Study Task 3 - Contact Report / Paper based interview!

For my contact report I decided to contact one of my favourite illustrators Nick White. I really resonate with his emphasis on play and happy accidents and ephemera and i was keen to find out more about his practice. I decided to conduct my interview in zine form, it felt more inkeeping with the analogue charm I'm so drawn to in his work and what I'm keen on preserving in my own practice. So i sent him a wee zine with bits and bobs and questions in it with a note on the front saying deface me as much as you'd like and a letter explaining what i was doing and that I understand he is a v busy chap so I completely understood if he had no time as I was asking a lot by sending him it

This is the zine I sent him:





A couple of days later I saw this on his Instagram story!!!

He was really lovely about it and told me he would try and fit it in before my deadline which was super exciting! Then on Saturday I received this in the post!!!

This was one of my favourite things form the whole year. I'm so honoured he took the time to do this and this zine feels so special to me. He's a really fascinating man with a really wide knowledge on a bunch of things which I think is really important for illustrators/artists/people. Similar to one of my favourite artist Basquiat, I think having a well rounded cultural knowledge and being curious about life is one of the most important aspects in being creative and creating work.
I especially loved the little zine he stuck in for my question asking if he had any top tips. Ask questions, stop looking at the internet, always carry a sketchbook, draw draw draw, if you are interested in stuff you will be interesting and make interesting work, don't worry, get feedback, do other stuff besides work work work, keep in touch with people, enjoy yourself, don't give up.

The solidest of solid advice, things I try and implement in my practice already but am striving to do more of. One of the most valuable things I've learned, especially this year is to rely less on illustration based inspiration (instagram / pinterest) this can be disheartening and stressful.

Have fun!!! I'm so blessed to be able to study what I love and hopefully have a career doing that so I think I have a duty and a responsibility to have as much fun with that as I can and to work as hard as I can.

Conducting an interview in this way has been such a rewarding experience I really really enjoyed it and I would love to do more of it. Maybe make a series ? Its opened my eyes to the idea of collaboration not being as scary as it seems!