Rune Fisker
ART . February 24th, 2017
Interview with the Danish illustrator, Rune Fisker.
Hey Rune, who are you?
Hi, I’m an Copenhagen based illustrator, and sometimes animator.
Where and when were you born and where are you living right now?
I was born in the 70’s near Copenhagen, Denmark.
What are you working on these days?
Right now I’m working on a lot of different projects: I’m working on illustrations for mostly magazines, and in my company Benny Box I’m currently involved in several animated movies for various clients. Together with another production company me and my brother are also working on getting funding for a 45 min. animated movie for young children, though that project could take several years to get going.
So a mixture of work where I use my own personal illustration style, and work where the style is a collaboration with the client.
Can you tell us more about your creation process for these 2 pieces?
The first one is made the way i usually prefer to work: I start with a very rough pencil sketch that’s not too detailed, as I like there to be some element of spontaneity when doing the line work. I then ink it, scan it, clean up the line work and color it using Photoshop.
The second piece is actually done 100% in Photoshop. It was a tester to see if there was any pros in skipping the hand drawn part. And there were things that were easier: you don’t have to do the whole scanning part, cleaning up the line work etc. – but I found that doing the line work was much harder/slower and a much less fluid way of working, than doing it by hand. Because you (or I do anyway) have to zoom in when you draw in photoshop, I found that I lost my overall sense of the piece.
Despite the struggle I’m quite happy with how this particular illustration turned out.
What’s your workshop/studio/desk look like?
A lot of my work are done in big sketchbooks that I drag around with me, so that gives me some flexibility in where I can work: sometimes I work at my companies office, sometimes at home, sometimes in the park when I’m out walking the carriage with my sleeping kids.
Give us 2 songs you think fit well with your work.
Abul Mogard: Dropping Off
Boredoms: Super Roots 7 (boriginal)
How did you come up with this pretty defined color palette? Has it been a long evolution?
I don’t think of my color palette as something absolute. At this moment in time I tend to use some colors more than others (I’m trying to cut down on my use of purple though), but in the future it could be all about brown and magenta.
Which project are you the most proud about and why?
Hmm, that’s a tough question…I have worked many years doing illustration/animation work in a ton of different styles, so I think that if you can call my output so far a project – the project of doing work that is completely my own. That I am very proud of.
You characters are often in situation of escape or oppression. Falling, running away from something or absolutely attracted by it- and it gives a real strength to your drawings. What can you say about that? Do you want to convey hidden messages with your works?
I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any hidden messages, or am consciously trying express certain views about the world. I like that the work I do for myself comes from my subconscious, that I’m never quite sure what it means. I like it when I can surprise myself with my drawings.
What’s next for you?
My work so far have been mostly static, but I’m soon going to start working on small animations of my work. Tiny looping movies/giffs that might end up being part of a larger whole.
What are you going to do just after having answered to this final question?
I’m going to drink a very very large glass of water, and after that I will get in front of my computer to work as I have a tight deadline on a project.
Merci beaucoup Rune :)
