Trevor Paul is a designer and illustrator that lives and works in Durban under the name Firebrand...
Marie Claire: Astrology Illustrations
Loeries Awards: finalist in Environmental Design and eventual runner upQ: Where did you study?
A:I studied the graphic graphic design course at the Art Foundation in Johannesburg, which I completed in 1993.
A: I grew up in Johannesburg, but have no connection to that place at all. Durban is home. Maybe it's the ocean and the warm weather. Durban's full of interesting, creative people and isn't as image or money conscious. It's down to earth, sea-level.
A: Good design and illustration have to have process. which gets easier with experience (directly linked to how relaxed and confident you are in your own creativity). One shouldn't get too hung up on creative blocks early on.
A strong idea is more important than execution - a polished poop is still a poop. Sometimes the conceptualizing and looking for inspiration and reference, takes longer than the final artwork. I try draw inspiration from unusual sources. That will result in the project at hand being unusual and memorable.
Q: Tell us about the Design Indaba magazine feature.
A: I lived in London,and traveled, and over the course of two years produced a journal. Mostly in felt pen, pen and ink, ballpoint pen and collage.
A lot of the content could be criticised for being narcissistic, cynical, contrived or just plain infantile, but it was fun. It was therapy. That’s all that mattered at that stage of my life. It was a growth process. It was a trusty companion during some lonely patches while travelling around.
(Trevor’s pages were first exhibited at Beanbag Bohemia. At the gallery opening (a sell-out!) the work was spotted by fashion designers The Holmes Brothers. An exhibit at their store launched their winter range, and sold there for a few months. Tales from the Shallow End featured in Design Indaba 4th Quarter 2006. here )
Design Indaba: Tales from the Shallow End.
Q: Tell us about Black Burru!
A: Black Burru is a close descendent of the Black Rat and is the true culprit behind the 14th century pandemic, the Bubonic Plague, or Black Death. I created plush versions of the Burru for the Bigwood 1 exhibition last year. Go to Mojizu vote for Black Burru!)
Q: How did you create the fella?
A: I sketched the character first, and scanned and traced him in Freehand. Then dropped the character into Photoshop and lifted the eyes and some textures from the bird.
Q:If you had any advice to give students what would it be?
A:If I have an illustration to do, I won't look at at other illustrators' work. Inspiration is everywhere, why be that loser who steals? So many younger artists are copying other artists' work think they won't get noticed. Just because you don't know that artists work doesn't mean nobody else does.
Like someone did the Sunday Magazine cover this weekend and they ripped off Miss Van completely. That artist will battle to find credibility ever again, because even if they do something original, or develop their own style they'll never shake that hack reputation. People will always wonder where they stole it.
That's not to say you can't learn from other people's work. Students should look at trends, or styles and do their own adaptations of those things and then move on. Then it becomes a learning process.
It's when you adapt it in your own way that it becomes original. And it should be fun. Nobody can do good work if they lack confidence in themselves or are taking it all too seriously. You have to really believe you're good at what you do, it'll reflect in your design and illustration and eventually other people will start believing you too.
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