| Home Page: The ARTedUK Interviews > Rod Hunt |
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The ARTedUK
Interviews
Rod Hunt
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in conversation with ARTedUK's Imogen Bosence
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I visit Rod Hunt at his London studio on a rainy Thursday afternoon. The building is a large brick remnant of Victorian industry, overlooking the river Thames. I am greeted at the entrance by a man carrying a drill. He explains that the conversion into workspaces for artists is, as yet, incomplete. I am warned to watch out for trailing cables, and directed down a plasterboard-lined corridor to Rod’s studio. It is extraordinarily well organised, considering he only moved in a week ago - but Rod still apologises for the mess as he waves me in the direction of a large swivel chair. His work covers one wall and another is occupied by shelves of books and a collection of robots and comic-book figurines. The colours of his work are brilliant next to the grey weather on the other side of the enormous window.
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Start from the beginning, tell me about the courses you did.
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I did a year’s Foundation at Bournemouth College of Art and Design, as it was then called, it’s the Arts University College Bournemouth now. It’s a one-year course, where you study everything for the first term and then specialise for the last two terms. This prepares you to go on to your chosen degree or HND.
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How quickly did you know that illustration was your thing? |
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I had basically gone to Bournemouth intending to study Illustration. It is all I wanted to do. Following Foundation, I applied for a HND at Cambridge College of Art and Technology (it is now the Anglia Ruskin University). When I applied, it was HND, which was a 2-year course. Then at the end of that, I found that I could stay on another year and top it up to a degree. I did really well in the third year, so it was well worth the extra time.
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Then what happened?
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 I started going to London with my portfolio, sleeping on friends floors for a week, and then going back to Nottingham to wait for the phone to ring, which it invariably didn’t to start with!  |
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Then I moved from Cambridge to Nottingham, and spent two years working on my portfolio. I started going to London with my portfolio, sleeping on friends floors for a week, and then going back to Nottingham to wait for the phone to ring (which it invariably didn’t to start with). Then after a while I started to get bits and pieces of work come my way. It was mainly editorial work for magazines and newspapers. It got to the point where I decided that if this was how I’d be making my living, I’d have to make the jump and move to London. It was pre-internet days, and London was where the work was, it still is really.
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The majority of my work comes from London clients. All the big ad agencies have their bases here, and the whole scene is basically London-centric. To promote yourself back then was a lot more difficult, because you had to send people samples in the post, or go and visit them with your portfolio. Now obviously with the internet, you just put it all on your website, and it means that you can work anywhere in the world. At that time, to be working as an Illustrator full-time, I had to be living in London.
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Self promotion seems to be something that you’re quite good at. Is that something that you were taught, or have you learned to do it by trial and error? |
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Probably, it’s a bit of everything. Learning from other people’s experiences I guess. Certainly in the last few years I’ve realised the power of the internet. There are so many people out there by-passing the regular design press, doing their own thing. There are so many design blogs and design magazines on line now. Just things like Flickr and stuff like that, people search for stuff and you can be found like that. I know people who have had books published from putting work on Flickr. It’s taken a life of its own. People take an interest, so they write about it, then more people take an interest, look at your site…
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I know people who have had books published from putting work on Flickr
You can put work on the internet and it can be seen by people actively searching for illustrators the next day |
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Promotion is very important. If you want to do this, if you want to make a living from this, you’ve got to get out there. I guess I spend about 15-20% of my turnover on promotion a year. I send about 1500 postcard and sample packs out to people every six months. I enter images into the Best of British Illustrators Annual Exhibition, which is jury selected, so if you get in you’re part of a high quality source book. The big brick-sized source books have had their day though, I reckon. The internet is where it is at now. The AOI website, and theispot are two of the main websites for illustrators. You can put work on the internet and it can be seen by people actively searching for illustrators the next day.
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Looking back, was there a point at which you thought, ‘I’m now doing what I want to be doing’? |
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It’s tricky, because it takes quite a long time to get established. Unless you’re one of the rare few. It takes time to develop your work, to get into the consciousness of the art directors. So, probably when I became full time, had regular work and was able to pay myself every month, I thought ‘I’m actually doing this now’. I went full time in 1996, and then in 2000, I re-invented my work and went digital. Before that, I painted all my work in acrylics.
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Your stuff is very distinctive, was your earlier work in the same style? |
| I decided to completely re-invent myself. It is probably the best thing I ever did. I went to my clients and told them I had gone digital |
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There are probably elements that you can see, but my work is quite different now. I guess it has the same humour that might be in there. I’ve moved on quite a lot. I changed in 2000 purely because my work had not gone the way I had wanted it to. I felt at a bit of a dead end, so rather than tinkering at the edges, I decided to completely re-invent myself. It is probably the best thing I ever did. I went to my clients and told them I had gone digital, so they asked me to send them a couple of samples, and they all liked it. There was no resistance really. It has opened new doors I think as well. Unless you keep progressing your work, things can get a bit stale.
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Would you say the working process has been speeded up at all now you are using computers?
