Jonas Bergstrand was born in Stockholm, Sweden, where he still resides today. Jonas knew early on that he wanted a career where he could draw all day long but had no idea at the time what an illustrator or graphic designer was. After graduating from Forsberg’s School of Design in 1997, Jonas got his start by assisting a former teacher. Three years later, he was picked up by CIA (Central Illustration Agency), a critically respected agency in the U.K. According to Jonas, “Illustration may not be rocket science but to me it’s a blast.” His long list of clients includes Chrysler, Hasbro, MTV, The New Yorker, Priceline, T-Mobile, and Yahoo!

Layers: On a student blog in the U.K., you mentioned that illustration is just another form of communication. What did you mean by that?

Bergstrand: I think illustration is much more than just decoration. A good illustration/illustrator provides illumination. And this doesn’t happen by chance—it’s not a byproduct to style. Illustration may not be a science but it certainly communicates in a precise way.

Layers: A lot of your images use solid colors or various shades of the same color in the background, which really helps to focus the viewer’s attention on the subject. Does this occur more in your commercial work, or is this a personal preference?

Bergstrand: It’s a personal preference that luckily works pretty well as a way to direct focus to what’s important. I can’t pinpoint exactly when and where I picked up on this way of treating colors. A conceptual color treatment is something you’ll find throughout the history of illustration, I guess. Many of my personal favorites like Paul Rand, Abram Games, and Saul Bass used limited palettes.

Layers: Many of the characters in your illustrations are very two-dimensional—some even have the appearance of jointed cardboard cutouts. How did this style evolve and how do you feel it impacts the viewer?

Bergstrand: When I started out, I was very exited about the precision that computer-generated images offered. I was heavily into flat areas of color and perfect shapes without jagged edges. I still like the control that Illustrator provides when I lay out my images, but over time I’ve backtracked slightly and I enjoy the presence of the hand more and more. I think my current style is something of a hybrid where I try to pick the best out of two worlds. Control and chance brought together is what I’m hoping for.

Layers: What applications do you work with regularly? Do you have a favorite?

Bergstrand: I use Illustrator and Photoshop for all my images. I produce the basic drawing in Illustrator and then apply “makeup” in Photoshop.

Layers: You have a lot of photographic elements in your images that create a collage effect. How do you decide what should be illustrated and what should be a photograph? How does the mixture of photographic elements and illustrations help to convey the message you’re trying to get across?

Bergstrand: When I plan an image, I have something like a wish list of what photo material I’d like to feature. Many times though I have to reconsider because I can’t find what I’m looking for. Sometimes the clash between photo and drawing helps underline the message but I also grant myself the luxury to use the effect just for the fun of it.

Layers: What artists have most inspired you? How has that inspiration carried over into your own work?

Bergstrand: Paul Rand is the undisputed king if you ask me. I don’t want to use “was” because his work is still so fresh. (What was UPS thinking of when they destroyed their classic logo?) His work proves that there’s no boundary between illustration and graphic design. In all things important they’re the same. This is a fundamental and very inspiring truth—many times sadly forgotten, though. Why are design schools so keen on separating the two? I don’t see the gain in that, only loss.

Jonas Bergstrand:
www.jonasbergstrand.com

Matt Haley is a creative consultant and commercial illustrator who has most recently provided onscreen artwork for seasons one and two of Stan Lee’s Who Wants to Be a Superhero TV series for the SciFi Channel. He is also currently designing a video game IP for Atari.

How did you get your start as a comic book illustrator?
Honestly, I just kept drawing and drawing and sending my art around until somebody hired me. I started really young. I got my first gig drawing Star Trek for DC Comics when I was 20, so I learned a lot on the job, blew some deadlines, and realized I had to take this stuff seriously if I wanted to keep my career going.

I know you had the privilege of illustrating the comic book adaptation of Superman Returns in 2006. What was your creative process like? Were you given much creative latitude, or did you work within a pretty structured framework?
Oh, it was very structured. You’re basically being asked to adapt a film they won’t let you see, which is why most movie adaptations look pretty different from the final film. I had very little reference supplied by Warner Bros. Studios because they were worried about images from the film getting out before the film’s release. I did hire a couple of models to pose so I could get the clothing right—one of them had actually been cast for the role of Superman!

What responsibility do you carry for Stan Lee’s Who Wants to Be a Superhero television series? How has that challenged you as an illustrator?
In addition to consulting with the producers, I create all the comic art seen in the show: when our contestants first appear, when they get their new costumes, and when we cut to commercial. It helps to reinforce the notion that this show is about people who want to be real-life superheroes. The biggest challenge for me is trying to hit that middle ground between photographic likeness and comic-book dynamism.

Describe your workflow. Do you start with paper and scan your artwork in, or do you do everything digitally?
I generally only do pencil artwork when I do comics, but ever since I got a Cintiq tablet, I’m doing all of my commercial art digitally. The Intel Mac Pro is so powerful, there’s virtually no lag time between penstrokes, so I can generate digital art very quickly.

What software applications do you work with most? If you typically work with more than one, how does that usually play out?
My commercial work (like the art done for the show) is a combination of Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator. I use Painter for basic drawing because you can move files back and forth between it and Photoshop. Although if you have any paths in your file, they’ll be lost in the transfer to Painter, so be sure to save a duplicate version.

What advice would you give to talented artists looking to break into the creative arts industry?
I think the best thing to do is work hard to develop your own style, and realize you’ll never be an overnight success—there’s no such thing. Doing this for a living is a long, hard road, but it can be very rewarding. There’s no job like it. Additionally, don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do it, that you’ll never make a living, that you’re crazy for pursuing it. The more I heard that when I was younger, the more determined I was to succeed.

Check out more of Matt’s work:
www.matthaley.com
blackmatte.blogspot.com