces. This example of  chiaroscuro came together with the dark background filling in the missing shapes for the viewer. The looseness of how I sketched it especially her fingers was very satisfying.

Product Design: The Morgenhof MCC (Methode Cap Classique) neck label I had to redesign to celebrate the elegance and heritage of the sparkling wine. I had to design it in such a way to cover up the older neck label which was already on the bottle.
Print: The two covers I designed for Renaissance magazine.

BCL: How do you deal with difficult clients who do not know what they want?

Well, all my clients are my friends and we have mutual respect for each other. From initial introduction I have to instill trust in potential clients, explain my design-methodology and what they can expect in return. One has to take an interest in their brand and see the potential of future growth. I believe everybody is creative and I allow them to submit their input to my design and I would rather see myself as a key player in their team to promote their brand.

I often submit a set of potential images (talkboard) or say for instance a set of logos from similar competitive brands as a starting point to see what the client does and doesn’t like.

This eliminates a lot of difficulty before starting the creative process. Although, it does happen. One of the most difficult situations I had been in was with a client who was so enthusiastic about his design he kept on grabbing my mouse wanting to do it himself. Nearly sitting cheek to cheek next to each other I realized I couldn’t help him. I immediately guided him to a few internet sites where he could purchase the programs and study to do it himself if he didn’t trust my experience to assist him in his own design quest. It’s not worth the trouble or the stress, even if you are desperate for work. Often it’s a clash of personalities and I would refer him to another designer or illustrator on my network.

BCL: There is an age old saying in the design field, “that there is nothing scarier than a blank page?”

Take the piece of blank paper into the toilet and meditate on it. Once you’ve flushed it you’ll have a few other  ideas to implant on the virginal siblings of that paper. Remember Ching Chong Cha? Well paper scissors rock works just as well just swop the rock-bit with a piece of clay. Pottery is one of the most therapeutic hobbies you can indulge in instead of jogging.

With jogging you can pant, think and focus for twenty minutes. With pottery you can relax, meditate and exercise your whole being for three hours, and then take a brisk walk home to aid you cardio-vascular for twenty minutes which is all you need, really.

If the pottery doesn’t work for you well purchase a few broad-nib waterproof marker pens from your local stationary shop, swing past your local grocer or bottle store and obtain a few cardboard boxes, strip them of their staples, flatten them out and on the clean brown inside of the now flattened box– stick them on the wall or on the floor and write or drawing something you have never done before… Music helps but watching the clock doesn’t.

Tap into the right hemisphere of your brain – theres a Chihuahua waiting to burst out and show the left hand Bulldog a thing or five.

If that still doesn’t help go back into the bathroom with another virginal sibling and meditate some more.. forget about the scissors bit if you still in Ching Chong Cha mode and you are depressed.

Ok lets start from scratch – literally. Dealing with blank paper - I used this technique with my students when I was teaching graphic design. “Starting from scratch” was formulated by a guy named Scheider from Germany where he breached the fine line between Calligraphy and Abstract Expressionism; using items such as wood shavings, feathers, stubs of cardboard, carve a pen made of bamboo - in fact anything you can make a mark on paper with dipped in ink. Listen to music if you have to and create flowing shapes, words or characters on the paper. Its a lot of fun..

BCL: Your illustration style is very flexible, what is your favourite style of illustration?

Impressionism bordering on expressionism.  The faster I can capture it the better. Oil pastels equals instant gratification especially on a dark ground. Most of my initial sketches for larger projects are executed in this marvelous medium where you can draw and smudge with turpentine to create interesting effects.Attempting to capture the impressions, “Tequila Essence” is an excellent example I sold to a collector in Namibia. “Smoking Senorita” is another example but more fluid in its line work.

BCL: Who are your “design heroes”?

Herb Lubalin, Neville Brody, Eric Gill, Le Corbusier, Peter Behrens, Man Ray, A.M. Cassandre. Alphonse Mucha, Arthur Blake, Jean-Paul Gaultier, just to name a few.

BCL: What do you see when you look up from your computer

Jackie Chan, James Bond, Tintin and Monty. I have a large collection of interesting action figures and sculptures surrounding my work space. (My personal inspirational jigsaw puzzle).
Photo: Top Right