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Illustrator Profile - Diego Patino: "I take each assignment very personally"

By Robert Newman   Thursday February 4, 2016

Diego Patino is a very dynamic and very exciting illustrator who is based in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. He grew up in Colombia and worked as a journalist before moving to Australia and then New York City. Patino’s illustrations have provided graphic power for covers of soccer magazine Eight By Eight and Newsweek, and have appeared in numerous other publications. Patino puts lots of passion and engagement in his work—he says “My preferred mediums are sweat and tears.” He grew up on a diet of “Garbage Pail Kids, cheap comics strips, odd TV and movies,” and his work is a cool mix of those vintage graphic influences and classic comic books, blended with his bold lines and bright colors. Patino has a wide range of styles, from stark and sophisticated black and white to psychedelic comics-influenced portraits, all of them beautifully and smartly rendered.

MY LIFE:
I live in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. It’s also known as the lost pearl of West Bed-Stuy: a lovely place. I’ve been working as an illustrator since late 2004.

Mom used to draw blueprints for architects before computers arrived in a big way. She also had occasional gigs as a letterer, which was exciting as it involved tons of cool shit, like weird pens, rulers and high-quality paper. She still has a lot of the equipment so every time I go back home I like to revisit that amazing drawer where everything’s kept. My dad was an architect and docent. He’s now retired and spends most of his time trying to dominate oil painting and poetry. His library was primordial during our formative years as we got exposed to thousands of years of art history. For us, knowing the differences between Roman columns was as natural as it was for other kids knowing the specs of a car or the members of a sports team.

I spent five years studying to become a journalist, so I had to give it a shot and worked for a now-extinct, current events magazine in Colombia, where I’m originally from. I wrote tons of tech and financial stories for them. It was fun, but keeping people informed is not really my thing. Making a difference as a writer in a magazine is more difficult than it is as an illustrator since you’re in a better position to get away with crime when doodling. Working with magazines from the side of the writer gave me a better perspective in terms of how it all operates, so when I started as an editorial illustrator I had a better understanding of the work chain and the role of editors and art directors and print technicians.

I’m self-taught. Which is a weird and almost embarrassing thing to admit or think about. In a way I feel like I’m just chasing this obsession of finding ways to replicate the type of imagery that made an impact in me as a kid—or at least the emotional effect it caused in my head. I know I’m happy with an illustration I’ve produced when it evokes—with a very clear voice—familiar sentiments wrapped in new shades.

MY WORKSPACE:
I work from my office at home. It’s fairly new and it still feels like Robinson Crusoe’s first camp but I’m getting there. Being surrounded by books, toys and music that I compulsively acquire helps a lot. It’s very important for me to try to make it a place that represents an extension of my head. I think the space we inhabit should aspire to be as close as possible to the palace inside our minds—that is if you have one.

I spend a lot of time in there and what makes it special is the fact that I can finally afford to have it. When I started working I didn’t have money to buy a decent computer, let alone a proper desk or to pay for the internet. I’m proud of it because it hasn’t been an easy ride.

HOW I MAKE MY ILLUSTRATIONS:
My preferred mediums are sweat and tears. Occasionally I add blood and in many cases a portion of my what’s left of my sanity. Maybe I shouldn’t but I take each assignment very personally. I think it’s related to the fact that I don’t really have a trail of personal work behind me. Even my most commercial pieces have a grain or two of myself in them. Generally each piece is a combination of something I’ve been aesthetically interested in and the subject I’ve been assigned to illustrate. Finding a crossroads between these two axes is what makes the job exciting for me. I used to be more experimental in the past in terms of technique but sometimes there’s simply no time to go in an odd direction. That’s a little bit like playing Russian roulette with your client’s time.

MY FIRST BIG BREAK:
Not there yet. Think you could hook me up with some of your friends?

MY INFLUENCES:
A lot of what pops up in my work is heavily rooted in my childhood. Like I said before I think I want to recreate some of the emotions I had from being exposed to certain material that I couldn’t fully wrap my head around while growing up: Garbage Pail Kids, cheap comic strips, European comics (I’m looking at you Tintin!), odd TV shows and movies we had the chance to see every now and then and that were definitely not suited for kids. And I think the way it shows the most is through color. My palette is usually very rich and the first thing people notice; it’s a kind of newsstand palette.

Also my brother, without a doubt. He had a very complex and rich inner life as a kid and was constantly creating comic strips and drawings which were like nothing other kids were making. I draw because he drew mountains of great pieces that stuck with me. Growing up with a very talented and very curious older brother helped to create the foundations of my life as a creative person. I’m very thankful for having grown up in a very peculiar family that embraced weirdness.

MY MOST ADMIRED CREATIVE PERSON:
That’s a fairly long list so I’m gonna go with the last name I added to it—Junji Ito. I love horror and it wasn’t until recently that I found out about him. It blew my mind. Horror is such a difficult genre and being able to offer something new in this time and age is outstanding.

