Gregory Baldwin is a Melbourne illustrator who has developed a thoughtful and warm style wrapped in playful visual metaphors.
Hi Gregory, please tell us a bit about yourself, your environment, and background in art?
I am originally from the UK and live in Melbourne, Australia with my wife and children. My studio is a part of our house so I work on my own most of the day or look after the kids when they are home. I do have a dog, Ludo, for company when she pops out I listen to the radio.
I studied Fine Art and Art History at Canterbury College of Art. The years following art school was difficult time for an artist as it was the Thatcher years yet it was an optimistic time as there was a real sense of an artistic and design revolution happening. I was involved in small design partnership for a couple of years where I design and hand printed fabric which we turned into unique clothing, very early 80s kitsch. As for the rest of the 80s I continued painting and experimenting around with photography and digital art.
What did you enjoy doing as a child?
I come from the seaside town Leigh-on-Sea situated on the mud flats of the Thames estuary in Essex, England, so I spent most of the time sailing and mucking around on the mud. When the weather was not so good, I would draw, read, listen to music or watch the dreaded TV (fortunately there was not much on TV which allowed me to more drawing). As a family we use to go for a lot of walks around the coast or go on sailing trips that usually meant being grounded up a marshy creek when the tide was out which gave time to explore the marshes, this was Great Expectations country and a respect for the environment and its history grew on me.
Were you always making art?
I always loved drawing, when I went on a family outing to London to visit the National Gallery and The Tate Gallery I was inspired in particularly with Op and Pop Art. I remember seeing Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol and thinking, “Wow, I wish I could do that.” I always enjoyed anything to do with art and loved the movies about artists especially “The Rebel” by Tony Hancock. It did not occur to me I could study art until I left school whilst studying computer science at the local tech college where I made new friends who were studying art.
What books did you like as a kid?
The books I remember enjoying as a child as far as I can remember was The Silver Sword, The Narnia Chronicles, Ronald Searle’s Molesworth titles and an old copy of Tanglewood Tales that had some really disturbing illustrations (well I thought so at the age of 9), I really enjoyed the tales though.
You used to work in a bookstore didn’t you? Did you read on the job?
Yep, it all started when I was working in the Royal Academy shop in London which had fantastic art books, I was a pig in mud. You do not get time to read when you work in a bookstore but you do get to discover books that you would not have normally read. It was the admiring the book jackets that inspired me to take up illustration, in particularly the work of Andrzej Klimowski and Jeffrey Fisher.
You have a knack of combining different elements together.
Tell us bit about your working process, inspirations and mentors?
Inspirations: Picasso (I believe “Guernica” to be the greatest illustration of the twentieth century) and late Matisse, Max Beckman, Gustave Courbet come to mind straight away. Generally I am like a magpie and learn by looking around the galleries, museums, art books, art mags, even street art. I like it when I discover something that really grabs me and gives me something new to think about or moves me.
Metaphors: I find them really useful in illustration they make the work more intriguing. Picasso and Courbet used the metaphor beautifully; Courbet’s “Studio” is full of them. Illustration has to be less mysterious after all you communicating the essence of a brief or story in a way that the readership can understand so the metaphor has to be more obvious, the challenge is to use the metaphor as a tool in an inventive way.
Mentors: I have not had any training or tutoring since art school where the teaching was inspiring. It would be nice to have a mentor alas I do not have one now.
Do you sketch ideas out, or got straight to the computer?
I sketch ideas out straight into the computer using a tablet, I only use pencil and paper to work out the composition which for some reason seems difficult to do on the screen.
Your style has evolved over time, how do you think it has changed?
It has changed considerably, my early illustration was using the same technique and approach that I had developed in my fine art work which was a very abstracted and ethereal use of found imagery, photography and the use of the computer. I was commissioned to do some illustrations for the science magazine 21C and from there I pick up more work. As I moved more into illustration I was being asked to produce more literal or pictorial illustrations so I had to adapt to suit the audience becoming more figurative using found imagery and scanned textures. Since then it has evolved to what it is today where the use of photography and found imagery is rarely used. Hopefully it will continue to evolve.
Do you have to give certain considerations to style when illustrating for the children’s market?
I simply try to make the images appealing but not too distracting and not too dowdy. I want the children to be engaged with the book.
What sort of creative leeway do you get with briefs?
It depends on the title; usually I think I get fair bit leeway, I do not get that “death by committee” that sometimes occurs with some educational or institutional jobs.
The pop-up book cover for Melbourne Child Magazine is a fun image and one of my favourites.
Yes, that was a nice one to work on, I usually come up with the concept but in this case they wanted a pop-up book and my job was to make it work which was the fun part.
What is inspiring you at the moment?
That is a tricky one, illustration wise I can think of anything in particular I must have been doing it for too long, I have been thinking of Patrick Heron’s late works. Otherwise where do I start there is so much to choose from.
bakersmith 