Vintage Indie would like to welcome Christine Berrie as our featured artist, and creator this week.
Working at my drawing board.
What is your preferred medium?
My drawings
are created using graphite and color pencils. I prefer using simple
materials with a hand-rendered approach. I also create a lot of
collage work, combining found imagery and photos with blocks of colors
and textures. A computer can be very useful for tweaking or cropping
into my images, however, I’ve always loved the simple process of
drawing so I’ve never let computer processes take over the creation of
my work. I prefer a more hands-on approach; drawing, collage and taking
photos.
'Retro Typewriter' - Limited edition print.
How did you get started?
I’ve
loved drawing for as long as I can remember. When I left school it
seemed like a natural step to go to Art School and pursue a career in
the creative industries and my parents were always very encouraging and
supportive in my choice. After graduating from Glasgow School of Art I
went on to the Royal College of Art in London. I moved back to Glasgow
in January after 8 years in London, and now work in a little studio at
home. My Dad was a draughtsman and when he retired, he gave me his
drawing board, which I suppose is a vintage item in itself! It’s a
huge, wooden Admel drawing board with a heavy, metal mechanism. It was
made in the 60s and has a wonderful smooth surface on which to draw.
My Studio Desk and Drawings.
Who or what inspires you?
I
carry a camera with me everywhere and take snaps of anything that might
come in useful for future commissions or personal projects. I keep a
lot of sketchbooks full of photos, found imagery, sketches, scraps,
typography and printed ephemera which I refer to on a regular basis for
inspiration. I’ll expand on my sketchbooks regularly and they have
become central to my creative output. I also love looking at the work
of other artists and image-makers, such as Ed Ruscha, Bernd and Hilla
Becher, Sir Peter Blake, Kurt Schwitters, Richard Diebenkorn, Eduardo
Paolozzi, David Hockney, Michael Craig Martin, Alan Kitching, Joseph
Cornell… to name a few!
Some of my sketchbooks
Sketchbook pages
Sketchbook pages
Sketchbook pages
What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into this medium?
To
be a freelance illustrator, you must be quite driven and have a lot of
patience, as it can take a while to get those first commissions. I
also think it’s important to be able to create personal work on a
regular basis and take time to go out to exhibitions and look at the
work of other illustrators, designers and artists. If illustration is
something that you are passionate about, I think it will show in your
work. A website or blog to showcase your work is also essential.
'Sabre Camera Drawing' - Limited edition print.
Does vintage play a role in your art or life? If so, how?
Many
of my drawings are of vintage and retro objects. I am very interested
in old cars, scooters, vintage picture books, old buildings, retro film
posters, old book cover designs, gadgets, mechanical contraptions,
vintage typewriters and bric-a-brac. As well as my Dad’s 60s drawing
board, I also have many of his old mechanical pencils, pens, rulers and
pencil cases which he used as a draughtsman, so the vintage theme runs
through not only my work, but in the tools that I use to create my
drawings.
My work on the wall of my studio.
Can you tell us about some of your favorite vintage finds?
I
love drawing old gadgets and vintage mechanical objects. I have a lot
of photos of old cameras that I’ve seen in second-hand shops and as you
may see from my artwork, cameras are probably my favorite subject
matter at the moment. On the whole, I enjoy drawing anything that
allows me to incorporate a lot of little details in my images and all
the little buttons, graphics that you find on these old cameras are
particularly enjoyable to draw. I also draw a lot of inspiration from
old books that I find in charity shops such as engineering and
mechanical reference books which have lots of interesting, detailed
diagrams.
'Microcars' - pencil on paper.
What is important for your customer to know about your work?
On
the whole, I would say that my drawings are about taking quite ordinary
objects and striving to create interesting drawings of them. If I think
that I have achieved this, I feel I’ve achieved what I set out to do.
Hopefully the results display my aim to invest even the most mundane
objects with personality.
'Chalets' - Limited edition print.
Thank you Christine for giving us a detailed look into your work and studio, you are truly an amazing artist. Please visit Christine at her Etsy shop CB78. Also at her website for her extensive portfolio.
