FeedMeCoolShit.com » Serge Seidlitz

Serge Seidlitz

This week we grab a short interview with the well heeled Mr. Seidlitz, illustrator extraordinaire and all around Mr. Nice. Serge is a very popular man indeed having worked with the big guys Cartoon Network, NME, MTV, VH1 and Time Out to name but a few. Put to the FMCS interrogation he faired quite well. We recommend you invite this man to illustrate you!

FMCS: Hi Serge please tell us a little bit about yourself, your history and how you came to be where you are today!

Serge: I was born in Africa and I spent my youth running between the UK and Asia, wherever my Dad was. I went to Art school in London, worked for Cartoon Network for a while and now am working fulltime as a freelance illustrator.

FMCS: How old are you?

Serge: 28

FMCS: Where are you currently living? And where are you working from?

Serge: I live in East London right now, and have a studio near my home.

FMCS: What/ who got you interested in illustration/print?

Serge: I’ve always been drawing, so it’s been a natural progression in my life. My grandfather was an illustrator; he used to do very detailed nature drawings, mainly birds. He always drew caricatures in the margins of the newspapers; I used to try copying them. My dad collected art, and I suppose growing up around that might have rubbed off on me a little. I read a lot of comics when I was a kid, like Mad and the Freak brothers, so I used to try make my own.

FMCS: How did your rather individual illustration style materialize?

Serge: Just from drawing and developing and absorbing everything that I’ve been interested in, after a while I guess you discover some kind of pattern or style forming in your work through processes that you go through.

FMCS: Do you work up a lot of your ideas in sketch form first or go straight to the computer?

Serge: I think that depends on the project and what I want it to be like. Some times I want a clean line so it’s easier to go straight to computer, but other times you want a more hand drawn quality, so you draw on paper and scan. If it’s a commercial job, it can also depend on time, and, what kind of style the client is trying to get out of you.

FMCS: We imagine your work would look great animated! Do you have any plans to take your work in this direction?

Serge: I’ve dabbled in animation a bit; I’ve worked with lots of animators. I was involved with a pilot show at Cartoon Network UK, it was a ‘girl band-pop-thing’ called Vbirds. We had amazing old school background artists who’d worked on things like ‘Dangermouse‘ and ‘The Yellow Submarine’, I was supposed to be art directing them, but was not even in the same league we also had some seriously talented insomniac animators. I’ve worked on projects with MTV which ended up being animated too. I would certainly like to see some of my work animated but its something id work with actual animators on rather than attempt it myself. Animations is its own thing, and people who do it are really into the understanding of movement and anatomy. I’ve had a few discussions with animators about developing something, but nothing has come of it so far.

FMCS: How do you find working with recent clients…do they give you creative freedom?

Serge: I like getting commercial jobs from different clients because it gives you an opportunity to do a project you would have never even thought about doing, and it directly contributes to the development of your style. Saying that, sometimes you are rushed to meet a deadline, while trying to juggle three briefs at the same time, so it can be hard to get everything you want out of it. I think it can also depend on whether the client wants you to go for it, or whether they have a vision of what they want you to do. Every jobs different, so I learn from each experience as I go.

FMCS: Serge tell us what motivates you?

Serge: An autonomous existence creating art to inspire others and make me happy

FMCS: How do you relax when you are not working?

Serge: Fast guitars-big cigars-strippers-slippers and kippers!

FMCS: Let us know your favorite top 5 web sites?

Pixel Surgeon - for news and general browsing
Illustration Mundo - for snooping around other illustrators sites
Pin Pops - for ordering badges of my work
Debut Art - for they represent me
My Space - but this could just be a passing phase that I am quickly tiring of!

FMCS: What would be the best tip you could give other people seeking to work in the creative arts?

Serge: Live it - eat it - breathe it and then shit it out the other end.