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Featured Artist: John Evelyn

This week’s Featured Artist is the fantastic John Evelyn, who’s talents have lead him to create a beautiful app using his own hand-drawn illustrations.

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How did you get started as an artist?

I’ve always been a little cautious of that word to be honest! I’ve always enjoyed making things, whether that be music, games, drawings or writing stories. Since I was little I guess I’ve always indulged those creative impulses that I think everybody has. I’ve made an awful lot of stuff of seriously questionable quality but even the tiniest sense of improving, in terms of technique or clarity of expression have spurred me on.

What inspires you to be creative?

I tend to have a bit of tangential way of thinking, and for whatever reason, some years ago I took to writing down all the little daydreams or random ideas I had. Some things that seem throwaway at the time can spark something altogether more exciting further down the line.

The view from a train window, somebody’s turn of phrase or a scene from a natural history documentary. If you remain curious and open, inspiration will come from anywhere at any moment of your day.

What’s your favourite medium to work in?

It’s hard to top the immediacy of pen and paper. I love to draw without prior pencil work too. That extra sense of spontaneity, the incidental details and the happy accidents, these things imbue the end result with life.

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How did you get started developing and designing apps?

Games have long been a passion of mine. I started making games when I was in secondary school. I used to use this simple point and click program called Klik & Play The games were uniformly, hilariously bad but they entertained me and my friends.

Eventually, I went on to do a degree in New Media. My final project was a decidedly goofy dance-mat game. From there I went into design for media agencies and gradually skewed more and more over to games.

Over the years I’ve made a lot of games for work, acting as designer, developer, graphic designer – or all three – with the occasional little personal project squeezed in to my spare time. Working at small design agencies and studios where everyone had to chip in on every bit of a project helped prepare me to take on making ‘A Skyrocket Story’ on my own.

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What was the initial idea behind ‘A Skyrocket Story’?

A couple of years ago I wrote and self-published a short picture book called ‘Asleep As The Breeze’. That in turn, actually started life as the idea for a game as it happens!

I couldn’t shake the urge to explore the world from that book further. There are a few themes that run throughout a lot of my drawings, both visually but also in terms of sentiment – joy in discovery, invention and journeys.

I thought: What better way to explore this world than through a protagonist who is so possessed by an idea that they take it on themselves to blast off into the unknown? The book ‘Asleep As The Breeze’ then served as a thread running through the game, the pages of which can be found drifting though the levels.

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What’s been the biggest challenge in developing the game

Truthfully, I usually find that the biggest challenge with any project is calling them finished and moving on. There’s always so much more that can be added but I strive to be disciplined with this one and kept the scale of the game as such that I’d finish it before I was old and grey!

What do you find the most challenging about the creative process?

Oftentimes the most challenging thing is finding focus, really isolating what the core of the project at hand is. It’s very easy to get carried away, expanding and ultimately diluting an idea, particularly in the early stages – it’s naturally really exciting to add things after all.

I do have a bit of a history of adding details and extra features at the 11th hour…Well when it comes to my personal work anyway.

For me then, the biggest challenge is twofold: stripping things away, and being honest in asking myself with every additional idea: ‘Does this serve the original intention of what I set out to make or is it addition for the sake of addition?’.

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In which ways do you differentiate your work from that of other artists and developers?

I think the only sustainable way to do that, and the way I’ve pursued is to put as much of myself into my creations as possible. Everyone has such distinct personalities and as an artist, author or any other creative person, this is is your single biggest, and inexhaustible, asset.

My drawings are strewn with references to people places and things from throughout my life. Many motifs are there simply because they’re some of my favourite things.

I try to balance this with not being overtly prescriptive when it comes to the meaning in what I do. I like to create room in everything for genuine interpretation. In avoiding dictating meaning to an audience, you invite them in, they engage on a deeper level with your work and the hope is that they’ll imbue the creation with something of themselves, making for a more fulfilling experience.

What are your favourite artist tools?

I wouldn’t be anywhere without my pen and tablet for my PC. I’ve suffered from chronic hand pain for nearly ten years but thanks to that I still get to do what I love. They’re so affordable these days I’d recommend them to anyone who has even a passing interest in creating art with computers.

When it comes to scribbling ideas, sketches and doodles I use 0.05 mm Uni Pin fine liners. For my complete pieces I use Copic 0.03mm pens, they’re the smallest I’ve found, I’d love to try smaller if there is such a thing out there!

I draw on highly textured watercolour paper, the coarser the better since I love the interplay between the subtle shadows and the fine lines of the illustrations.

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How would you describe your studio/workspace?

My workspace is very very small as I work from the corner of my flat. Just a simple desk and an angle adjustable drawing board that I can squirrel away when I need to get to my computer. At this exact moment it’s semi tidy – in truth it’s rarely more than that! A couple of books I keep meaning to read are piling up (Osamu Tezuka ‘Phoenix A Tale of the Future’ is next) and a couple of Snes games (‘Cybernator’ and ‘Axelay’…bit of a 2D shooter theme at the moment).

Do you have any tips or words of advice you can share with our readers?

Never be dismissive of your own ideas, even if they seem daft, note them down and keep them to one side. You just don’t know what they might grow into with time.

Also, it’s good to feel slightly out of your depth. Confidence and trust in your tools, methods and medium is great for having a disruption-free creative process. But it’s always good to allow yourself time to try something totally new, make new mistakes and learn new lessons.

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Where can our readers find out more about you?

I post regularly on Twitter about all the things I’m working on, don’t worry – you won’t find a deluge of posts about what I had for lunch! That’s the best means to get in touch too, if anyone has anything they’d like to know.

I keep a steady stream of things on Instagram too. Often including early work-in-progress bits and pieces.

Lastly you can head over to my blog or check me out on Youtube.

‘A Skyrocket Story’ is available to download on the Apple store now.

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