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No, not at all. The work has just become a lot more complex than out used to be. It has cut out the ‘rough’ stage. I used to do a pencil rough that I used to fax to people- it was before scanners and email, so we used to fax everything. It had to be A4 so it would fit through the fax machine. Once that had been approved, it had to be made bigger, or say if it was going to be a half page in the newspaper I have to do it actual size. Then I’d have to paint on top of the finished drawing. Now I just do a ‘finished rough’ that I use as a guide for the final artwork.
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I’ve seen your Chessington map. I saw it and it made perfect sense, because so much of your work seems to be about fantasy. It’s what a theme park is, isn’t it?
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It was an exciting project. A very involved project. There was a lot of accuracy needed. A lot of research had to be done, you know, going to the site, photographing it. It was a big design job just to make the thing work properly as a map, because the previous one didn’t really work. It wasn’t easy to use if you were one of the visitors. I had to simplify lines, make things straight instead of wiggled. Basically, the London Tube map became a bit of an inspiration. They are ecstatic with it. They really think it is the business compared with the old ones. Hopefully the visitors will give them great feedback too. It is a bit daunting doing work like that. You are thinking ‘now where do I start?’ But then you do start, and then it ends (eventually), and you’re finished.
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You use a lot of people, they are very characterful. Do you ever put yourself in your illustrations? |
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No, I never have. It is mainly made-up people. Unless I’ve drawn famous people in there, which I have in some. But I haven’t done a Hitchcock, I haven’t put myself in every picture.
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You’re into comic books aren’t you? I can really see that influence in your work. A lot of Americana, and a bit Manga maybe. There are a lot of cultural references. Do you think this is what makes it accessible, readable?
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| You’ve got to stand out, and be yourself. Indulge your interests, because that is what makes you |
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I just put all my interests into my work really. What makes you unique as an artist is being yourself. If you put in what interests you, that is what is going to give you your own voice. That is important in a crowded marketplace. You’ve got to stand out, and be yourself. Indulge your interests, because that is what makes you. For me, comic books are real inspiration, along with 50s and 60s illustrated advertising and old B Movies, you know, all the classic retro stuff. So I’ve just brought all those interests into my work.
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Artistically, who do you admire?
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Edward Hopper has always been a huge influence, just because of the way he captures a scene, the stillness, the lighting. He has massively influenced me. I don’t know if it is that obvious, but he is really up-there for me. Of my contemporaries, I really admire the work of Serge Seidlitz, Russell Cobb… there are so many people in my industry that are really good, too many to list. You’re admiring them, but you’re also competing with them.
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Tell me about the Association of Illustrators.
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It was founded in 1973, and it is basically out there to help illustrators, promote them, protect their work, advise on all aspects of the industry, pricing advice, contracts. It is really the only organisation working to make the lives of illustrators better. They take on some of the less favourable clients out there who maybe take advantage of illustrators who don’t know their rights. I’ve been on the board of directors for going on seven years now, and I’m currently the chairman. It’s quite a prestigious thing to be asked to be on the board, as we represent nearly 1500 working illustrators, which is a sizable chunk of all the illustrators working in the UK.
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I guess you’re providing a very valuable resource for a lot of people. Correct me if I’m wrong, but illustrators do tend to work alone. It’s not like a graphic designer, who might be working in a studio full of other graphic designers. With the AoI, I guess you’re not on your own.
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| If you think, ‘I need advice on this, I need to price a job for a big ad campaign, and I have no idea how to do it’, you can go to the AoI and they can advise you |
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Yes, a lot of people work from home. I’m in a studio with lots of neighbouring artists, but a lot of illustrators work from a spare room at home. So from a professional point of view, many illustrators don’t have a lot of contact with the outside world. If you think, ‘I need advice on this, I need to price a job for a big ad campaign, and I have no idea how to do it’, you can go to the AoI and they can advise you. They can give you information on rights and usage and how to negotiate. At the end of the day, it is up to you how you use the information they give you, but you are armed with what you need to get the best deal possible. The AoI have members from all over the UK, and some international members who have clients in the UK.
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Do the AoI produce any publications? |
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Yes, the Illustrator’s Guide to Law and Business Practice, which is a really useful resource for the working illustrator. It gives advice on things like copyright law, publishing contracts, getting fees out of clients who wont pay… it is the only publication like that in the UK. It is essential. We’re just in the process of publishing ‘The Illustrator’s Guide to Success’, which is about the business, and essentials for life as an illustrator.
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What do you see yourself doing in the future? Do you have a 5 year plan? |
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Not as such. But, my dream job… well really I don’t know, there are a lot of thing I’d like to do. I’ve done some interactive installations for a gallery in Woking called The Light Box, which I really enjoyed. I’d like to do more things like that. Big scale projects, lots of people involved. Working with big installations in a really big scale interest me, so I’d definitely like to do more of that.
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Tell me about ‘Hot Rods and Hairy Beasts’.
