Our Illustration Director Christine Cavallomagno was kind enough to conduct an interview with our new artist Jenny Mortsell so we could learn a little bit more about her!
Christine Cavallomagno - Welcome to Jed Root and welcome to New York! You plan to move here in the next couple of months from Stockholm- Tell us a bit about coming to New York to pursue your illustration career, and why you chose Jed Root to represent you.
Jenny Mortsell - My story is the same as many others, I came here for a week for new years 2008, and fell totally in love with the city, and when I got back to Sweden I just knew I had to go back. Which I did, I've been going back and forth between Stockholm and New York for over a year now. Especially if you come from a small country like Sweden, the energy, diversity and the "everything is possible" attitude is quite overwhelming, and addictive. I was without an agent since may -08 and took some time off commissions for some months. Just when I decided it was time for me to find an agent in NYC I found out you were starting to represent illustrators at Jed Root as well, and knowing how many great photographers you represent it was an easy choice to join you. I think we got in touch on Monday, I met you on Tuesday and by Wednesday all was settled, right?
CC - Yes, I think it went that quickly! I was incredibly impressed with your work- there wasn’t even a question!
Jenny, what do you find yourself influenced by as far as visual media?
JM - "Found" pictures on the internet is my biggest influence by far. I'm really into Tumblr and Flickr, and ye olde Google image search too. And people who I don't know’s Facebook albums! I love when you stumble upon someone's collection of private pictures or movie screencaps or scans. I think I find any image that is very personal, or slightly taken out of context inspiring, I'm afraid much more than going to exhibitions and museums. I think it has something to do with that I don't like when people tell me what is "good" or what I "should/would like". When you go to an exhibition everything is already picked out and approved, on the internet there's this whole mish mash of fine art and complete trash next to each other and you constantly have to reevaluate what you like and why. I feel it's more honest that way.
CC - How did you get your start in illustration- what do you love about it?
JM - I have always loved to draw, as long as I can remember. And I think I've always known that I wanted to do it for a living, but it took a while to get the courage, of course. I studied art for many years, went to three different art schools before I even started art college, and then I took both a bachelor and a master in Graphic Design & Illustration. That's 8 years! After graduation I worked for almost a year with graphic design commissions together with some friends from college, but since no one paid us decent money and we were five people sharing an income, I was totally broke so I started to do more drawings of my own. I got such great response from the people I showed it to, so I decided to give it a serious try, and it went very well. What I love about it is the process. I enjoy working with Creatives very much, but when it comes to sitting down to create the work, I've always been kind of a lone ranger, so I spend much of my time drawing with headphones on in my studio.
CC - In your work, part of what is so compelling is the hand-drawn element. Your work is so lifelike, yet the process is such an intricate part of your work as well. Tell us a bit about how you work, and what your process is like?
JM - I start with cheating (if you will), because I always have a photographic image to look at. I often use my own, or if it's a commission, I use images that are sent to me. But I prefer the ones with slight imperfections, or when something has been caught in a moment- for example someone half-blinking, things that would be tricky to draw from a live model. That's the contrast I like. I think something interesting happens when you spend so much time and effort in doing a life-like drawing of someone making a funny face, or with the fly open, or with tangled up hair. I always use the same pencil, a mechanical 0.5 mm pencil (with a really good eraser in one end for all the mistakes I make). I usually look at the picture I'm drawing from on my computer screen, in that way I can zoom or rotate or play with the contrast when my eyes get tired. I use my fingers a lot too, to smudge the pencil and make shadings. Because of that my drawings are also always full of fingerprints that I have to retouch after I've scanned them... I don't do much with my drawings in the computer, besides spending far too much time removing dust and fingerprints from scans. I often get the question how long it takes for me to do a drawing. Ideally for a portrait it takes me a couple of days of pure drawing and one day for retouch, but more complicated motifs, with a detailed background or a lot of things going on requires more time.
CC - Can you name a couple of clients that you’ve worked with and why you’ve enjoyed working with them?
JM - The first magazine I ever had an illustration published in was a Swedish feminist magazine called Bang. I've done loads of illustrations for them since, and they've always been a dream to work with, always giving me a ton of creative freedom. I have also enjoyed working with NYLON, and I've had the opportunity to do many different things through them, not only for the magazine, but on various projects. For example, I've done a t-shirt print for NYLON/Urban Outfitters and a snowboard for NYLON/Burton. Working with the New York Times Magazine was also a really great experience. I like working with small clients like fanzines as well as on large advertising projects that will be all over town, equally, but for different reasons. To work under someone else's direction is a challenge that can be very rewarding. But by working on smaller projects in between it keeps my work fresh! So I like to do a mix of both.
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