Tom Hovey

Amelia’s Magazine | Portfolio: an interview with illustrator Gabriel Ayala aka Gaarte

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Nova Chiu A/W 2013 by Gaarte

Nova Chiu A/W 2013 by Gaarte.

Fashion illustrator Gabriel Ayala is based in New York, from where he has been contributing regularly to Amelia’s Magazine for several years. We always look forward to his idiosyncratic and often spectacular depictions of runway looks from the London Fashion Week shows, and thought it was about time we caught up with the enigmatic illustrator better known as Gaarte.

Ekaterina Kukhareva S/S 2014 by Gaarte

Ekaterina Kukhareva S/S 2014 by Gaarte.

How did you get into fashion illustration?
I first came into contact with fashion illustration through a book in the library at KCC (Kingsborough Community College). This was 10 years ago. I remember flipping through the pages of this book and when I landed on George Stavrinos‘s page I just feel in love. By the next semester, I was at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) studying Fashion Illustration. I had a mentor in the school, Bil Donovan, who is a fashion illustrator and encouraged me towards pursuing it as a career.

Fyodor Golan A/W 2013 by Gaarte.

Fyodor Golan A/W 2013 by Gaarte.

What is your design background?
As far as design goes, I did a semester of menswear (at FIT). By this time I was already in school for about 5 years and I couldn’t take it anymore. Within those 5 years I studied graphic design, photo retouching, commercial illustration and fashion illustration.

Heohwan Simulation by Gaarte

Heohwan Simulation by Gaarte.

What are your design inspirations?
I draw inspiration from other designers’ work. I don’t get inspired by nature, animals, or abstract concepts. I need to keep the work consistent & commercial within extremely tight deadlines. (I know that the response seems very dry but I’m keeping it real).

How do you set about working on a new illustration?
I start every work from a concept written in my sketchbook… I need to decide how this project relates to ME? What is MY perspective. Once I decide how the work speaks to ME then I start sketching ideas. Afterwards I develop the sketches into works that have a commercial sensibility.

Corrie Nielsen by Gaarte

Corrie Nielsen by Gaarte.

What is an essential requirement for you to work happily?
Music videos and music are really essential. I start blasting music, seeing the visuals and that inspires me to work through the illustration. I usually have youtube or MTV hits playing. Depending on how I am feeling I listen to certain types of music. Pop, hip-hop, rock, reggaeton it doesn’t really matter. If I don’t have music then I feel like I’m forcing the work instead of letting it flow. I refer to this a creative constipation.

Here are some songs that I’m digging at the moment:
Jay-Z Ft. Kanye West- Who Gon Stop Me
Eminem – The Monster (Audio) ft. Rihanna
Natalia Kills – Problem
I Luv This Shit (Explicit)

Ong-Oaj Pairam by Gaarte

Ong-Oaj Pairam by Gaarte.

You’ve been contributing to Amelia’s Magazine for some years now, how did you discover it and what keeps bringing you back?
I used to work for a company named stylesight.com and I was tracking an image (from their offices) back through the blog of Tom Hovey. In his blog he had a link to Amelia’s Mag and the rest is history I guess. I think that Amelia’s Mag is a platform for emerging fashion creatives worldwide. And the magazine is the only publication in the world to display photography and fashion illustration in the same article under the same light (at least this is what I believe). And the reason why I keep coming back is to be a part of a publication that promotes and displays fashion illustration.

Carlotta Actis Barone S/S 2013 by Gaarte

Carlotta Actis Barone S/S 2013 by Gaarte.

What has been the best part about creating fashion illustrations for Amelia’s Magazine?
The best part is creating the work. Executing a piece of commercial work for the  public is exciting. Having that work live and represent me, my idea, my concept and my brand is dope. It’s better than having your work in a gallery, in-print or on a wall because that is static… it’s a static life. When you get your work out there, especially on a platform like Amelia’s Magazine, then the work has the capability to take on a life of it’s own (I’m not saying that it always takes a life of it’s own… I’m saying it has the capability). It is good to have work featured in the magazine coz that gives you credibility, sort of like Juxtapoz, but for fashion illustration. Then social media allows the artwork to take on another life, another audience.

