Featured Member - Ruben Ireland
www.pelime.com/rubenireland
Coming from an artistic family, Ruben Ireland is a graphic artist and illustrator based in London. Using a fusion of traditional techniques and digital processing he creates thoughtful, dreamlike images that carry emotional weight as well as a relevance to daily life. His tools include ink, acrylic, dirty water, foods, weathered paper as well as Photoshop and a wacom tablet.
Q. Can you explain what triggered your interest in Graphic Design & Illustration?
A. I’ve been interested in all forms of art since I can remember. I was lucky to have artist parents as well and very encouraging teachers during my childhood, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Q. Are there any GD & I artists you admire?
A. I’m a huge fan of Jon Klassen, Ray Johnson, Eduardo Recife, and Sylvia ji. I admire anyone who can find a unique voice whilst always doing something new and exciting.
Q. What are your inspirations?
A. I watch a lot of films, I listen to a lot of music and I also search and look at a lot of art pieces. I also believe that every piece an artist makes is in some ways both a self-portrait and a portrait of the world around them; although I know it’s a cliché, my inspiration comes from the universe and life.
Q. How do you choose your subjects?
A. As an illustrator, my subjects will often be chosen by someone else for me (my clients) but I also get a lot of free range while working on things to sell as print and wares. In that case, I use my work as an outlet for my own ideas and so what comes up on the page just comes naturally. I sometimes just see or hear something going on in the world and often I feel that I have to interpret it, transfer or transform it into an artwork.
Q. Your illustration entitled ‘Time of Need’ is amazing. Is there a story behind this work?
A. I was asked to create Times of Weakness based on the word ‘gossip’, which made me think about human nature and the existing cracks in characters we all suffer from time to time. Having finished the first, Times of Need came naturally as a continuation of the idea. The piece talks about the protection on the surface level, but also about the forms in which protection and comfort can come; often we’d rather someone as doomed as ourselves to come to our rescue because really all we need is not to feel alone. Its quite fitting that now the piece is available as a very comfortable floor pillow!
Q. Can you explain the process of creation of your pieces?
A. It’s difficult to explain really, often my images take quite a while to get ready and I like to vary my approach to keep my outcome fresh. Most commonly, I’ll start by looking through a large library of pictures I’ve taken over the years and find body parts to construct a new body from, for example, I take the arm from one image, the mouth from another etc until I’ve created an entirely original character which I then further manipulate in Photoshop. Then, I airbrush and warp the body much like a fashion photographer would and play around with colors and tones. Once I’m happy with the new character, I pick out areas of block color and completely paint over them with digital ink, taking the body to an abstraction from a close range. Later on, I lighten, darken, smudge, warp and erase until I’m left with only the essentials. Finally, I add shapes and colors where necessary and work on the backgrounds, sometimes in Photoshop sometimes by hand. After this initial work, I’m left with a simple structure, which I can add scanned hand made elements to, much like a collage. The textures in my work are made later on by throwing anything I can find, usually in the kitchen, onto big bits of card which I scan in at a high resolution and cut to fit the image. I’m not sure this explanation does my process much justice as there are always variables to suit each new work but that’s the basics of what I do.
Q. Can you talk about any professional experience?
A. I’m not sure what to say. I’ve found that being polite and building a relationship with clients is really important. So far, I’ve been very lucky about whom I’ve dealt with professionally.
Q. What about exhibitions?
A. I have three upcoming exhibitions this year. I can’t really talk about the first one yet, and the other two in London Miles Gallery in London from April to June. I’m hoping to be involved in as many as I can; I’m having a lot of fun creating pieces for them.
Q. Do you have a favorite piece among your works?
A. That’s a difficult question. They’ve all been really important to me, as they’ve all helped me to grow. At the moment, my favorite is one of my latest works for ClickforArt called ‘Untitled’ because I took a completely different direction in terms of process and style, and I allowed myself to really obsess to an extreme with the details. But I’m sure my favorite will change as it always does.
Q. Do you have one piece that you could say it brought you great success?
A. Unusual Encounter really brought my work to peoples’ attention and it’s the first piece that really began to define my style.
Q. Have you ever collaborated with other GD & I artists?
A. I’m currently collaborating with Katty Bouthier on a piece. It’s my first collaboration and I’m really excited about seeing how it evolves.
Q. Have you ever done some work for other companies?
A. Yes, I’ve worked for A Future Without, poolga, Odd Digital, Ardentees, D-STRUCTURE, ClickforArt, and have work selected for sale by Blik and Urban Outfitters.
Q. What equipment & techniques do you use?
A. Well as I explained earlier, my techniques are made up of traditional and contemporary processes. I use drawings, ink, acrylic, foods, card, digital cameras, a flat bed scanner and Photoshop and I vary my approach and outcome to keep my work fresh.
Q. Are you working on new projects currently?
A. I’m always working on something; I find it hard to stop really. Right now, I’m creating two gallery pieces and another piece to sell as prints and apparel. I’ve also started to plan a short story, but that will simmer for a long time before I begin to work solely on it.
Q. What are your professional ambitions and your projects for 2011?
A. I’d like to become more involved in exhibitions, but also to do some editorial or advertising work.
Q. How do you hope Pelime can help with this?
A. Pelime seems like a great place to both share my work and interact with other artists. Which is great!
