James Dignan Men

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JAMES DIGNAN ILLUSTRATOR

A world class player in the fashion illustration field, James Dignan has come far from his humble beginnings in Auckland, New Zealand. A favorite amongst leading international brands Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss and Absolut Vodka, his narrative and biting humor brings a strong sense of irony and a fashionable flare to his subjects.

After studying Art History at the Auckland University in New Zealand, James moved to Australia to study fashion design at the East Sydney Technical College. During this time James furthered his interests in fashion working as a designer and stylist.

Later, James moved to Paris to study fashion design and illustration at the Studio Bercot where he assisted the French Art Director, Marc Ascoli. During this period James worked on various fashion shows, editorial styling projects and catalogues. His clients included Yohji Yamamoto and Jil Sandler, as well as Chloe and Martine Sitbon, where he first produced his first professional illustrations.

James’ fashion and editorial has been included in many of the worlds leading publications including, Vogue (Australia, Nippon, Pelle), Elle, Self, Glamour, InStyle, Madame Figaro and Marie Claire. James has also participated in a wide variety of advertising campaigns and promotional projects including, Printemps, Neiman Marcus, Air France, Absolut Vodka, Colgate, Hugo Boss and Elizabeth Arden.

James lives and works as a freelance Illustrator and creative director in Sydney, Australia.

Did you always want to be an artist? I actually always wanted to be an Egyptologist!

Do you listen to music while you paint and if so, what music most sparks your creativity? Sometimes.

Mostly ABC Radio National while I’m illustratring during the day - they produce really great shows.

When I’m working on my art at night I really enjoy listening to French music — the singing actresses are a lot of fun! Bardot! Birkin! Moreau! Any music that tells a story or takes me on a voyage.

How has your artwork changed or developed over the years? My artwork has changed a lot! Certain ideas I can’t shake, that’s a slow evolution & I like to try new things too, so it’s all about lateral thinking.

Tell us about your technique. I use my sketchbook for play, pencil sketch, and ballpoint pen to really clarify and then either black ink with pen & brush or painted in acrylic or gouache. I try to keep things minimal - nothing fancy.

Describe your creative process. I will take an hour-long walk with my dog in the morning to plan my day & let my mind run free. Then I will start researching, sketching, and drinking many cups of tea...I also like to sketch on the sofa in the evenings.

Tell us one thing about you that nobody knows.

That’s not going to happen :-)

Describe your studio. There is one wall of glass, door opening on to a terrace and a top floor - at the moment there is a rather large flock of parrots eating the berries off the trees, not kidding! In the space there is a glass work table, a sofa, wooden storage lockers, paper, sketch books, pads everywhere, giant computers, and scanners. I am not a terribly tidy person, and I live in Sydney, hence the parrots!

If you had one day left on earth, how would you spend the day? I’d have a picnic at the beach with LOTS of champagne!

What song would you choose as the soundtrack to your life? “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley or “ La Vie en Rose” by Edith Piaf or Grace Jones.

What could we expect to find in your refrigerator if we took a peek right now? Vodka, soy beans, greek yogurt, milk, and broccoli.

If you were a superhero, what superpowers would you possess? Super confident & super white teeth!

If you won $50 million in the lottery, how would you spend the money? Something philanthropic of course...no single individual seriously needs that much money.

What is your greatest indulgence? Day dreaming, but it’s a terrific and useful indulgence.

Who are some of your favorite illustrators/photographers? Dali, Jean Cocteau, Ronald Searle, Michelangelo, Otto Dix, David Hockney, Warhol, Tony Viramontes, Antonio Lopez, Helmut Newton, Saul Steinberg, René Gruau, Frida Kahlo, Kiki Smith, Antonio Canova...

If a Hollywood film were to be made about your life, who would play the lead role? Uma Thurman.

What are you currently working on? I’m preparing my greatest hits book & developing an accessories line.

What inspired you to become an illustrator? I was working at Harpers Bazaar in Australia and Joe Eula flew out to do a fashion story with the magazine.

Harpers also produced the most fantastic stories with Tony Viramontes, so illustration seemed like a very glamorous back-up plan.

What is the best project you ever worked on?

A Grammy Awards party invitation & my murals in Hong Kong.

Who is your inspiration?

Marlene Dietrich, by example only!

Soapbox

GET OUT OF MY

Facebook I like Facebook because I work mostly from home on my own. With my online pals I can engage in the sort of idle, time-killing conversation that makes the working day pass more pleasantly for people with real jobs: Random observations, bits of gossip, exchange of interesting titbits. Facebook allows those of us who toil in isolation to have human contact in work hours.

I’m not a Facebook fiend, having just 134 friends. That is because I have a simple criterion for deciding whether to accept someone as a friend: I need to have met them. The 1000-plus friends

the thinking out loud of everyone with nothing to say and all the time in the world in which to say it. No one cares that you are loving the quiche you just made, you clever thing, and they don’t want to see the photos of your dog dressed as Lady Gaga, or pore through the old Polaroids you found in the shed and have painstakingly scanned in.

The fact that someone knew you in primary school should not lead them to think for a moment that you want to have anything to do with them now.

Surely if there was any strength to the relationship, contact would have been

ANYONE WHO STARTS A STATUS UPDATE WITH “MY COUNSELLOR SAYS…” SHOULD BE DE-FRIENDED some people claim almost certainly don’t come near meeting any definition of genuine friendship. At least I would recognise mine if I bumped into them.

But even with that precaution there is a big problem with Facebook, and it’s one carried over from real-life office environments – you can spend all day trapped, listening to people who don’t know when to shut up.

Time saved not travelling in peakhour traffic or sitting through meetings to discuss the quarterly results going forward must now be spent listening to

32 NEXT | jUlY 2010

maintained over the years without waiting for Mark Zuckerberg to invent a social networking website to enable it.

Most of all no one wants to hear every twist and turn of a relationship, from, “Have a (maybe) hot date tonight.

Won’t jinx it by saying any more. LOL” through to “OMG It’s the real thing” and concluding with “Set fire to his clothes while he was asleep and have gone back to Mum.” Anyone who starts a status update with “My counsellor says…” should be de-friended, although of course

de-friending is very rare because that apparently hostile act is likely to send the subject into yet another spin.

Some intimacies shared by celebrities beggar belief. No gynaecological complication need go unshared. The candour may be surprising, even if the self-absorption isn’t.

Then there are the invitations to groups that fall within the definition of those clubs you wouldn’t want to join if they would have you as a member.

Worst of these are the pages flung up for any and every cause. Although “No more buying BP until they clean up the oil spill” is about a serious problem, it’s not a serious solution.

On a positive note, the mania for taking quizzes like “Which Coronation St character are you?” and posting the results seems to have abated. Perhaps we have turned a corner. Let’s hope so.

Some readers may have noticed I haven’t named names in the course of this disquisition. Well, of course not – these people are my friends.

ILLUSTRATION jAmEs DIgNAN AT IllUsTRATIoNRoom.com.AU pORTRAIT jANE UsshER

Each month we ask one of the country’s leading voices what’s on their mind. Here’s journalist Paul Little’s status update: Loving the social contact, folks, but wish you’d learn when to shut up

Karl

Tom

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Copyright notice: This book and all of its contents/images is copyright of James Dignan Š 2015. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited and punishable by law.