Ashish S/S 2014 by Gaarte

Ashish S/S 2014 by Gaarte.

You have recently been working with Fashion Group International in New York. Can you tell us a bit about the company and what your role is?
I’ve been with FGI since 2011. They are a membership organization and a non-profit, specializing in events tailored to the fashion professional. There are many different regions, each region organizes events such as retail and beauty symposiums, trend presentations and so on. We recently celebrated our 30th Annual Night of Stars Gala honoring Marc Jacobs. And we are currently organizing our annual Rising Star Awards. I am the first in house graphic designer/ web designer. I’m also involved in social media for FGI. I work with a team of marketers to develop the look and feel of an event as well as design and develop any printed material and eblast relating events. On the social media end of things, I tie the events into the social platforms and try to keep FGI in the conversation (of major fashion news).

Yeashin S/S 2014 by Gaarte

Yeashin S/S 2014 by Gaarte.

Referring back to the inspiration question, when you work with a bunch of marketing people you’re work needs to be on point EVERY single time. So you need to refer to what is happening in the industry and trying to keep up with commercial standards. And there are so many different events so you have to pull inspiration from EVERYWHERE…. so you’re everywhere and no where at the same time.

Nian S/S 2014 by Gaarte

Nian S/S 2014 by Gaarte.

Can you tell us a bit about your everyday life in Brooklyn, New York?
My everyday life is boring… and I love it like that. I am a fitness guy so I begin my day with an egg white protein shake. Then I’m off to the gym to workout. I spend 2 hours at the gym come back home. The rest of my day is spent in front of a computer when I’m not cooking and running around with my nephew. In case if you’re wondering, the majority of the meals that I cook are healthy. I do a lot of research on healthy foods. Most people think that I’m on steroids but I’M NOT. (When I say most people I’m referring to: my co-workers, my friends, my brother and my mother).

Gabriel Ayala self portrait

Self Portrait.

Thankyou so much Gabriel, it’s been fabulous to get a better insight into your everyday life, inspirations and work practice. Do watch out for more artwork from Gaarte in the near future, as he will be one of our very special portfolio illustrators on the new website.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday January 9th, 2014 4:28 pm

Categories ,Bil Donovan, ,brooklyn, ,Fashion Group International, ,Fashion Institute of Technology, ,Gaarte, ,Gabriel Ayala, ,George Stavrinos, ,Juxtapoz, ,Kingsborough Community College, ,London Fashion Week, ,new york, ,Rising Star Awards, ,stylesight.com, ,Tom Hovey

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Jacob Denno, editor of poetry and illustration magazine Popshot

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popshot
Popshot is a wonderful poetry and illustration magazine and editor Jacob Denno once wrote for me, what is ed so when he contacted me recently about his new limited edition print range it seemed the perfect opportunity to find out a bit more about his inspiring ventures.

theprintshop_city abyss
Print by City Abyss.

What inspired you to set up Popshot magazine and what was your aim?
The magazine was born out of a slight frustration at the way in which poetry magazines were presenting themselves and ultimately, presenting poetry. I loved reading poetry but couldn’t find a single magazine on the shelves of Borders that was stimulating that passion. Most of them were a dark sea of Times New Roman font that made poetry really difficult to engage with. The aim was to create a magazine that I thought could engage with younger readers and dispel the myth that poetry was a bunch of outdated bollocks that had no footing in the modern day. I think there’s still a long way to go…

theprintshop_devin mcgrath
Print by Devin Mcgrath.

Have you always been into poetry… what decides which poems make the magazine?
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always had an interest in poetry. My mum used to stick up poetry quotations all over the downstairs toilet in our house so that you could memorise poetry while you were doing your thing, so it’s probably all thanks to her! As for what poems make it into the magazine – they have to be an original and interesting idea, thoughtful, beautifully written and full of imagery that allows the reader to dip into the poem’s world for the 25 lines or less. I love short poems because they’re so saturated with ideas and imagery. It’s like a shot of tequila instead of a bottle of wine.

theprintshop_esra roise
Print by Esra Røise.

