Bodil Jane - In The Studio

In The Studio with Bodil Jane

ILLUSTRATION studio artist art watercolour ink handmade ceramics interiors quirky

How did you get into illustration?

I was raised in a very creative family with a lot of creative people around. Growing up, I was always making things. My parents are both freelance designers. They had a studio space at home and we would do a lot of drawing together with my sister. When we went on vacation I always brought along journals and sketchbooks. Through my youth, art was just everywhere. Most of my parent’s friends were creatives. I’ve seen a crazy amount of museums when I was a child. I always knew that I was going to work in the creative field too. During the last year of high school I did a preparation course at Willem the Kooning Academy in Rotterdam and decided to study illustration there.

What skills or techniques have informed your working methods?

Since I was a little kid I’ve been working a lot with water colors and Indian ink. I’ve been doing that since such a young age that I feel like I can really control this medium now. I know how to reach certain effects with it even though it’s so watery and easy to make mistakes with. It’s still the medium that I love most and I use it everyday. I like how it’s never perfect.

Because my mum has a ceramics studio, I’ve always been painting on ceramic table top and tiles. I still love this medium and it really suits my style. Since a while I’ve been doing it more and sell some ceramics in my online shop as well.

I also love keeping sketchbooks. I think it’s very important to draw a lot. It’s the only way to really develop your drawing skills. Also making ugly drawings and making mistakes and just stupid sketches. I feel like I’ve learned most from ‘observational drawings’. It’s very hard to come up with something completely new from scratch. I’ve learned a lot from drawing people at the beach, sketching objects in museums and doing still lives in holiday homes. It’s also very valuable to be forced to work directly on the paper and not be able to change anything digitally.

Do you ever work or experiment in other mediums?

Lately I haven’t had much time to experiment. I do try to make time for it, because I think it’s very important to keep developing my illustration style. Even though maybe I use the same kind of techniques for my commissioned work, I want to feel challenged also in my personal work. It’s so great when you discover something new that you can integrate in commissioned work too.

During my time at Willem de Kooning Academy I’ve experimented with a lot of different mediums. For example I took courses for screen printing, linoleum printing, mono printing, etching, embroidery and collage. I love screen printing, but I haven’t done it for a long time. Along with riso printing it’s on my list of things to make time for.

Since I was young, I’ve been making (abstract) collages. I still love to use this technique to loosen up or to just have fun when I have a creative block. But this feels like a separate thing, it’s hard to integrate it in my illustration work.

What advice do you give yourself when you’ve got creative block?

Stop being a perfectionist and just make things. You don’t need to show anyone. Just loosen up and have fun. Doesn’t really matter what comes out.

How do you feel being part of an agency represented as a freelance illustrator has helped with your work to date?

Before I was part of an agency I already did a lot of commissioned work. I love doing my own marketing and keeping my social media up to date. I like networking and have always had enough jobs since graduating. But I don’t like negotiating about prices or making contracts. It makes me very stressed out. Also keeping up with all the e-mails and agreements. It takes a lot of time and distracts me from making illustrations. And also makes me feel very insecure. I like that being part of an agency feels like you are not completely solo, but part of team. It’s so cool to have real ‘colleagues’. This makes me feel stronger, happier and less alone in my work. Also it’s nice to sometimes talk to somebody about my illustrations or which jobs to do or not do. Also I feel like I would never reach certain clients without an agent. It makes you look very professional. I feel more secure having an agent.