How and why did you get into illustration? Did you go to uni- versity or are you self-taught?
I did Visual Communication at University and I found the science of communication really interesting, illustration is a nice halfway house between a purely aesthetic exercise and an academic one. The more I looked at other artists and read publications and journals, the more I came to see that illustration has come to mean decoration recently. So I wanted to develop my skills as a draughtsman whilst also pushing the content side of illustration to appeal to an educated audience and set of clients. As for my technical skills, I’m completely self taught in terms of software and technique. But I also did a lot of life drawing at University which really helps to underpin your drawing skills in general.
What’s often most remarkable about your work is your use of bright colour, but when delving deeper it becomes obvious that there is much more beneath the surface. Is a strong concept important to you?
Concept is definitely really important. Every time I’m making something my mantra is always “why am I doing this, why am I do- ing this, why am I fucking doing this?” But that doesn’t mean to say that the aesthetic quality isn’t important. When you make some- thing and it looks good, you can get bamboozled by it and feel content because it’s pleasing to the eye - it makes you forget to ask questions about the process as a whole. It’s really important to keep asking questions about your own work, partially because it helps in editing yourself, but also it helps keep a cohesive direc- tion to the work that an audience can identify with and commis- sioners can buy into.
Your style of illustration is strikingly digital. Do you still enjoy more traditional ‘pen and paper’ work? Do you think your work could ever translate to traditional media? I draw in my sketchbook all the time, but it’s usually just to get an idea out of my head before it evaporates. I’d really like to slowly move into more manual methods and really pare everything down to adapt it for posters and screen-printing. But I still think my technique has a way to go in terms of quality, I’m learning all the time and the computer is a great tool for experimenting. I also find the whole digital process really liberating but I’m quite lazy - it’s a great way to shorten a lengthy process like airbrushing in which you’d usually make a lot of mistakes.
What are you currently working on? I’m supposed to be doing a show in Vienna in October. I’m making a new series for it in the vein of Ram. And hopefully I’m going to
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DAN
At first glance, Dan Stafford’s colourful illustrations appear gloriously cheerful - get a little closer however, and all is not as cheerful as it seems...
STAFFORD
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