Ask an Illustrator | Blair Sayer

What do you listen to while you work?
Actually, it's varied, since the 5 of us here in the Sydney studio take a day each on the music. As I type this it's Death Cab for Cutie's new album.

What mediums do you like to work in the most?
I love pencils. I always find my sketches have a more fluid organic feel than the inked up and coloured final art. I also love mixed media stuff.

What time of day are you most productive?
Usually between the hours of 12 and 5pm these days. When I did work from home it was from 7pm til 1am!

What music are you currently listening to to get your creative juices flowing while you work?
The new BON IVER album. Played some Creedence Clearwater Revival earlier today. Not productive having to explain to the younger members of the studio exactly who Creedence Clearwater Revival are!! Feeling old is not cool for my work mood! :)

Who and what inspires your work most?
I get a big buzz out of pop culture. My personal work and apparel stuff is soaked in pop culture references. Somedays I'd love to be a low brow artist, painting obscure visions of dead US presidents in a scene from Planet of the Apes. That sort of weird coolness rocks my world.

How do you get yourself out of a rut when stuck on an illustration job?
I would have to say looking at other illustrators’ work. Helps me to think about it slightly differently. Whats the saying.. WWJD? Not so much 'what would Jesus do?', more 'what would James (Jean) do?"

What's the best advice for other illustrators you've heard and can give?
Phill put a quote/postcard on my desk the other day that says "As the cock said to the hens when he showed them an ostrich egg- ‘I am not disparaging, I am not criticising. I am merely bringing to your attention what is being done elsewhere!’" I think this is very prudent in our industry today, there's not only a global market, there's also global competition. Seeing the great stuff other illustrators can do inspires me to do equally great stuff.

What's your favourite keystroke shortcut for any digital program?
Control + z. Surely this is everyone’s??

What are your thoughts on the current state of illustration?
I think it's great! I thought by now there might be a renaissance of traditional art, but it seems that everyone is getting a go. I open a magazine, stroll through the supermarket, etc, and I see examples in almost every medium.

Tell us a good joke.
Two cannibals are eating a clown, one says to the other "Does this taste funny to you?"... and oldy but a fave of mine.

What was your first professional illustration job experience?
I had to illustrate the instructions for putting on a condom correctly, for educational purposes. Awkward meetings with the client, as they knew I sometimes used myself for model reference! (true story..)

If you weren't an illustrator what would you do instead for a daily crust?
A chef, I think. I love cooking, and if you could see me now you'd see that I also love tasting! After sitting down all day colouring in, I find it very therapeutic when I get home to stand and chop, sauté etc for a couple of hours.

Any last words?
Great to be on board with Watermark. A great bunch of artists here and a great inspiring creative vibe that flows through the group. Not to mention the biltong. Did I mention I like food? I've always been too fat to be considered a starving artist!

Check out more of Blair's work here