| My approach to illustration is a combination of mediums that over the years have layered upon each other to create what I hope is a rich visual language. I use photography, painting, drawing, and lately a little model making to create the elements for each image with no part of the process being more important than the next. The mash of elements is perhaps evidence of my broad-based beginnings. I went to university to study illustration and fine art, but was lured into the (to me) alchemy of photography. This was on the cusp of the digital revolution in the medium, and I mainly studied the traditional photographic methods. |  |
Darren Hopes
My approach to illustration is a combination of mediums that over the years have layered upon each other to create what I hope is a rich visual language. I use photography, painting, drawing, and lately a little model making to create the elements for each image with no part of the process being more important than the next. The mash of elements is perhaps evidence of my broad-based beginnings. I went to university to study illustration and fine art, but was lured into the (to me) alchemy of photography. This was on the cusp of the digital revolution in the medium, and I mainly studied the traditional photographic methods. However, my approach was always that of a painter. I composed and constructed images, making sets in the studio, which often saw the resultant photograph ripped up, reconstructed, and painted into. Of course I eventually introduced Photoshop into the equation, but my work to this day is based on the original hands on part of the process as much as the digital.
I am attracted to the juxtaposition of dark and light, innocent and foreboding, somber and kitsch, banal and surreal. Probably a reaction to living rurally (as I previously lived in the city, the contrast is stark) I see these diverse juxtapositions all day every day in the nature that surrounds me. Nature is at once the most beautiful and innocent but harsh and impersonal thing. Witnessing it has molded my character to some extent, and I think it is evident in my images, even the commissioned work.
I am currently writing a series of short stories that I hope to find time to illustrate as a body of work. My second career choice would have been writer, and I think my joy of words is evident in my illustrations. I like a strong narrative element to my image making. As an illustrator, my aim is to walk the fine line between commercially viable and personally satisfying. To this end my personal work plays a very large part in my portfolio, both exhibition- and client-based portfolios. This means I never become industry-led and in danger of losing the idiosyncratic element of my art. I would become deeply unhappy if that happened. I can only create images commercially while I find a joy in it. Happily to date that joy remains.
