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Speaking with Illustrator & Designer, Bo Lundberg
lunes, 6 de enero de 2020 9:03:14 (Europe/London)
Bo Lundberg is a horrendously talented illustrator from Sweden who lives and works in Stockholm. He creates beautiful, colourful illustrations featuring iconic locations from around the world as well as many more.
We were lucky enough to sit down with Bo to chat about how his work has evolved over the years, his use of colour and how he uses Adobe Illustrator in his work.
Hi Bo - Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us about you and your work?
I was born and raised in a small town in the north of Sweden. I have clear memories of sitting at the kitchen table making one drawing after the other and I guess I never stopped. I am blessed with the ability to not have any other talents, which made my career choice so much easier.
I studied at a prep art school and then moved to Stockholm, where I still live, to study art direction, design and illustration. I actually started off as an Art Director right after school but I soon got tired of endless meetings so I decided that I had to try illustration for a living, at least for a while. This was back in the ’80s and ever since then I have focused on illustration but I also do design every now and then. I enjoy working with art direction as well.
I did my first job for wallpaper in late 1998 and that opened a lot of doors for me, for which I am truly thankful. It has led to a career where I get to work with people from different corners of the world.
What’s the average day like in the life of Bo Lundberg?
It depends on the season - during summer, if the weather allows it, I go for a morning swim with our dog, Alice, a flat-coated retriever. During the rest of the year, I take her for a short walk before breakfast. After breakfast we lie down on the sofa, me reading the morning paper online and she sleeping beside me.
I work from home most of the time but I am also sharing a place downtown. It takes me about 20 minutes by bike to go there. It’s great to have a place where you can bounce ideas and talk about ordinary daily stuff. And I get to practice what I enjoy - biking.
My first priority is commissioned work, but if I am in-between commissions I do a lot of personal work and sometimes I do a bit of both. Doing personal work is actually soothing and very rewarding since most of it ends up in peoples homes.
I like to run a couple of times a week and I have taken interest in gardening. We live in a semi-detached house from the 1920s and I have learned that nature is a great Art Director. It, by all means, invites you to try your own ideas but it will tell you if it doesn’t work, so there are some disappointments along the way.
I like the fact that there are seldom pressing deadlines, which makes it a great way to relax. The tempo in my business is often pressing, for that reason, it is important to find things that you enjoy outside work.
I also enjoy cooking, so my wife and I tend to spend a lot of time preparing dinner. We have two sons but they have both moved out, so it is just us and Alice.
Colour plays a large part in your designs. Can you discuss your use colour and why it has such a huge role in your work?
Before I started working digitally, my preferred medium was acrylic, but I found the endless options really difficult to master. It wasn’t until I started using Adobe Illustrator, that I could find a way of building my own palettes.
I get a lot of comments regarding my use of colour. I think I use somewhat limited palettes since it is the only way for me to bring order into the mild chaos that I often find in my everyday life to be. If I, for instance, take a walk with my wife, I sometimes have to ask her what colour a specific house is, there is some kind of overload in my system from time to time, that makes it difficult for me to pinpoint a specific colour.
I also prefer simple elements and compositions since I find complex images a bit confusing. I am not very good at live drawing since all the details in front of me seem equally important - which is opposite to what the function of an illustration ought to be.
It seems that I see at least some of the colours in the spectra different from what other people do. I also tend to label colours differently than others. It might be a weakness that I have turned to a positive. Unless you think that my colours stink, that is.
We definitely don’t think your use of colours stinks, much to the contrary! A lot of your work is travel-themed. I take it you love to travel?
Yes and no. I hate everything that has to do with the logistics but once I am on my way, I can go on travelling forever. However, I have been affected by the serious environmental challenges we are facing so I try to keep things as simple as possible. For that reason, I don’t travel much at all and my images do the travelling for me.
Where’s your favourite place you’ve travelled to?
I like the Amalfi coast, Turin and New York a lot. But I also enjoy downhill skiing, so Åre in Sweden is a great location for winter activities.
I would add London, Rome and Paris to the list as well. The older I get, the more I appreciate my hometown - back to the womb.
Other than travel, what are some of your main influences?
Definitely music, I have my headphones on all the time. But it is really difficult to pinpoint influences since one is constantly shaped by everything around you.
Generally speaking, I am always inspired by people who are really good at what they are doing, regardless of occupation. If you love what you do, there is a fair chance you will inspire others. Having said all that - I do love the mid-century era, no doubt about that.
Anywhere on your bucket list where you haven’t managed to get to yet?
Many of the travel motifs I am doing are for places I have never visited. I went to Munich once to attend a group exhibition and I had done a lot of Munich images prior to that. I was quite nervous that they would look very different in real life. And some actually did, but it was mainly scale that was a bit surprising. So I guess any place where I wouldn’t have to worry about that scenario would be on my bucket list.
Can you tell us about your creative process from the inception of an idea through to the final product?
It differs depending on what I am working on. Working for clients is very often a collective process with several control stations in order for everyone involved to be in the loop, it often involves a lot of sketching.
If we look at my personal work, there are seldom any fixed deadlines. When I do the “Around the World” images, I either decide to create an image for a specific city or I work the other way around, I come up with an idea and dedicate it to a specific city.
I seldom do a lot of sketch rounds while working on my personal projects. That doesn’t mean that I don’t spend quite a lot of time on each image. When I digitize my ideas I tend to do a lot of different versions and options. If time allows it, I pick the version I am most pleased with (often I consider that version a finalized image) and then I start picking it apart, try different colours and I might even alter the composition of what goes into the illustration.
What do you use to create your illustrations?
Basically Adobe Illustrator and MacBook Pro.
How did you develop your unique style?
When I was new in this business, I tried to master a number of styles but I found that I didn’t quite master any of them. I am not very technical. Another problem was that I had to figure out what style to use once I had decided on the ideas. It was very time consuming and frustrating so I realized I had to change my approach.
For a very long time, I decided to focus less on ideas and more on style and making an image appealing. Then, when I started working digitally, things gradually started to fall into place.
Since then, it has been an evolving process, where I try to find maximum expression with a minimum of details. I tend to keep the number of elements to a minimum in order to come up with an image that is easy to read. (Remember what I talked about earlier, mild chaos).
Lately, I have been comfortable enough to bring back a more idea-based way of working. I have had some heroes along the way, that have helped me to find my style.
What advice would you give to an aspiring artist?
I wouldn’t say that I am very good at drawing but I have certainly learned the basics. I have noticed that some of the younger illustrators tend to be technically advanced but have fewer skills in drawing, which will be very limiting at some point. If you are willing to learn the basics and be nice to other people, then you have a good chance of making it.
It is also easy to get a little lost when you look too much on what other artists are doing. I am not saying that you shouldn’t be inspired by others but the main object ought to be to find your own voice. Don’t compete with others; although this is a competitive business. I know that can be really difficult for some people (me), but it is worth thinking about.
What’s the future looking like? Anything big on the horizon?
I worked on an exciting collaboration over the summer but it won’t launch just yet. I am pleased with how those images turned out and it is a concept I would like to develop further.
I have also collaborated with a small company in Paris for a specific product with some very talented and dedicated craftsmen. My image will be turned into a handmade product so it will take some time for the people over there to complete it.
Other than that, I don’t know. That’s the thing with being an illustrator - you might not know what will happen a month from now or even tomorrow. Sometimes scary, sometimes lovely. For now, I have decided that it’s lovely.
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