Experiments in abstract
Computer Arts, Summer 2010 When it comes to creating images, my mission is usually to convey a specific idea or feeling. Certain illustrations are literal – for me this means they have characteristics that are very symbolic and easily interpreted. Others act more like scenery, where individual thoughts can flourish. However, I never try to force ideas on people. I create a place where they can interpret different things. My illustrations don't tell you what to see – I am more interested in what conclusions the viewer ends up drawing from my images.When
starting out, I carefully craft a lot of different pieces. I draw and I throw away; I draw and then throw away again, and so on. The decision-making often comes down to how things look and feel on paper or on screen. It's like doing a puzzle; when I have the pieces in my hands in front of me I can tell what fits and what doesn't. I experiment with how the elements I want to use look together, positioning them, turning them around and flipping them.Throw it out
I have been studying rhetorics lately, and my teacher told me that when you're writing a speech you should write a thousand words and then throw away five hundred. I'd say my illustrations go through pretty much the same process: I constantly throw away or cover up half of what I've created. As I work, I use the Pathfinder tool in Illustrator to merge and separate objects quite a lot. It's one of my favourite tools, alongside the Brush tool, which I use to design my own brushes to create the effects I want.
The
actual elements you see in my images vary from project to project. For instance, in the work I've done for the Royal Festival Hall, Nokia and the Wellcome Trust, lists of elements were sent to me by the clients. It was up to me how these things would look and how they'd fit into the composition. Personal work gives me more latitude to use my own symbols. Presuppose 1 and Presuppose 2, which were being sold at the recent Pick Me Up exhibition in London, are good examples. The shapes, forms and symbols that I've chosen appear in these images at a certain size and with a certain weight to help create balance in the image, but there is actually no deeper meaning to the way they look. Presuppose 1 was designed over a long period of time, in many different phases. Throughout the process I constructed various elements in a vacuum, away from the final composition. I drew the black net-like figures in the background in a separate file, inspired by computer-generated drawings I saw at the V&A. The brown shape at the top of the illustration was inspired by part of a Joan Miró painting.Moustache mania
Visual and intellectual inspiration often comes from whatever surrounds me – be it sound, art, construction cranes or food. But for Presuppose 1 I did alter my process a little bit. I studied a selection of other artists' compositions closely, and tried to marry my presuppositions about their work with a composition of my own. Presuppose 2 was heavily inspired by the work of Kazunari Hattori and, to some extent, by Japanese visual culture.
As
for the eyes and moustache, these are elements I've been using to populate my images for some time now. I became a little obsessed with the moustache as an element when I did Thank You Magritte for an exhibition last year. Researching this illustration, I looked through a huge amount of artwork by Magritte, obviously, but also Matisse, Kandinsky, Dalí, Mondrian and Miró. Not all of these great men had moustaches, and not all of them painted moustaches, but I've used the moustache to represent something that they all have in common: grand artistry. It's a symbol stolen right off Dalí's upper lip.While
personal work involves a lot of freedom, I prefer commissioned work. Projects like my collaborations with Steve Russell are even better. In 2008, we worked on Original for a Wellcome Trust publication called Creative Encounters, and previously we created Rhythm for the Royal Festival Hall. Working with Steve always offers a challenge, and is consistently interesting. He has very clear ideas about what he wants – but he allows creative freedom as well.
Fluorescent bunnies
Working on Original, Steve supplied me with a long list of elements carefully chosen from the written content of the book, including what medical effects dancing can have, fluorescent bunnies and the periodic table. All these elements can be seen in the final illustration. I really enjoy this way of working because it requires me to think an extra minute or two about every item included in the illustration. For Original, Steve also supplied a colour scheme, and this restricted the possibilities even further.
I
enjoy collaboration when it's with someone I respect and can learn from. I also prefer collaborations across disciplines. I'd rather collaborate with a writer or an architect than another illustrator – and, of course, an art director here and there. I always allow art directors to give me input and change things. If I'm commissioned to do a project that has strict guidelines, I try to involve the art director early in the process so they can point me in the direction they want me to go before the illustration becomes too advanced.When
I look back on recent work, I'm tremendously proud of the illustrations for Pick Me Up, Presuppose 1 and Presuppose 2, and Untitled. They were a huge leap in a new direction, and I'm excited to see where it will take me. As for the rest of 2010, we'll see. I have a somewhat vague plan to finish an animated piece before the end of the year – and when it comes to commissioned work, as always I'm open to anything… almost.
Scott's studio
I work from my home studio in Stockholm, where you'll find my collection of books, including ones by Michael Bierut, John Maeda and Nick Hornby. Let's not forget Inventory/Inventairie 1 and 2 by M/M Paris, and copies of Émigré, +81 and IDEA. I also enjoy escaping to a summer house in the Åland Islands, which are between Sweden and Finland. Me and my father built a home there which includes a creative studio and, just recently, a high-speed internet connection – so it can be used for work too.
The artist
Back in 2003 Swedish illustrator Edvard Scott launched his website, and it wasn't long before his illustrations were published in Faesthetic magazine and art directors around the world began clambering to commission him. Scott also works as a designer, having begun with an internship at Stockholm Design Lab, and spent 2009 in New York working with studios such as Chandelier Creative, Marque Creative, MD70 and Aruliden.
The project
Scott has always set out to create a certain atmosphere in both his personal and experimental work, but recently he has been focusing increasingly on creating compositions that convey his ideas more clearly. Having developed a distinctive style, Scott increasingly wants to let concepts flourish through his working process within the imagery taking shape.
I work from my home studio in Stockholm, where you'll find my collection of books, including ones by Michael Bierut, John Maeda and Nick Hornby. Let's not forget Inventory/Inventairie 1 and 2 by M/M Paris, and copies of Émigré, +81 and IDEA. I also enjoy escaping to a summer house in the Åland Islands, which are between Sweden and Finland. Me and my father built a home there which includes a creative studio and, just recently, a high-speed internet connection – so it can be used for work too.
The artist
Back in 2003 Swedish illustrator Edvard Scott launched his website, and it wasn't long before his illustrations were published in Faesthetic magazine and art directors around the world began clambering to commission him. Scott also works as a designer, having begun with an internship at Stockholm Design Lab, and spent 2009 in New York working with studios such as Chandelier Creative, Marque Creative, MD70 and Aruliden.
The project
Scott has always set out to create a certain atmosphere in both his personal and experimental work, but recently he has been focusing increasingly on creating compositions that convey his ideas more clearly. Having developed a distinctive style, Scott increasingly wants to let concepts flourish through his working process within the imagery taking shape.