Ep 25 - Applying Imagination with Felix Scheinberger
In this episode, I speak with Berlin-based illustrator and artist Felix Scheinberger about his work as an illustrator, and the role of travel and urban sketching in his life. He once described illustration as "applied imagination", so I try to learn more about where this imagination comes from, and how it can be nurtured.
What is the role of on-location drawing in feeding this imagination? What are some ways to strengthen your imagination over time? What is the role of observation, what is the job of interpretation, and how can the artist translate the ideas in their mind into a visual language understood universally?
This episode took me into the mind of an illustrator whose work enchants me because it seems effortless, even though it is anything but. Felix makes his art with a carefree finesse that takes many, many years to master.
Listen to our conversation on your choice of streaming service, or catch a link below.
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Teaser
Conversation Summary
Talking about translation, language barriers, and communicating a visual language in words. Felix talks about the difficulty of expressing himself in a foreign language, and feeling 'reduced' by English.
"Talent is a fairytale."
Felix compares cooking to art. How both are best when you have a feeling, or a sense of the aesthetic from experience.
"You always make decisions when you draw - this is important and this is not. Because if you draw with everything, it looks a bit boring in the end. Surprisingly, if you are too realistic, it is boring. I have to see what was the point of interest."
Nishant asks about Felix featuring people prominently in his work. Why does he call drawing people the "most difficult thing in his drawing" and why does he begin with the difficult thing?
"I think it's smart (that) if you're afraid of something, do it first."
"If you have these urban sketches without people, doesn't it look a bit scary?"
"Drawing is not just a reflection of what you see, but also declaring what you feel."
"For me, it's not such a hard border." - Felix, explaining the difference between illustration and drawing from life.
Felix relates an anecdote of being a student, and learning from a professor that drawing is not simply about copying, but about bringing imagination to the page. Also narrates another incident of teaching in Istanbul where his students were drawing the scenery noticeably without people or cars, because their minds were consumed by art they had seen before and they felt the need to imitate. But urban sketching culture has encouraged the art of everyday life, and helped people break out of these rules.
"Sometimes if we draw, again, a windmill, it does not describe our world. It describes a romantic idea of our world... In the 17th century, when van Dyck and Rembrandt make sketches of windmills, they don't want to say romantic or poetic things. They're drawing the new technology they had."
What are some things you gain from being able to sketch quickly?
"It's a question of priorities. If I wanted to capture personality, it's not so important to be precise with the nose."
They discuss how important it is for individual and independent illustrators to set terms for their work, to even have a union or guild which they can refer to, to give them established standards that prevent their exploitation.
Felix brings up the subject of pariedolia, when referring to the silhouettes and impressions he has his students draw, as an aid to bringing forth their imagination on the page.
Felix talks about an old Russian film in which the director employs cut-scenes to manipulate audience emotion. It's a case of creating new context out of the same action.
"You can't make photos from things in your head, or Google things that do not exist. This is the job of the designer."