Interview with Illustrator Samuel Werczler

Escape From Illustration Island is teaming up with The Creative Finder to bring you the following interview with one of their current Featured Illustrators, Samuel Werczler.

Samuel Werczler (TALKTOSAM) is a graphic artist with advertising and fine art background. After working in São Paulo as an Art director for McCann Ericksson, Eugenio DDB and Mommentum World Wide amoung others, he started his solo career as and graphic designer and illustrator.

EFII:  Your work features an interplay of abstract and realistic elements. What inspires this approach, and how do you strike a successful balance?

Samuel Werczler: When I’m creating a new artwork I try to think about something that really inspires me. Something that will keep me in the perfect mood during all the illustration process. That’s my real goal. The interplay it’s a consequence of that. I love the mix of real and surreal things. It think that the great power of illustration is to create the impossible and reproduce the dream in our minds. The key to get the balance between the two elements for me it’s that the mix must communicate something. A crazy surreal work that doesn’t have meaning doesn’t work, in my opinion.

EFII:  How does your background in advertising and fine art inform your work?

SW: The background in advertising gave me the technical baggage of the softwares that help me became a freelance illustrator. Meanwhile the fine art background gave me the esencial artistic knownledge to create and execute my works. I think both where complementary.

EFII:  What insight from your time as an Art Director do you bring to your Illustration work?

SW: During the time that I worked as an art director, my core resource was the use of graphic elements and illustration. I think that during that period I learned a lot about graphic styles and which were more commercial and more artistic, and how to combine each style with the project that I’m creating.

EFII:  What made you switch from Art Direction to a solo art career, and what challenges or surprises met you along the way?

SW: What made me switch to a solo career was the love of art. I liked to work as an art director, but what I like the most is to create and work on graphic projects, from logos to complex illustrations. I think I followed what gives me more self satisfaction.  It’s a full of challenges career choice. The Brazilian market it’s not so great for illustrators as the international one. I think many surprises and challenges will come, but this is part of the new career process and I hope I’ll be able to overcome all of it to get where I want.

EFII:  What do you think inspires Art Directors to hire you for their projects?

SW: They can be sure that I’ll work on there projects with the greatest dedication. I believe that’s the key for creating awesome works. To work with love and commitment instead of working for fame and money. It’s easy to find out which professional works with feelings and which don’t.  This gives life and deepness for the work.

Special thanks to Samuel Werczler and TAXI + The Creative Finder for making this interview possible. You can view more of Samuel’s Illustration work here, and you can learn more about The Creative Finder here.

Related Posts:

• Interview with Marek Haiduk
• Interview with Illustrator Antoine Corbineau
• EFII Podcast Episode 32 – Martin French
• EFII Podcast Episode 26 – Ron English
• EFII Podcast Episode 21 – Josh Cochran

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