Do you remember the interview I did with Suzie McKig, shop owner? Well, now I am happy to have the Sycamore Q+A {no. 58} with Suzie McKig, artist. She's come up with some great designs over at Twig & Fig. I'm especially loving the gold foil stamped designs on wood veneer, like the ship below. So beautiful!
1) How did you become a graphic designer?
I started out by being an illustration major at Art Center College of Design (ACCD) in Pasadena, CA. At the time I had been drawing and painting all my life and there were a few rock star illustrators that I really admired and wanted to learn everything I could to be as wonderful as they were. So I went to an amazing college to learn everything I could to be a great illustrator. As the later semesters rolled on I found myself really into my design and typography classes and discovered that my personality and skills were more aligned with the graphics world. Once I got my hands on a Mac outfitted with Illustrator, Photoshop and Quark (this was pre In-Design times) I really geeked out on all the fun potential designers have control of (yes, it's all about visual power) and there was no going back.
The digital world totally opened my passion for manipulating type and exploring fonts, manipulating photos and illustrations, layouts and grids. It was like walking into a giant theme park of the brain--full of amazing rides. Excited to explore more of this new graphic design world, after college I got a job at a design firm, surrounded by amazing designers (at Maddox & Co. in L.A.). I was super inspired by their work and learned so much just from being around them and doing their production work. Too excited to wait any longer, a year later I busted out on my own and started up my own micro design firm. I bought a Mac, a printer, and a huge monitor and was set! Within a few years my little home-based studio was bustling with gigs for HBO, Paul Mitchell and Honda, small manufacturers and mom-n-pop businesses the like. (Oh, the good old' days before the dotcom bust!!)
2) Where do you find inspiration?
In wide diversity. Antique fairs (Alameda Flea market is amazing!!), walking down a cool shopping street in SF, furniture and architectural design magazines like Domino (RIP). Crazy fashion statements are also really great as the pieces transcend clothing and become these awesome texture and color statements. The NYTimes (I love their photos) along with the plethora of fabulous fashion and interior-design blogs are great places to hunt down visuals to get your juices flowing.
Exploring about in new places can totally blow my mind open, as travel makes your senses so heightened. We went to the Pearl and other neighborhoods in Portland (OR) several months back. Even in the dead of rainy grey winter, the fresh artistic passion abounding in shops and window was like walking in design fertilizer. Our annual visits to NYC are a big RedBull hit of creativity for me. That city is so inspiring for being hooked up with what is Now. The bigger cities in Europe are great, too; which are the great fusion of Now fused with [way back] Then. There's a sweet harmony of being excited by New while embracing the treasures of History; it gives a New creation a more substantial platform.
To really make sure all those great visual/experiential influences take hold in my brain I need to let them breathe and develop with some quiet time (and lots of milk tea, and boba tea for an extra big creative treat). Just taking a hike in the hills behind our house or going away somewhere quiet for the weekend is really great to get the ideas flowing in strong. It's a magic formula.
3) Tell us about a recent project.
We're working on our new MetalWood greeting cards to introduce at the Stationery Show. The first round if this line we introduced last year has been a smash hit for us. Which makes it all the more fun to design new ones. We're running with the same concept (foil-stamped illustration on wood veneer fold-over cards, but coming up with new imagery). Greeting cards are the most fun to do when my invitation-design-brain needs a pause, 'cause it's a short burst of powerful imagery all on one small card. This year we're continuing on with fun combos (vinyl records with insects) and iconic city architecture (the radio tower in SF). Then we have another 2 innovative lines that we're aiming to complete, too. One is called Old News--made from vintage newspapers & letterpress. So fun!!
4) What else would we be interested to know about you?
Hmm. How about: I love to take photographs? Having an amateur creative passion has been huge for rounding out my need to create. (I'm going for the definition of Amateur being doing something for the love of it, rather than for money. Not "amateur-hour" kind of amateur ; )I lose myself for hours and hours taking photos on weekends or during get-aways; mostly in urban settings but also at random places like flea markets, historical [decaying] sites and in nature. Things, scenes, detail shots, strangers, oddities. It's all great. The excitement continues when I go into LightRoom later and sweeten everything up just so in the processing phase. I love Graphic design so much, but by nature it is an art+business formula. I find a real beauty in pursuing an art form into which I can totally indulge myself and explore visuals and lighting and composition without any outside considerations. The pureness of not mixing the artistry with business builds a much stronger creative base.
Photography reminds me what my personal design style/vision is, it reveals what truly moves me, and with the thousands of photos I've taken there's this fun visual history of where I started [creatively/technically], the development unfolding along the way; where I'm at now and where I'd like to head in the future. And there's always so much more to learn--which is like holding a carrot in front of me. Another great thing about keeping a amateur passion amateur, I can actually savour the process of learning and don't feel pressured to know everything immediately. (Well, maybe at first I did.) There's such a cool freedom and joy in that. Mixing one tidbit of information to another tidbit of experience over and over and before you know it you have a great understanding of something. And that understanding becomes exponential--so every time you learn one new thing well, it clicks with all the other things you've already learned and becomes bigger and bigger. Amazing. So, in a nutshell, If you're doing a creative thing for your profession (or even if not), I highly recommend finding and nurturing your amateur passion!! :)
Thanks Suzie!Website: www.twigandfig.comNational Stationery Show Booth # 1435 + 1437
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friday favorites,
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the month of paper
This was one of the books I adored as a little kid. It had been years since I looked through it, but I could still remember which spreads were my favorites over 25 years ago. The drawings of children are adorable without being corny, the colors are beautiful, and the deft use of line to create shading in the black and white drawings is inspirational. 
According to Wikipedia, Gyo Fujikawa was the first mainstream illustrator to include children of many races...long before it was the P.C. thing to do.
She also pays close attention to details, which make her illustrations all the more magical. In the above image, it was always fun to see all the little items that are hidden under the snow and earth.
There's a new book coming out called Impressive: Printmaking, Letterpress, & Graphic Design. The publishers description reads, "Impressive is a topical exploration of the interplay between current trends in graphic design and traditional handiwork such as letterpress printing, hand-cut linotype, chiselled woodblocks, and embossing." Read and see more about it here.
Sycamore Street Press
1) How did you become a graphic designer?
3) Tell us about a recent project.
via Antique Photographics
