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Interview with Sophie Klesen (SoMK)
Featured Artist for April 2005
Interviewed by Patrick Keith
Tell us about yourself, where you're from, your background?
I was born in France, was brought up in an english school, lived a bit in Marocco, married a german and finally moved to Canada.. As far as I'm concerned, home is where you.. put your luggages down and so far, it's Canada.
What form of art education have you had, and what role did it play in your artistic development?
None academical but my grand-father, Chemistry PHD as he was, was a fantastic watercolourist. He never taught me art technics per se but inspired me a lot, just by being there.
So I studied Mathematics as badly as I could, drew a lot and jumped on the first occasion to get a job in an advertisement company. (They had those nifty but still rare at that time, "graphic computers"... you know, when the name "Compaq 386" was always followed by a connivence look and a "wow". So I started on Genigraphics, Qantel, etc..) What role did it play ? It made me realize that I didn't want to do just one thing for the rest of my life. I'm a pendulum, I need to go from one end of the spectrum to the other and back, it keeps me working.
Most of the 2D work that you've posted at Epilogue is digital. What do like about working digitally as opposed to other mediums? Is there one medium you prefer over another?
There was a time when I only did digital illustrations because I finally bought a cool computer and a big wacom, so, you know, new game. and digital is FUN ! Great colours, experiments without fear of ruining something, no brushes to wash etcetc. I thought I'd never go back to traditionnal and in fact, I did. I want to take it just as another medium, so I go back to pencils and sepia (me love), oil and traditionnal pigments for illuminated manuscripts. This last activity now gobbles up a big part of my time ...
Frankly, I have no preference so far but when I want to do something rough and quick, digital is still my way to go but if I want to consider digital just as a tool, I have to be able to do the same thing traditionnally. this is something I keep in mind all the time... Doesn't mean I succeed, eh.
Can you describe your creative process - how you come up with ideas for a new work and how you take those ideas and create a finished piece of art? Describe your working method and technique for creating your pieces.
It can start with a music or with a book.. but most of time I see picts in my head and they won't go till I paint or do something with them. I sketch a lot.. (this probably is why I now love digital so much) and 80% of the sketches never make it to a painting.
Tell us a little bit about sculpting in alabaster.
Cheap, painless, non toxic. A bit tricky at first but plaster and alabaster are beautiful material and the sensual pleasure to work with them is a reward in itself.
A lot of sculptors use either polymer clays or epoxies (like Aves or Milliput). Have you tried any other sculpting materials?
Yup, Milliput is my fav. Nasty toxic thing like every epoxy based paste but very hard and stable. Sculpey is a good choice too. You have to bake it (beware of the fumes) but the amount of detail you can grab out of it is awesome. My fav still is wax but this means you have to go metal casting and that's another story.
Cool stuff :) but I still go with plaster .. cheaper...
There are are some very nice jewelry pieces in your gallery. How did you get into crafting such fine works?
Long story short, I've always been interested in jewelry as I am in painting, sculpting, playing music. imho, it's part of the same creative process and should be learnt equally... Thus said, I pestered an old jeweler I admired till he taught me the basics (working with wires, wax, casting, etc) The guy was Andre Luis de San Marsal and he had a workshop in Paris (Quartier Latin) The grumpiest old guy on earth but a heck of a jeweler :) The rest is just trials and misses, over and over, ad libitum ad nauseam...
Your Lovecraft Collection was honored with a mixed-media award at GenCon 2004. Tell us what inspired you to create these pieces?
It started as a joke, really. Like, as a Lovecraft fan, I never found something I would like to wear.. Something not too obviously "cultist" but something that you could wear anytime because you know, it doesn't look like what it really is. So I tried a few designs Art-Nouveauish or Edwardian and corrupted them :) They worked really well at GenCon and WorldCon, which makes me very happy because it's a fun jewelry to make (each item is nearly a one of a kind, customers always have a very precise idea about what they like/want) and because the collection itself means a lot to me.
And as I always say, at least, if you wear this kind of jewelry and even if you do not "revere" those deities, you won't be eaten when they're back...ha.
Has any of your art been published yet? If so, where?
Yup a few :) not much because I always had a day job and very few spare time to go 100% pro but this year, I'm giving it a serious try so, ahem, I'm here *innocent look* So far, published in the "illustration" industry, I had a few cards for ThirdWorldGames, book-covers (french and german publishers), a gazillion illustrations for CDRoms and websites (Replics&Legends, European Palaces and Gardens - a cool CD in which I painfully managed to paint chateau de Marly has it was in 1740, that was fun !)
