Interview With Illustrator Gonçalo Viana

Escape From Illustration Island is collaborating with Dripbook to produce a series of interviews with some of their featured Illustrators, beginning with the following discussion with artist Gonçalo Viana. 

Gonçalo Viana is a freelance illustrator based in Lisbon. He started off as an architect and since then geometry keeps seeping into his illustrations. He’s been doing mostly editorial work, working for publications both at home and abroad. He shares a love for all themes and subjects but business magazines seem to love him and he loves them back. It’s an open relationship though. Gonçalo has stranded himself on illustration island out of free will and has no desire to escape!

His client list includes:

USA:
The New York Times, HOW Magazine, Adweek, Colorado Biz, Syllabus, DJ Plus, T Rowe Price

Portugal:
Visão, Expresso, Público, Diário de Notícias, Jornal i, O Independente, Diário Económico, Jornal de Negócios, Semanário Económico, Exame, Correio da Manhã, Carteira, GQ, Sábado, Dia D, Turbo, Máxima, Montepio, Prémio, Saber Viver, Os Meus Livros, Aposta CTT, Deco, White Rabbit, Editorial Caminho, Bruaá, Caminho das Palavras

Brazil:
Brasil Econômico, Mente e Cérebro

Australia:
Australian Property Investor

EFII: Your distinct work stands out and I always recognize it as yours right away. Could you describe the visual influences and personal choices that have contributed to your work?

Gonçalo Viana: My influences, as I’m sure is true for most illustrators working in this day and age, are a bit of a mixed bag. We are exposed to so much visual input that it can be difficult to discern what later surfaces in our work.

When I look at my work nowadays I can find some affinity to the work made during the period between the two great wars by designers and artists like the Stenberg Brothers, El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko, amongst others. Funnily enough, it turned out that the personal choice that most influenced my style was also the one that could have diverted me from illustration altogether.

When I left high school, albeit having already done some commissioned work for a newspaper, I wasn’t really quite aware of how one could go about earning a living as an illustrator. I ended up signing up for a degree in architecture, which I guess seemed more reasonable at the time. I later worked as an architect in London and during all that time I didn’t do anything that even resembled illustration. It was only later on, after returning to Lisbon, that I got to do illustration work once again. It started off as something I did during my free time but quickly became a much beloved full time job and I left architecture altogether.

At first my illustration style was really cartoony and didn’t have anything in common with what I do nowadays. However, as my style progressed, things started getting more and more geometrical. It all happened very gradually and I wasn’t quite aware of what was going on at the time. Then, one day, upon noticing how I was laying out my illustrations in a very geometrically deliberate way, it suddenly dawned on me: I was doing architecture! Geometry had always been key in my architectural designs and after several years working on those it was only logical that it would start to seep into my illustrations. Once I realized what was going on I was able to expand this process in a more purposeful way, and geometry started to shape not only the various figures and elements but also the way they interacted visually with each other. They were no longer created arbitrarily.

Going back to Lissitzky, Rodchenko and the Stenberg Brothers, I wasn’t so much inspired by their work as I was influenced by the Deconstructivism movement in architecture which, in turn, had been influenced by them and others. So I guess I was indeed inspired by them but in a quite convoluted way.

EFII: Please lead us through your typical process, from concept to completion.

GV: The majority of my work is editorial and I’m usually contacted regarding conceptual pieces. Upon receiving a commission I usually start by revising the concept and searching for the most effective way to articulate it. I usually make every effort to produce ideas that are visually simple and yet able to convey complex themes.

I tend to avoid cluttered compositions. I sketch out a few roughs and once one of them has been selected I spend some time studying the best way to lay it out geometrically. I then produce a pencil diagram, similar to a blueprint, that is scanned and imported into the computer. That diagram then provides the foundation on top of which the remaining work is developed, mostly digitally but sometimes incorporating mixed media that is scanned in and added. I spend a lot of time working on color and texture and I rarely start out with a predetermined color scheme. Both color and texture tend to evolve dynamically as the piece is completed.

EFII: What is your view of the Illustration market in Portugal?

GV: Compared to the US, the illustration market in Portugal is relatively small and mostly editorial. The top news publications in Portugal top at a circulation of around 100.000. There’s also a striving and very active children publishing market. The advertising market tends to commission few illustrations and relies on illustrators mostly for storyboards. They are also seldom used in packaging and collateral, although that is gradually changing.

That said, there has been a veritable boom in illustration during the last 20 years and Portugal has become a key illustration hot spot. Various illustrators have emerged during this period and the overall quality is extremely high. Some of the names you can check out are André Carrilho, André da Loba, João Fazenda, Alex Gozblau, Madalena Matoso, amongst many others I could name.

