Chris Leavens
Chris is a vector artist who produces most of his art, from start to finish, in Adobe Illustrator. This includes all the textures and tones in his illustrations. Chris‘s art incorporates absurdity, anthropomorphism, and a healthy dose of humor.
First of all, thank you for giving us your time for this interview. The first question is: Do you remember the first thing you ever drew?
Thank you for interviewing me. I don’t really remember my first drawing. It probably wasn’t very good. I imagine it was just stick people. As I got a little older, I really liked drawing robots and spaceships. My older brother and I drew a lot of robots and spaceships.
You are graduated with a degree in film and video, but until you develop today in the midst of the illustration and design. How you turned into a designer? You can tell us you love story with the design ...
I was working in film and television, mostly in post production, particularly as a motion graphics designer and a video editor. I decided to take a break from the film industry and I started working as a graphic designer. It was a pretty easy transition because most of the tools are the same. I had been working with Photoshop quite a bit, but I had only used Illustrator when needed.
My employer needed scalable illustrations, so I started working with Adobe Illustrator and I was blown away by all the possibilities. It inspired me to learn all the tools and I’ve been working with it ever since.
Your works have features such as the absurd, anthropomorphism, and a good healthy dose of humor. What influenced you to make this kind of work?
Ever since I can remember, I always loved absurd humor. I don’t really understand why. It just makes sense to me. Before I really got serious about creating art, comedy was at the center of everything I loved. The stranger the comedy, the better. When I began focusing on artwork, it just seemed natural to incorporate absurd humor. It’s really hard for me to create art without humor — it’s such a big part of who I am.
About your characters. How do ideas born to create them?
That’s a really good question. Sometimes they just materialize out of nowhere while I’m running. I run three times a week and that’s when I come up with most of my ideas. I like to draw birds, but almost all of the birds I draw are insane. I guess this is because most of the time you see birds in illustrations, they’re cute and friendly.
I wanted to create birds that looked cute and friendly, but did crazy things. I also like the idea of taking monsters who seem dangerous and making them seem innocent. I think it’s fun to reverse the roles of characters. A lot of my character ideas come from that urge to turn convention upside-down.
In your website, you say that all your works are developed in ``Illustrator``. When you start using it and how was your first experience?
I used Illustrator for the first time about ten years ago when I started working in motion graphics. At first, all I only really used it to create text for use in After Effects. Soon after that, I started using Illustrator more for graphic design, but it wasn’t until two years after I started working in motion graphics that I started drawing with Illustrator for a TV special about military training. The show wasn’t that interesting, but that’s when I really started using Illustrator seriously. Ever since, it’s been at the center of all of my professional work. Vector art has become my favorite medium for art.
About the use of colors. How do you make the colors selection for each work?
Can you tell us about your work process?
Then I arrange them, moving them around until I figure out the composition. After that, I start working with the colors and filling in the details, adding shading. The last element I add is texture because it slows my computer down.
Which artists do you admire and why?
What do you do, immediately after completing a job?
Do you listen to music while you work?, If so, what music genres are more effective at the time of their creations?
I really like to listen to folksy music like Neil Young, Bonnie «Prince» Billy, and Michael Hurley while I work, but other genres and artists work their way into my speakers all the time. Mouse on Mars is another favorite of mine and the last Juana Molina CD is a great one to work to. Oh, and Os Mutantes are another favorite of mine.
What is your purpose in life, as a designer? How do you see yourself reflected in 10 years?
What do you do when you're not working?
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