Andrei is an artist based in Bucharest. His work is just like him, easy going, multi directional and goes straight to the point. From visual identity to resign toys, Andrei is always pushing himself at the maximum.
KALTBLUT: Hi Andrei, could you please tell us a bit about your artistic background?
Andrei: Well, I started doing ceramics at an early age and slowly moved into other things, I went to art school, got my masters and started to perfect myself.
KALTBLUT: Your style is really strip cartoon alike. How did you get there?
Andrei: I like the medium of comics, it offerers a great power, that of story telling, my work started to go more an more towards this style because it gives me a wide range of options of how to describe and create. I love telling stories in my work, even if I don’t work in this style I still find myself striding to create a strong narrative and concept.
KALTBLUT: Do you read yourself a lot of cartoons?
Andrei: I think that graphic novels and comics are undergoing a rebirth, artists from around the world experiment with the medium more and more, the writing has become more and more power full and vivid. Personally I believe it started with writers like Allan Moore, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman, and experimental styles of story-telling like in the case of Moebius or the novel Snowpiercer. This medium has a lot to offer, if you enjoy reading…
KALTBLUT: How is your working process when it comes to create a character?
Andrei: A combination of people watching and creating a nice background for my characters, I tend to create a character based on an environment I set up for him or her, the more time I put into creating a good background story the better and more original the character becomes.
KALTBLUT: Do you write yourself or do you only illustrate stories?
Andrei: I write, more and more, I’m trying to find a honest voice for myself, a story that is unique to me that can be appealing for allot of people, but that is very vague. The thing I do is heavily reference my own experience and mental states. I like to work on other people’s scripts too but right now my focus is on finding a strong voice of my own.
KALTBLUT: Is it easier to created a one picture illustration or a serie that include severals images?
Andrei: Well stand alone things are fun and relaxing but lately I have discovered the joy of doing series, the process of making your work follow a deeper narrative and making the images succeed themselves in a natural and beauty full way. It’s easier to make a single one but the reward is greater when you make series.
KALTBLUT: Could you tell us a little bit about your creative process when starting an illustration? How long does it take to complete a drawing?
Andrei: I spend allot of time sketching things out and finding a process that’s interesting and comfortable, then the work goes allot quicker. I tend to create a separate type of process for each project I do, and I do that in order to avoid boredom and routine.
KALTBLUT: Are you a slow and careful or quick and speedy draftsman?
Andrei: Speedy, for sure, I work in quick and concentrated bursts, I fond that the more “structure” I try to impose upon my work the harder it gets to complete, I find the concentrated bursts to be most effective.
KALTBLUT: You also do collages. What is your favourite technique to use? In which field to you feel more comfortable?
Andrei: Well, slowly but surely I want to make a book, a documentary stile portrayal of a fictional history of meta-humans, in it I want to use pictures I find on the street that I paint and draw over to create a narrative structure, I like to take these strange pictures that people throw out more and more because they go digital and give them new context and meaning. That by far is my favorite technique.
KALTBLUT: Who is inspiring you these days?
Andrei: WOOOOOWWWW, that’s a tough one but I’ll try to answer without complicating things too much. Here is a list of who and why:
-Asaf Hanuka, The Realist, it’s honest and beauty full .
-PEOW! studios, amazing, stunning and technically perfect comics.
-Shadoe Delgado- amazing shapes, wonderfully human.
-Theo Jansen, Strandbeests, biology meets mechanics and art.
-Mr. Kat, art toys done perfectly.
-Adam Curtis, his documentary experiments and writing are hard to rival.
– Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes.
…….And this list can keep going and going, Félix González-Torres, old photographs of amazing people, pagan culture and the history of tribes and pagan culture.
KALTBLUT: What would be your ideal commission?
Andrei: I would love to be paid to write and produce a great graphic novel.
Interview by Nicolas Simoneau
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