EFII: What is your overall approach to promotion, both in terms of “getting out there” and contacting ADs directly?

GV: I follow different approaches depending if I’m trying to reach the national or the international market.

My personal experience is that the best promotional strategy, by far and wide, is to try and arrange a meeting with an Art Director in order to present your portfolio. Even in this day and age, where there exists a myriad of ways to virtually present ourselves and showcase our work, we’re still human beings and we tend to prefer meeting people face to face. This can be tricky, of course, as both Art Directors and Illustrators can be very busy people. Nevertheless, at least locally, I’ve always been able to find and get time in order to meet.

Art Directors are very friendly folk and usually share a common background with you, be it design or illustration. You’ll have more in common with them than with anyone else in the publication or group you’re trying to contact. They’re also your best ally and will often be on your side trying to sell your ideas to the editors.

When promoting my work internationally the geographical distances involved make meeting the Art Director a difficult proposition. I will then tend to rely on sending postcard promos that lead to my portfolio website. These can either be paper postcards or e-mail postcards, although due to environmental awareness I’ve been trying to rely more on e-mail. By the way, there’s a website that has taken this issue of paper versus electronic promotion to a new level, it’s called First-Stop and it can be found at http://www.first-stop.org/

In addition to postcard promotion I try to enter various competitions and I’ve also been showing my work in the 3×3 directory. Maintaining an online presence through a solid and professional portfolio website is, of course, paramount. Talking to Art Directors I’ve come to realize that many seem to prefer frugal site designs without bells and whistles. They’re very busy and they’re there to see your work pronto. It should be able to sell itself without requiring any extras.

I’ve been using Dripbook for my web presence and I’m happy with it. It allows you to have a personal website that adapts automatically if viewed on an iPad or an iPhone, which I find quite nifty. It’s also good at search engine optimization and that has almost tripled the visits my site receives from internet searches.

Last but not least, networking is also very important and goes beyond the sole prospect of self promotion. I try to reach out and connect with fellow illustrators and I also try to contribute at illustration related sites and blogs. We illustrators tend to be very independently minded and like to work by ourselves (I’m guilty as charged) but it is very important that we can unite and act as a group.

The fact of the matter is that when trying to find work we don’t compete so much with each other as we compete with photography. Photographers have gained an upper hand at the moment and illustrators have to work together to bring illustration back to a balanced playing field. We must strive to promote illustration at least as strongly as we promote ourselves.

EFII: What do you like about your work, and what do you think Art Directors like about it?

GV: My style has evolved over the years and I’ve been quite lucky in the way I’ve been able to steer it in the direction I envisaged. That means a lot of the main characteristics of my work reflect my personal preferences and thus I tend to like a lot of things about it.

Geometry is visibly something I like. That stems from my architecture years and I feel naturally at home with it. It enables me to create a strong and structured frame which I can then fill with a more disordered and anarchic combination of color, patterns and texture. I like the contrast between the two.

I like the somewhat understated expression of the figures that I can then contrast with the strong colors and textures. I usually intensify those to the point of distortion and need the remaining elements to be slightly subdued.

I also like the tension created by the slanting shapes. They tend to be both strongly static and yet fluid and dynamic. Again I enjoy that contrasting feel.

Above all I like the conceptual approach that is not too high browed. I tend to try to convey messages in a very simple way. I’ve been trying to do that ever since I saw the work of Quino in my youth. Quino is an Argentinean cartoonist that is a master at saying a lot showing just a little. Whenever I’m able to achieve that it pleases me much.

I feel that what Art Directors like about my work is similar to what I have just mentioned above, although that’s certainly something I would like to ask them but seldom do.

They usually approach me with conceptual pieces in mind, so I know for a fact that they appreciate the conceptual nature of some of my work. Color and texture is also something they usually mention, so those two aspects appear to be strong selling points.

In addition to that there are also the more practical matters. Deadlines in Portugal are crazy short, often you only get one day or two. Sometimes you have to deliver your work the very next day. I’m quite fast and I work well under pressure. I’m usually able to come up with an interesting idea even for the most arid subject matters. All these are aspects that are valued by Art Directors and I’ve gained quite a few commissions based on them.

•••

Special thanks to Gonçalo Viana and Dripbook for making this interview possible.

You can view more of Gonçalo’s Illustration work here, and you can learn more about Dripbook’s promotional tools for creatives here.

Related Posts:

• Interview with Illustrator Michael Byers
• Interview with Illustrator David Habben
• EFII Podcast Episode 28 – Dripbook
• EFII Podcast Episode 27 – Promotion

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