MY CREATIVE INSPIRATION:
Books. I spend a lot of my time at bookstores or going through my book shelves. I’m also a huge fan of poster and typography design from all ages. Museums have also played an important role as sources of new ideas. But there’s beauty in everything if you know where and what to look for. I guess the trick is to keep your eyes open. Every time I go down into any train station I love to see how people have defaced ad posters or what patterns have formed when they’ve been torn off and revealed layers from other times. Those formations are uncanny, like looking at the rings of a tree. Sometimes I see something unexpected, take a picture of it and think to myself: Maybe I should try something similar for my next piece.

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF WORKING ALONE:
Not losing my mind and staying present. Working from home can be incredibly isolating, so keeping your foot in the door of reality can be challenging. I take my work really personally so I leave a lot in each piece. I have very understanding and loving friends and family but even then, trying to have a personal life can be difficult. Not everyone is willing to understand that you don’t have a 9-to-5 job or that creativity doesn't follow any conventional structures, or that your brain is simply trying to solve a cover problem instead of wanting to be at that stupid party you were invited to. I guess working on my own is the epitome of my idea of being creative, mainly because it requires lots of time and space for myself and the ideas I’m working on.

A MEMORABLE ASSIGNMENT FROM THE PAST YEAR:
I did this one piece for Wired Germany about the co-relation between drug consumption in Silicon Valley and tech development and the reason I loved it was because it allowed me to expand my method and feel less afraid of trying new things. The subject was also really inviting and the results were colorful, lively and straight to the point. I’m really proud of that piece.

Also the cover I did for Eight by Eight with Wayne Rooney on it because there’s a lot going on in there but we managed to make it self-contained, very concise and playful—even as a depiction of Hell. And research was fun. Medieval imagery brought me back home to my father’s library.

DREAM ASSIGNMENT:
A New Yorker cover for Halloween, for sure, and some crazy poster for a Cronenberg movie or any band that I truly like.

MY FAVORITE ART DIRECTOR:
I’m grateful to get work from any of the people that I’ve worked with but I’m always looking forward to working with Priest + Grace. When we first met I felt like pushing their boundaries a little bit and they turned out to be more than perfectly OK with me being gross and over the top—they encouraged it. And that did it for me; I fell in love with them. They’ve been with me even through tough personal times and we’ve been friends since then. It’s always a pleasure to sit together and discuss the possibilities within a project or just to grab lunch.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE ILLUSTRATORS:
I admire illustrators that also happen to be authors, which mainly means comic book people. The usual suspects in my case: Charles Burns, Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes, Tim Lane. And the reason I like them is because I felt challenged when I first found out about them. They shattered the world as I knew it and showed me these amazing and very unexpected dark alleys as an alternative visual narrative. Charles Burns felt like a love child between Cronenberg and Hergé—you couldn’t stop watching even though it was scary and unsettling. Chris Ware had ways of reaching Houellebecq’s depths; he’s essentially one of hell of novelist. Daniel Clowes’s sense of introspection is so realistic and yet so brutal—there’s no turning back after reading Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron. And Tim Lane has the whole Americana thing. I feel an urge to jump in the back of the train and start calling myself a hobo after reading his stories.

OTHER WORK:
I like to write and have been exploring other creative outlets, like wood prints and comics. But there’s nothing ready to show to the world (yet). I’d like to put together an exhibition at some point next year but it’s going to take some effort and discipline. I would also love to find a way into making movies.

HOW I PROMOTE MYSELF:
For many years I went through endless and painful rejections while looking for a rep and it wasn’t until I moved to Australia that someone paid attention to what I had to offer. I owe a lot to Jeremy Wortsman and the Jacky Winter Group in Melbourne—they’ve been in charge of my dirty laundry since 2010. Aside from that and occasional submissions to competitions, I don’t really promote myself in any way. Maybe I should but then again I don’t have the time to do it; it’s exhausting and I’m not a salesperson. Perhaps I’ve been lucky but I’m convinced that the best way to make a name is not through a handful of boring postcards but simply by producing dedicated, honest work and by being nice and straightforward with your clients. I’ve noticed that being focused on each job, regardless of the size of the check, has been the key to build strong bonds and lasting relationships with different clients, many of which have become friends.

ADVICE FOR SOMEONE STARTING OUT:
A bunch of things come to mind:

Take care of your feet and back. Invest in good shoes, a nice mattress and a proper working chair. No job is worth losing your sleep over. If you put yourself first things will follow. If your client is a total asshole, smile and don’t lose your shit—no one deserves to carry someone else’s anger so don’t give them a chance.

Follow your guts, stay alert and learn to say NO.

From sketches to finals, always deliver on time. If something comes up be upfront and talk to your editors and art directors. They’re there for you too, and there’s always a solution for everything as long as you’re transparent—just don’t lie.

See more Diego Patino illustrations, new work, and updates:
Diego Patino website
Tumblr
Instagram @TheGoodWolf
Twitter @FakeDiegoPatino




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