Píccolo

Through the Print Project, Píccolo has had the opportunity to work with 4 talented illustrators. But, who are the people behind the images? We interviewed them in our series, Píccolo Portraits!

If you love Paige’s work, be sure to support our Kickstarter and purchase one of her prints!

Píccolo: Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Paige Vickers: I grew up in North Texas and moved to Baltimore, MD in 2008 where I completed my BFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art. I recently moved to New York and am working hard to balance a career in freelance illustration and as on-staff illustrator at a stationer and creative firm, Mr. Boddington’s Studio. 

P: What was the inspiration behind your piece for the Píccolo Print Project?

PV: I do a lot of paintings and drawings of made-up girls who are usually bored, dirty and definitely freckled. They range from self portraits (outlets for my mood at any given point) to experiments in creating a landscape with a simple face. This drawing is about the piccolo and I built the girl’s face around it, using the piccolo as both a tool and a mouth and then referenced the girl for the pattern surrounding that. In that way, I guess you could think of this as a landscape.

P: What are your favorite techniques/mediums to use when you create your work?

PV: I typically work by doing a series of 2-10 black and white drawings in pencil and ink then combining and manipulating them digitally. I’ve worked in such a controlled and calculated way for so long that now it’s refreshing to sit down and paint in gouache, watercolor and colored inks then calling it finished.

P: Do you think the field of illustration is changing? And if so, how?

PV: The field of illustration is definitely changing! One of the most interesting and exciting aspects to me is in regard to print. Since we live in an increasingly online world, there is a lot of sad talk about the dying print industry. With this though, I see more illustrators embracing print as a fine art form. Small press books, zines, artist books and fine printmaking are all being collected, traded, and regarded as precious objects. I think these trends only refresh aesthetics of mainstream illustration and feed the world of print, publishing and advertisement. 

P: What are your favorite small things in life?

PV: The thing I value most is eating tacos with close friends. I also really enjoy petting dogs on the street: a day in which you can stop and pet two hounds at once is a good day.

P: What’s on the horizon for you - any exciting projects you’re working on?

PV: I guess the most exciting thing I’m working on right now is starting at Mr. Boddington’s Studio. I’ve never had a real person job doing illustration before and I’m excited to see what kind of work it will drag me into. They are in the middle of a huge transition and will be doing a lot more publishing and packaging design work in the future. I’m still insanely grateful to be getting freelance work right now and will continue to pursue the clients I really want.

Thanks, Paige!

Paige’s website

Píccolo Print Project Kickstarter

Through the Print Project, Píccolo has had the opportunity to work with 4 talented illustrators. But, who are the people behind the images? We interviewed them in our series, Píccolo Portraits!

If you love Michael’s work, be sure to support our Kickstarter and purchase one of his prints!

Píccolo: Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Michael C. Hsiung: My name is Michael C. Hsiung and I was born in Chinatown, Los Angeles.  I wasn’t always making art for a living – I actually graduated with an English Degree and was working in schools, museums, and even at a background investigation company before even thinking of making art.  I’ve been really lucky to have had such a nice run so far, and I attribute it to my facial hair.

P: What was the inspiration behind your piece for the Píccolo Print Project?

MCH: My love of the circus and performers (clowns/muscle men/stiltwalkers) was the inspiration behind the Piccolo piece.  

P: What are your favorite techniques/mediums to use when you create your work?

MCH: My favorite medium would probably be ink, micron pens, and rapidographs, and my favorite technique is patterning with semi circles.

P: Do you think the field of illustration is changing? And if so, how?

MCH: I think the field of illustration is changing as far as I can tell, though not really being an illustrator in the traditional sense, but I think that its easier for artists to get his or her stuff out there now with the various social sites, forums, and community groups. 

P: What are your favorite small things in life?

MCH: My favorite small things  are probably dice, like 20 sided dice because I’m a lover of all things fantasy and Dungeons & Dragons related. [Sara’s note - This made me very happy because I too am a D&D player.]

P: What’s on the horizon for you - any exciting projects you’re working on?

MCH: I’ll be having a two-week solo show called So Far, So Good, So What! February 8th at THIS, LA gallery in Highland Park. I’m really excited because it’ll be my first time in a long while showing works, and I plan to have lots of drawings, a print, and a reprint of a zine that recently sold out called Booze, Dudes, & Bears.  Also, I’m be doing a print with Poster Child Prints sometime this year which I’m very excited about, as well as participating in a group show Out of Towners which opens sometime in April at the Seeing Things Gallery in San Jose.    

Thanks, Michael!

Michael’s website

Píccolo Kickstarter campagin

Through the Print Project, Píccolo has had the opportunity to work with 4 talented illustrators. But, who are the people behind the images? We interviewed them in our series, Píccolo Portraits!

If you love Yelena’s work, be sure to support our Kickstarter and purchase one of her prints!

Piccolo: Can you tell us a little bit about your background?

Yelena Bryksenkova: I was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia and moved to the United States when I was eight years old. I studied illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the Academy of Applied and Decorative Arts in Prague, Czech Republic, receiving my BFA in 2010. Now I live in New Haven where I work as a full time freelance illustrator.

P: What was the inspiration behind your piece for the Píccolo Print Project?

YB: My little elephant is my imaginary friend and a reflection of my inner state; he symbolizes everything about the world I strive to create for myself and I consider him a harbinger of inspiration and happy coincidences that keep me moving forward. He’s the little thing I would be most afraid to lose.

P: What are your favorite techniques/mediums to use when you create your work?

YB: I work entirely be hand, using pencil, .005 Pigma Micron pens, a box of “Leningrad” watercolor cakes, very tiny brushes and and a little bit of Holbein Acryla gouache. I occasionally use Photoshop for some delicate digital assembly, but prefer not to rely on it too much because I like having finished original paintings.

P: Do you think the field of illustration is changing? And if so, how?

YB: There has been a shift in recent years toward a delicate, handmade aesthetic and so much of my favorite peers’ work is at once beautiful and emotionally powerful in a quiet and simple way. I’m aware of trends but I follow closely and try to learn from the work that I consider to be timeless. It seems like illustration is becoming more widely used, and I hope I’m right.

P: What are your favorite small things in life?

YB: A vintage satin elephant pin cushion that was a gift from my best friend, a beautifully round stone that I found in the Dead Sea, my “collection” of two found butterflies which I keep in a tiny bell jar on my desk and a whole slew of other treasures with which I like to surround myself. 

P: What’s on the horizon for you - any exciting projects you’re working on?

YB: I’ve had the chance to work with a couple of dream editorial clients and I look forward to more pleasant surprises. While I like where freelancing is taking me, I am still thinking “what’s next?” and the answer is that I would like to either continue education or complete a residency in the near future. Or both! There’s a lot I want to accomplish in my life and most of it has to do with living in different places and finding new adventures to fuel my work.

Thanks, Yelena!