coventry University
hERDIS Solveig JAKOBSEN 28th June 2012
For those who aren't aware of you or your art could you give us a brief introduction? I'm a 24 year old recently graduated illustrator who studied at Coventry University. I grew up in the Faroe Islands which is a tiny group of selfgoverned islands which belong to Denmark. It's very different from Denmark though and a bit isolated. I've always had a wide field of interests, possibly due to not having much to do where I grew up, which influence me more than anything. I love drawing animals and humans and I work in a variety of textures, materials and sometimes styles. I find that my line art is sometimes the only consistent part of my work. I try to focus mostly on my illustration but because of having so many interests I find it difficult to focus on doing one thing really well and end up trying a bit of everything. Who or what inspired you to start creating art? I don't actually remember ever starting to create art since it's something I've done since I was a child. I think the question is what inspired me to continue doing it and as sad as it sounds I think
boredom played a big part in why I never stopped. Growing up in the Faroe Islands can be boring and lonely. I never felt like I had a lot in common with the kids my age and as a geeky kid with limited supply of comics and movies, again because of growing up in such a small place, I think drawing became a way for me to escape. Of course now it has nothing to do with being bored. I find myself being inspired by pretty much everything so it's hard to pin point anything in particular but comics have definitely played a big role in my development as an artist. You honed your craft at University, how did you find your time studying and did it help you to become the artist you are today? To me personally I remember not feeling like I was learning much in uni at all. There was a lot of pressure to do your work well and the deadlines were tough but for a long time I felt like I was just doing the same as I had always been doing only I was doing more of it and I was being graded. It wasn't until I finished and I looked back that I understood how much I had actually learnt. I think I went to uni with this idea that I was going to
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