Today we’re speaking with the excellent, the painterly, the multi-faceted Texas-native, Jeff Rogers. In addition to generously answering our questions, Jeff is also debuting an illustration on our site today. Above, I present to you a piece which will appear in the forthcoming issue of Uppercase Magazine. The image is glorious in the space it imagines and the way it talks about the cultural/informational saturation of our lives. And now, Jeff takes our questions.
1. Describe your work in five words.
Things that make me happy.
2. Who are your creative heroes?
Oh there are so many but I can list off a few that come to mind. There are 2 categories: people I know personally (friends and acquaintances) and people I wish I knew. I love getting to know the people who’s work I admire. It gives such insight into their work.
So some people I wish I knew are Ray Fenwick, Christoph Niemann, Christian Northeast, Jeff Canham, Matteo Balogna, Ed Fella, Mario Hugo, Mike Perry, Alex Trochut, Andrew Bannecker, Jon Klassen, A. Micah Smith, Jon Contino, Mikey Burton… and I could go on and on.
People I know who are creative heroes to me are Ryan Feerer, Amanda Spielman, Bashan Aquart, Gail Anderson, Darren Booth, Andrei Robu, Brent Couchman, Dana Tanamachi, Wade Griffith, Eric Marinovich, Aaron Carambula, Dan Cassaro, Matt Dorfman, Will Bryant… and again, I could go on. There are so many people out there doing amazing work.. it’s a little depressing sometimes. HA.
3. What are you reading?
I’m just finishing book seven of Steven King’s The Dark Tower series. Pretty great. It’s actually made me want to draw more western type.
4. Why do you think illustration (lettering, design, particularly hand-made) is important to the world?
It’s not so far off from why art is important to the world.. or music. When something is hand made or drawn, you get a really special connection to the person who made it. You can see how they made it and the process they used whether it was painted or drawn. I love seeing brush strokes or following the line of a pen and know that a person made that thing in a way that only that one person could because they love to create. Hand made creations connect us as human beings and get ideas out in meaningful ways and, when well done, can pull deep emotions out of us. There is so much slick, over-produced, shiny stuff out there so when something is more raw or hand-made, I think people immediately connect with it on a personal level. A great example is the gaining popularity of folk bands and the success of folks like the Neistat Brothers, a couple of genius film makers that use their iPhones and compact digital cameras and iMovie to make short films.. and now they have a show on HBO.
5. What’s inspiring you right now?
Well actually this Steven King series has been oddly inspiring…but usually really get into whatever I’m reading at the moment. And A. Micah Smith just put up a new website that I was pouring over yesterday. He is making exactly the kind of work that I wish I could make. ha! The grass is always greener. Check out his site for some serious depression I mean inspiration.
6. Any advice for future illustrators/designers?
A wiser man than myself once told me this: Do what you love until it becomes what you do for a living. It works. Live your dream.
Check out more of Jeff’s work on his site. He even documents his travels there. He Tweets too. And there’s an interesting article about his process over at Vector Tuts. Make sure to keep an eye out for this letter-loving, hyper-inspired illustrator.
Jeff Rogers is my hero! I can’t stop staring at that new illustration up top. So many great textures. I wish everyone could see all the incredible pieces he illustrated at SpotCo that will never see the light of day… a lot of them have this same textural/photographic collage quality. Brilliant!
Dana! The piece for Uppercase is so incredible. I’m honored Jeff debuted it here. Every time I look at it, I notice a detail I didn’t see before…it makes me want to keep going back. So amazing.
[...] Reads: How to Create a Captivating Presentation, Questions for Jeff Rogers, Required Reading: Creating Cults, Finding Randomness & Maverick Geniuses, Stefan [...]
[...] Reads: How to Create a Captivating Presentation, Questions for Jeff Rogers, Required Reading: Creating Cults, Finding Randomness & Maverick Geniuses, Stefan [...]