Jewelry now takes a lot of my time and I sell through my website, in Cons or through some European Shops. I mostly do commissioned one of a kind gold pieces now. I'm, on the side, part time teacher in a Calligraphy school where I mostly torture students with historical/traditionnal pigments and their applications on miniatures paintings and illuminated manuscripts.
Do you exhibit at a lot of shows or make personal appearances? Are shows a lucrative form of income for you?
I try and go to various Cons in the US. GenCon for sure, WorldCon depending on the location, not DragonCon yet because of distance, mail-in technical troubles (especially with jewelry) but I'll sort things out eventually. Quite a few Canadian Cons as well of course.
I'm lucky enough to be able to have my own small expo each year (next one should be in Paris in June, yay) and maybe one in October in Montreal... Ebay is a plus, local Fairs, Artisans Gatherings, Medieval Fairs etc.. So yes, shows are usaully good and at worse, they cover the expenses.
What advice would you give to new artists who are just beginning to develop their talents?
Work more. I should follow this advice as well... There is no way around that. If you can afford going to ArtSchool, if your family is supportive, DO IT ! Not that it will teach you anything by far, but it will give you "legal" time to draw your head off without having to worry about something else, working, paying your rent whatsoever.. been there, done that.. not funny. Work and accept to fail and work again...
Chuck Jones said the best thing ever : "Every artist has one hundred and fifty thousand bad drawings in them. The sooner we get them out, the faster we become good" I'm sure it works with others art forms as well :)
What do you think the most important thing is for an artist to learn, technically speaking?
Enjoy doing, enjoy failure and enjoy the scenic route... I mean, don't stay focused on the result only and the responses you'll get because it will maybe not be what you were hoping for, you'll probably fail, people will not like it.. etc.. the only thing you're sure of is enjoying what you do when you do it. Once again... enjoy working !
Tell us about some of your favorite artists and influences.
So many... Music, Arts, Litterature, Nature, Socio-politics, ecology... so many influences. Some guys I fortunately even though just briefly met in a Con and I turned into a puddle of fannish goo, losing 90 IQ points in 2 secs flat. To name a few : Rick Berry, Robert Gould, Brian Froud, Ray Bradbury, Valerio Evangelisti, Michael Whelan, Douglas Adams, Carl Sagan, etc and some others I would gladly lose my few remaining IQ points in order to meet them : Night Shyamalan, Peter Garrett, Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Craig Mullins, etc...
More difficult : William Morris. I really worship this guy and the monstruous multi-faceted talent he had (not to mention his friends : Burne-jones, Rossetti... aargh) and of course.. to be a mouse in Lalique's jewelry workshop (between a thousand marvellous things, his plique-à-jour enamels were the best thing before -and even after- sliced bread)
Are there any other particular Epilogue artists whose work you admire?
Oh Zeus, yes ! Some of them I met on Elfwood loooooong ago (Aaron Jasinski, Trisha Toms..), quite a lot I discovered here and a few I'll prolly never see irl.. Way too many not to forget someone in a stupid list... Steph Law is a monstruously talented and hardworking goddess. I'm always impressed by Rick Sardinha's works, Rebecca schumacher's is irritatingly talented as well :), Laszlo Liptak is the many hands/many talents kinda of guy I admire etc, etc.. And many many others, your gallery is HUGE and full of talented people I learn from everyday!
What do you do when you're not working on art? Got any interesting hobbies?
Interesting, I don't know but I have quite a few : I love insects, stick insects, blattidae, millipedes, praying mantis etc We had up to 11 tanks in our previous 300 sq ft appartment :) Cooking, it's relaxing, it's a gift you make to yourself and your friends. Gardening, especially aromatic herbs. If I could, I would have like 300 sq meters of mint. I love mint. Music, even though I'm really behind my practice on that... Scuba Diving is my favourite outdoor stuff.
If you could work with absolutely anyone (artists, companies, writers--anyone at all) on a project, who would it be?
I would give anything to work with Guillermo del toro on the "At mountains of madness" adaptation (from Lovecraft) *please*
I would gladly hop on the next plane to work with Mr Night Shyamalan.. on anything...
*pretty please*
And when I'm rich and master of the universe, I want to see the Leigh Brackett 's novels "Skaith" trilogy adapted on screen.
And, as a staple Epilogue question, what cartoons did you watch as a kid?
err... I was in Europe at that time, the cartoons were a tad different over there.. I was a huge fan of Goldorak though ;)
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