q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you
live now?
a)I'm Jesse
Corinella, born and raised on Long Island in Roslyn , New York University
of Delaware and, after a bit of traveling,
I ended up back here in New York Carroll Gardens , in Brooklyn .
q)What is it that you do? What media do you use?
a)By day, I
work as a retoucher at Wieden+Kennedy,
but by night, I work as an illustrator. Most of my work is done in
pencils, inks and watercolors, though more and more, I'm working digitally.
I don't think I'll every completely work digitally, but it's a tremendous
time-save to digitally colorize analog drawings.
q)What do you think sets your work apart?
a)Everybody brings something unique to the
table, be it conceptually or through their craftsmanship; lately, I think it's
the way that I render, more than my subject matter, that's gained attention.
I really enjoy rendering, so whenever I get involved in a project, I'll
spend tons of time focused on the minutiae of a piece. As long as I can
maintain a sense of scale throughout the rendering process, I always feel that
the pieces come out stronger in the end. Patience goes a long way, but to
me, drawing is meditative. I could never spend so much time doing this if
I didn't enjoy it so much.
q)How long have you been showing your work for?
Did you have a “big break?”
a)I've been showing work since I was a
kid, but not in any serious sense. I was always the kid in school
doodling in class, so I was always getting involved in small projects here and
there. I still haven't had any great break, but to be fair, I think I
need to be producing more work to get there. I don't think it's a single
moment as much as it is persistence. There's a lot of competition, so
it's really important to keep fresh and updated with your work.
q)What are some things that have inspired you?
a)Oh, man. Nature is a huge
inspiration; pine cones, crickets, lightening bugs, dogs. Outer space is
huge too - I'm a really big science buff. Lighting is huge too: the
golden hour is my absolute favorite time of the day - that moment when the sun
blares orange and red on everything it touches. That blood orange on a
concrete wall against a brilliant blue sky is something I think about every
time I color a piece. It's pretty unbeatable. I don't follow design
journals all too much, nor illustrators or photographers, really. I
probably should, at least to know what's going on out there. I used to be
a pretty big video game fan, but I've distanced myself from that world a good
deal. It's so easy to get lost in absorbing other peoples' products, so
much so that you don't produce anything yourself.
q)What have you been working on recently?
a)For the past year and a half, I've been
working on an epic science fiction graphic novel, OHM. The story takes place on a dying Earth in the near
future, in a world run by corporatized nations. One such nation, OHM, is
the centerpiece of the story. I've been having a blast conceptualizing
space ships, futuristic fashion and all sorts of fantastic architectural
settings. It's been a real project of passion, so at the end of the day,
I'm hoping to knock this out've the park.
Also, I've been doing a bit of collaborating with
a Brooklyn-based band, Snowmine. I grew up with some of these guys, so
it's great to see that they've gained so much traction. They're really
talented, so I hope that they keep getting the press that they deserve..
q)Do you listen to music while you create your
work? If so, would you give some examples?
I do; I listen to a lot of ambient music.
Explosions in the Sk and Loney Dear come to mind. I listen to a lot
of talk radio too; WNYC is my go-to NPR and PRI affiliate. I'm a really big
fan of Radiolab and This American Life, so whenever I get a chance, I try to
catch up with those programs. Recently, I've been kind've obsessed with
Joe Frank; I accidentally came across his work while working really late one
night. He's a brilliant, tremendously talented storyteller. He
produces both fiction and non-fiction and he goes to tremendous lengths to
produce these wild, fantastical, rambling, biting stories. Sometimes,
they're light and fun and eccentric - but often, they're profound and dark and
heart breaking. They're great fuel to work through a long night in.
q)Do you do work in any other media? Other projects
not necessarily related to your main body of work?
a)I do a great deal of writing, though it
usually shows up in my illustrative work. I do a bit of photography, too;
I was simultaneously trained as both an illustrator and a photographer, though
the pencil dominates more of my time than the camera nowadays.
q)What advice do you have for artists looking to show
their work?
a)Keep working. Stay really busy
producing work that you're happy with. Find the time to make a large body
of your work, but even more importantly, share it. As long as you have a
cohesive idea or style, you'll be able to find someone, somewhere to help host
it. Once you've produced, get your work out there as quickly as possible;
just make sure that it doesn't disappear into a drawer somewhere before other
people get to see it.
q)Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work
that you can mention?
a)Nope; I've been spending most of my time
working towards a publication. Once that piece is up-and-running, it'd be
great to display all've the original pieces that went into it: character
designs, setting designs, models and all sorts of production artwork.
q)Where can people see more of your work on the
internet?
No comments:
Post a Comment