Art of Comic Illustrator Connor Willumsen

From Brooklyn, New York, Connor Willumsen is an illustrator and cartoonist with an impressive collection of high quality work at a young age.

Connor answers some questions relating to how he got into his work and how he does it.

How did you get into the illustration you do and what was your training?

‘It’s hard to say when I got into this sort of thing. Looking back it was apparently a very slow and natural process since that started before I can remember. I’ve been going to art school for about five years now, but despite that I’ve concluded that most of my skills have been self-taught. In my youth I worked diligently to develop my own technical prowess with drawing, and school was a valuable experience as an outlet to broaden my perception of art’.

Can you describe your work process and the tools used in creating your work?

‘I used to experiment with all sorts of mediums, but I found that I did not have the patience to go through all the maintenance and supplies required for painting. I’ve always had the desire to produce large quantities of work, and the traditional comic-making technique, black ink on white paper, works well for me.

I don’t like to work with anything I can’t take with me on a plane. I like the idea of being able to get work done in hotel rooms. As far as coloring goes, Photoshop gets the job done quick, but at the same time I make time to paint in my sketchbook so my color theory doesn’t atrophy’.

How did you get good at drawing people?

‘The reason is nothing more complicated than drawing figures all the time. I’ve looked at my old Junior High and High School notebooks recently and the margins are completely filled with small faces and figures. I guess I’ve always been enticed by the human form. Daydreaming in class seems to have payed off. One sort of trick I picked up lately is using the most limiting medium when I sketch, by which I mean then one which leaves the least room for error.

Pencils were easy to trial with, then ink was a little more dangerous, but with a brush you can still get away with being loose. The logical conclusion of all this was for me to use technical pens when I sketch. It forces you to concentrate on the motion of your hand, the line has to be right every time or the drawing has failed. And if you do screw it up, you have to be resourceful to work around it and fix it. Throw out your erasers’.

More of Connor’s work and his updates can be found on his blog.

Good luck Connor!

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