How do you find your illustrators and what are you looking for in your choice of illustrators? Any top tips for places to seek out great illustration talent…
We scour blogs, websites, agencies, magazines, newspapers and exhibitions for new illustrators, as well as sorting through the hundreds of portfolios that we get sent. I could still do a better job of seeking out the relatively unknown illustrators but it’s almost a full time occupation searching for them! As for what we’re looking for – it’s usually editorial illustrators that have a knack of condensing an entire poem into one all encompassing image. It’s an art form to be able to take a story or poem or article and pull all the sentiment from it into one image. Very few people can do it well but I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of those that can. I also have a massive soft spot for illustrators who are influenced by photo realism but are able to produce pretty much anything that you can think up.

theprintshop_mydeadpony
Print by Mydeadpony.

You once wrote for Amelia’s Magazine – do you still write and do you write for other journals besides your own? And I have to ask, are you also a poet?
Most of the writing I’m doing at the moment is more informative and practical, such as updating the blog and writing the editorial etc. I don’t write for any other journals although I wouldn’t mind writing a column for The Guardian or something! I do write poetry although when you’re reading through about 4000 poems per issue, it can drain you of all your poetic inspiration so I haven’t written anything for a while. It’s such a beautiful way to use language though so whenever I get the chance or inspiration to, I love trying to condense a whirlwind of thoughts into one short poem.

As a little side note, I think seeing my name in the last printed issue of Amelia’s Magazine played a large part in my desire to be involved in magazines and print. So thanks for that!

theprintshop_sam green
Print by Sam Green.

You have six prints in your new print shop – how did you decide which ones to use?
The idea was to take six of the finest illustrations from the last 5 issues of Popshot, which meant we had a little over 100 illustrations to choose from. However, what makes for a brilliant piece of editorial illustration doesn’t necessarily make for a brilliant print, so in the end, there were only about 15 illustrations to choose from. The ones we ended up going for were the images that we felt were the most powerful, thought provoking and told a story even without the poem sitting next to them. In fact, some of them take on a whole new meaning once they’re popped onto a 675 x 550mm canvas and mounted on a wall.

theprintshop_tom hovey
Print by Tom Hovey.

Please can you tell us a little bit more about each of the featured artists and the poems they illustrated.
But of course! Sam Green‘s image accompanied a poem called The Aftershock by Mike Swain which looked at the redefinition of the male role in modern society, and the slight death of the hunter/gatherer role. Mydeadpony‘s image was created in response to Rosie Allabarton‘s poem …and this is what we call liberation which challenged the theory that pornography liberates women by breaking down taboos. Devin McGrath‘s image illustrated MDMA by Daniel Sluman which was an attempt to write a poem about drugs without glorifying or demonising it. Tom Hovey‘s piece was in response to If Black Could Shine by Mai’a Williams which spoke of the difficulties Sudanese refugees were facing in Egypt. City Abyss‘s image was actually the cover illustration for Issue two’s Us & Them issue and Esra Røise‘s image accompanied a poem called Sleepovers by Bethan Parker-Luscombe, which was a snapshot memory of a childhood spent indulging in sleepovers.

You can buy these prints from the Print Shop on the Popshot Magazine website. The prints are produced in limited edition runs of 150 each and cost just £45 apiece.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Thursday September 8th, 2011 10:12 am

Categories ,Amelia’s Magazine, ,Bethan Parker-Luscombe, ,Borders, ,City Abyss, ,Daniel Sluman, ,Devin McGrath, ,Egypt, ,Esra Røise, ,If Black Could Shine, ,illustration, ,Jacob Denno, ,Limited Edition, ,Mai’a Williams, ,MDMA, ,Mike Swain, ,Mydeadpony, ,poetry, ,Popshot Magazine, ,prints, ,Printshop, ,Rosie Allabarton, ,Sam Green, ,Sleepovers, ,The Aftershock, ,Tom Hovey, ,Us & Them

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