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| you are seen in a different light when you exhibit work as well as sending postcards to people from your studio. It broadens your profile |
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That was an exhibition I did last September with Nishant Choksi, Linzie Hunter and Allan Sanders. The four of us had known each other for quite a while within the industry and were admirers of each other’s work, so we thought why not do an exhibition. It was an excuse to do work for ourselves, rather than just commercial work. It is just another way of getting yourself in the public eye, in the eye of the Art Directors and the commissioners. It is different again, you are seen in a different light when you exhibit work as well as sending postcards to people from your studio. It broadens your profile. It was very successful.
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| To be at the back of people’s minds because they read about you in the Metro newspaper is just brilliant |
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I’m pretty good at the self-promotion thing. Everything I learned about promotion from promoting bands and live events, I put into practice for this. And I tell you, it’s a lot easier promoting art than it is Rock and Roll. But yeah, the exhibition got a lot of press, the London press and some of the national press. The internet was awash with it too. To be at the back of people’s minds because they read about you in the Metro newspaper is just brilliant.
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You were in the Metro? How many copies of that are in circulation each day? |
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Half a million, I think. We were ‘Pick of the Day.’ So that wasn’t bad at all.
It’s a big undertaking, a lot of work to put on an exhibition like that. You’ve got to get the branding right. We all worked together as a team and put together a really professional show. There’s not much point in doing anything if you’re doing it by half measures. You’ve got to go the whole hog.
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Have you ever made your illustrations move? Have you ever had them animated? |
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I did an interactive job last year for a company. It was like an online virtual tour. I basically did a representation of their building, which then exploded away and bits moved and things. People could see everything they’ve got in their building. It was quite a different way of doing it- 3D photographs can be a bit dull and they’ve got quite a quirky brand. So it seems to work really very well for them. I did some work for them a few years ago, a big poster campaign, so then they expanded on the same theme and asked me to do a whole interactive website.
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It is just that your work seems to have such a filmic quality to it, both the architectural aspect and the characters. Don’t tell me it has not crossed your mind! |
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Animation is something I’d love to do. When I’ve got the time. It is just doing it- it’s time consuming. Actually there is an animator in one of the other studios here- he is very good. Obviously his projects are really time consuming, and I just really can’t afford the time to take two months to do three seconds of animation.
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That one looks like a still from a film it is really isn’t it? |
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Oh yes, that one is B-Movies. Spot the B-Movies. All science fiction stuff like ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’, ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’, ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’, kind of all put into a city. It was a self-promotional piece. I made it into an A5 postcard which I sent to thousands of clients. It’s what I said about being distinctive with your promotion, being yourself and go with your gut about what you want to do rather than just ‘I can do this, I can do that’. You’ve got to think broader than that. Hopefully it gets them thinking, ‘well we could do something like this for our subject matter’.
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So what you are saying is, all that you are really into, just happens to be quite good at selling for other people.
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Yes. Although it has taken a long time for me to get to that point.
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How much of that was in your mind when you were changing styles though? Were you thinking, ‘Now can this sell anything for people?’
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| I think success has come that way, by being myself and putting work out there and seeing what happens. If you don’t show people your work, then nobody is going to know about you |
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I think in my old style, I hit a dead end because I was trying to tailor myself too much to other things. By being specialised, I think I was narrowing my opportunities. I decided that actually I’d much rather be doing work I wanted to do and be poor, than be poor anyway and do (not much) work I didn’t want to do. I think success has come that way, by being myself and putting work out there and seeing what happens. If you don’t show people your work, then nobody is going to know about you.
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Some of your work, particularly for the banks, is depicting quite dry subject matter. What do you think it is about your work that draws clients to choose you?
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| with illustration you can get across concepts in a different way, which is not necessarily based in reality |
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I think probably because my work is lively. It can put across ideas. I guess they think, ‘we could have lots of pictures of people in banks, or we could just illustrate the idea.’ You can’t do that with photography, but with illustration you can get across concepts in a different way, which is not necessarily based in reality. It is not too abstract, so people can understand what they are looking at, but it might help make something seem more interesting. Things need to be visually interesting if they are representing a dry subject matter, or else people are just going to be turned off.
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Do you ever get a brief and think ‘Oh I can’t do that’. Does your mind ever draw a blank and you are unable to move forward with a project?
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Yeah, but you’re paid to do it, so you have to find a way. The really dry ones sometimes take some doing. A financial article, maybe about ISAs or something- you think ‘I’ve illustrated five of these in the last month, and I haven’t got the energy to do another’. But you have to find a different way of doing it. There are ways that I use to come up with images, picking out key words in the brief and things like that. Although I’m not really doing work like that anymore.
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So you’re more in a position to pick and choose work.
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Yes I am slightly, and it is nice. I’m getting bigger projects now, which take several months to do as opposed to magazine work that has to be done in a matter of days. It is still high pressure, because you’ve got a client who is paying you a considerable amount of money to basically do a drawing, but it’s a different type of pressure. I am getting offered quite a lot of really interesting work now. So if I don’t really want to do the work- it’s not my thing, or it doesn’t pay enough, I can just not do it. Do something else instead. That is a really nice position to be in.
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