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Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Mattias Adolfsson
By Spraygraphic | February 20, 2008
Spraygraphic Interview with Mattias Adolfsson
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
MA: My name is Mattias Adolfsson Swedish by birth and habit, just on the wrong side of 40.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
MA: I live and work in Sigtuna, (the oldest city in Sweden) just outside of Stockholm (the capital of Sweden)
SG: What mediums do you work with?
MA: I’m and ink and paper man and watercolors for coloring, While taking my masters of fine Arts I fell in love with the 3d media and worked with that between 1996 and 2007.
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
MA: Most of the time my work tend to evolve rather than be planned, I start with a line and I kind of follow the flow.
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
MA: I tend to draw hats when I get a block, hats or houses that I can draw almost on auto pilot
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
MA: Most of my inspiration comes form literature and music, I listen to a lot of audio books and web radio, most of my inspiration comes from the mind rather than the eyes.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your sketchbook blog. How did it become so popular on the Internet?
MA: Well I haven’t completely overrule the thought that my over earthly beauty can have something to do with it, or maybe the fact that I update it as often as I do.
SG: You draw many different kinds of things. Do you have a favorite character that you like to draw or subject you like to draw?
MA: There’s always place for a pig or an elephant, I tend to draw elephants to fill out my drawings. When I tire of drawing windows I like to put some nice large elephants
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your work as an animation artist on video games? What would be a typical work day for that kind of work?
MA: When I made animations we where only two in our little company which resulted in that you had to do almost all of the work yourself from being part of the filming project, motion tracking, digitizing the material and then modeling animating rendering. In Sweden with very small budgets this resulted in that you never had the time to make any of the parts as good as you’d like. Making games, or modern games, the projects are some complex and large you’re ability to really stand out and make a different are hard. In the end I preferred to work more on technical stuff, more programming than actual art, (In the end programming was all that was really creative to me)
SG: Did you ever have a choice NOT to work on a particular video game project because you did not like the game’s subject material?
MA: In the start I worked with motor games (Which I personally have little interest in) one of the reasons why I did choose to quit the game industry is that the games my company did was mostly war.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
MA: My work, (I’m only been working with Illustration from last year) has been seen in Australia and Berlin as part from Sweden.
SG: Where will it be seen next?
MA: Part of it will be seen in Oklahoma City.
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
MA: Hard to tell but I’d love to be able to make a real music video again based on my ideas. A book would also be nice, but I’m kind of working on that at the moment.
SG: What is your favorite color?
MA: I’ve always been quit of edgy when coming to color (I’m color blind) and it took quite some time until I really started to color my drawings, (I used to be strict monochrome). If forced to choose one color I’d go for red, (the color I sometimes swaps for green)
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
MA: Caravaggio I love the drama of his art, (love the film by Derek Jarman as well)
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
MA: I’m reading the grass crown by Colleen McCullough (I’ve had a fascination for Romans since a was a small boy), I read “Tecknaren” a magazine published by the association of Swedish Illustrators and Designers.
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
MA: I made one in an old sketchbook, a self portrait with me and an old woman (I have a hard time being serious). It’s still in it.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
MA: Anywhere where I can draw in my sketchbook I’m not that picky
SG: Any final words of advice?
MA: Dress according to the weather, I have a hard time giving advice on artistic matters yet, I don’t make enough money.
ART: 1) afloat, 2) Baroque tools, 3) death star 2, 4) dragons, 5) Island dock, 6) Mattias in studio, 7) Ravens-end, 
skyskraper prototype, 9) the cone, 10) the whaler
Topics: Artist Interviews, International-Art, Pencil Drawings |
February 20th, 2008 at 9:56 am
[...] You can read an interview with me over at http://www.sprayblog.net [...]
February 20th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Very good interview with an artist I am growing to like more and more with each piece of his I see. He has a wonderfully irreverent sense of humor, something that seems missing from a lot of art, art which I think sometimes takes itself too seriously.
Thanks for giving the spotlight to someone whom I feel deserves it.
Justin
February 20th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Mattias O Adolfsson…
also der typ macht echt geile sachen und die sind auch noch (relativ) preisgünstig …
February 24th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Thanks for posting this excellent interview! I’m a huge fan of Mattias Adolfsson, and it’s nice to find out more about where these amazing images come from.