Peter De Sève
ImagineFX|March 2017

The American artist tells Gary Evans why drawing well is like telling a good joke

Peter De Sève

Peter de Sève, aged 16, a student at Parsons school of art and design, walks through Greenwich Village to the corner of Bleecker and Macdougal Streets. It’s snowing. He finds a table in Café Figaro, the New York coffeehouse whose past regulars include Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce and Jack Kerouac, where he drinks cappuccinos and draws in his sketchbook.

With his drawings, Peter’s trying to impress people – friends, girls too. And it’s during these quiet afternoons that he starts to understand what it means to be illustrator, and exactly what it is an illustration is supposed to do.

“It was a magical time,” the artist says. “It was 1977 when I started Parsons. For a kid from Long Island, living away from home for the first time, it couldn’t have been more exciting. The punk scene was in full swing – yet there was still a faint whiff of the folk scene down on Bleecker Street. There were hardcore punks and stoned hippies all over the place, and that’s where friends and I spent most of our free time. We’d walk through the snow and hunker down at the Café Figaro.

“I just loved to draw things that would amuse myself and other people. That’s kind of the job of an illustrator in a nutshell, isn’t it? It’s not only about pleasing yourself but you have to communicate to and entertain an audience. Every drawing is an opportunity to make someone feel something specific and to do it in the cleverest, most economical way possible. I’ve always loved that challenge. I think I was hard-wired to be an illustrator from birth.”

CONSTRAINED BY THE FACTS

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2017-Ausgabe von ImagineFX.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2017-Ausgabe von ImagineFX.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS IMAGINEFXAlle anzeigen
Jan Wessbecher
ImagineFX

Jan Wessbecher

Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments

time-read
9 Minuten  |
Christmas 2024
Kyounghwan Kim
ImagineFX

Kyounghwan Kim

The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly

time-read
5 Minuten  |
Christmas 2024
Slawek Fedorczuk
ImagineFX

Slawek Fedorczuk

Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.

time-read
10 Minuten  |
Christmas 2024
Raquel M. Varela
ImagineFX

Raquel M. Varela

Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Estrela Lourenço
ImagineFX

Estrela Lourenço

Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Daria Widermanska
ImagineFX

Daria Widermanska

Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Allen Douglas
ImagineFX

Allen Douglas

Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
Thaddeus Robeck
ImagineFX

Thaddeus Robeck

Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.

time-read
1 min  |
November 2024
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
ImagineFX

DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK

Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow

time-read
5 Minuten  |
November 2024
First Impressions
ImagineFX

First Impressions

The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world

time-read
2 Minuten  |
November 2024