Hello Raphael, First of all I’d like to thank you for taking the time for this interview. So lets start of with some biography, can you tell a bit about yourself?

You’re welcome.

I am 38 years old illustrator living in Brussels with my wife and child.

I started dabbling with graphics and illustrations around 8 to 10 years ago.

What gives you the feeling to make a new piece and what do you like the most about being an artist?

“It’s like a burning feeling that it’s a good idea and that it is right time to do it.

I like the illusion of freedom it gives me.

I like being my own boss as well.” says Raphael.

On every piece you make, I see a lot of creative things that gives me the feeling to post them on my blog directly, where do you get your inspiration from?

From reading books, reading articles, reflecting on my own failures and shortcomings,

trying to know myself a bit more and also looking at ffffound, tumblr or the many cool blogs around.

I let all these ideas simmer in the back of my head then I go into the forge and start to work on it.

Does your personal life influence your illustrations?

Yes but not always in a straightforward way.

I try to make it less personal by allowing people to refer to them as well with their own experiences but they are definetely rooted into my own personal life. I can sometimes express things that I would not say outloud. The illustrations are snapshots of my state of my mind at a certain point in time.

How do you start with a new piece, do you already have the concept and some ideas, or do you just begin and let the ideas come to you? What is your working process?

I keep a little notebook where I write all my ideas or concepts that come to me when reading a book or walking in the street for example. Sometimes a phrase come to me after I mulled things over for a while. It happens that the idea comes from a mood or emotion that I try to represent in a visual form.

The idea has to matter to me so I can spend time with it and turn it around until I find an angle that makes sense to me. Sometimes an idea will take months to be developed in my head, even if it is a simple one because i can’t find the right angle and then the piece is finished quite quickly.

Of course it’s not set in stone, sometimes i start a piece then i realize that it speaks about something else so I change plans and go along with it. 

I don’t control entirely the whole process, happy accidents, experiments and luck play a large part in what I do. I do sometimes spent a large amount of time to find the correct balance of elements or colour.

What are your tools to work with? What do you use for your pieces?

I use Photoshop, PS brushes and scanned water colours, markers acrylic paint, doodles and such. As I have no real talent to paint I found a way to use all this creatively with the help of Photoshop.

And what do you do to overcome the creative block? Any good advice?

When it happens I cannot do anything about it. I keep looking for new inspirations, I go out, I read. If I try to push it it is not always successful. To me creativity is something to be cultivated by feeding your mind and soul and also to let it come by itself. When the time is right, everything falls into place.

Looking at your portfolio, you have a strong style, your work is pretty unique and full of creativity . Did you also tried other styles or did you just started and continued this style?

Thank you. My style would not be what it is without all the other artists I’ve discovered, either be vault49, Eduardo Recife, Ths, Anthony Micaleff, Sylvia Ji, Banksy, Tom Bagshaw, Grabiel Moreno, John William Waterhouse,William-Adolphe Bouguereau and so many more.

When I started I used Photoshop, trying out things but I wasn’t very good at all, then I used Illustrator and I made a lot of illustrations which are, in a way quite close to what I do now. I tried different angle but I always come back to some kind of feminine portrait or theme. I have no idea why exactly but laziness might play a part in it.

Any exciting projects (or clients) you’re working on (with) at the moment?

Not really. I try to keep doing illustrations that excites me.

Where can we find you on the web?

On behance, tumblr, deviantart, facebook and of course on my illustrator agency, Colagene. Self-promoting myself really did pay off in the end.

Thank you so much for your time Raphael, any last words?

Thank you as well Joost, it’s been a pleasure.

Take care of yourself, find what you love to do and don’t trust wolves in sheep’s clothing.

- LETSLOVEART.com © 2011

Exclusive Interview with artist Raphael Vicenzi (mydeadpony)