1. What would you say is the most important theme in your work?
I always put a touch of humour in my drawings. I want people to smile when they see my work.

2. What’s most inspiring to your working process?
Thinking. I always start working thinking and writing my ideas in a notebook. I barely draw, I write a lot of words, thoughts, concepts… inspired by my daily life, dreams, or something I saw on internet…

3. Have you any strange talents that influence the work you produce or the way you produce it?
I’m very messy, so I’ve developed the ability of finding anything very fast in the mess! (files in my messy desktop, pencils in my messy drawer etc…)

4. Which artist of the past would you resurrect to collaborate with and why?
Aloys Zötl to understand him and how he used to work. We don’t know much about him, only he was a Austrian master dyer and he painted all his life a fantastic bestiary.

5. Do you think your work is understood or misinterpreted and why?
I think my work is not difficult to understand! I don’t pretend anything, it’s funny and colourful. Well, sometimes some clients ask me to draw “better” or to put to my characters “real human proportions”.

I only have one project who has been misinterpreted by some people. It’s a collaborative graphic humor blog, which I run with a writer, Laura Torné. The name of the project is “Death to the bad men” (Muerte a los hombres malos in Spanish), and we see in each cartoon, a man being killed by some feminine hands for some stupid reasons, and in a surrealistic way . It’s obviously ironic and offbeat, but some men didn’t get it and have insulted us and even threatened us.

6. If you could decorate one place in the world what would it be and how would you do it?
I like painting on windows, so I would really enjoy painting some huge windows, like a crystal palace or a greenhouse. I would paint something in white or pale color to keep the light coming through.

7. What to date has been your ‘cherry on the cake’ moment and what was it that got you there?
I was 18 (I’ve been studying Sciences in High School) but I wanted to make a career change and enter in an high demand Art course in France. 600 candidates for 15 places! There was a difficult competitive exam. I was thinking it would be impossible for me to enter but my father encouraged me and said something like that “15 places, that’s too many places, you only need one place”. I finally ranked at nº1 and I couldn’t believe it

8. What we ask everyone! Does your artistic style influence your underwear?
In someway yes! As a lot of French girls, I’ve got a lot of underwear from the brand Princesse Tam Tam: I tend to choose the most original and colorful pieces of each collection.

Doodle space, if you feel so inclined!

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More info www.carolineselmes.com
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Caroline Selmes is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What was the trajectory (catalyst) from magazine lover to publisher?
The huge gap in magazines about Arabs in the region and the diaspora is that they seemed, to me anyways, to lack a genuine voice. They weren’t accessible nor were they interesting—either by being too elitist, too academic, dealing with the wider ‘Middle East’ and lumping it all together as one identity, and ignored sharing new and original work in different ways, or looking at it from an educational (but not overly academic) perspective. Most of the time, they aren’t designed very well either.

2. What would be key elements on an new editions inspirational mood board?
I’ve never actually used a mood board, whether with the magazine or other design/writing projects. Kalimat has no fixed theme, but rather it’s determined by the content we get for each issue. Sometimes we’ll notice a lot of our contributors leaning a certain way and the issue will be subtly branded in that direction, but its not common nor a conscious decision beforehand.

The one element that is essential with every edition is the cover’s colour consistency, which is seen throughout the issue. For example, the photos in the issue match the colour palette of the cover. Colour consistency is vital for me. The other key element is the cover photo: who will design it? And what content will it highlight or literally bring to the fore?

3. What to date has been the most (un)fortunate misprint?
I’d say Issue 03, Autumn 2011, where the caption incorrectly switched the artist credits on two photos in the same article (the writer later realised after submissions and the issue going live). Other than that, it’s having a capital ’W' somewhere in the text. This can happen in the design process when pressing Shift + W allows me to view the page in full screen. If I’ve accidentally selected text, InDesign just adds the W instead and it can be easy to miss!

4. Who or what would be your dream feature?
I actually haven’t thought about that. Now that you ask, I’d like to have an entire issue devoted to interviewing Arab leaders in government, arts, and culture and getting to ask all the tough questions, completely unedited and uncensored. That would be great, and important for people to read too.

5. Who do you wish is reading your publication?
Absolutely everybody. Though ideally I’d love for the world’s most ignorant people to pick it up, you know the people that think Arabs live in tents and all that, and that it would make them rethink everything.

Aside from that I’d love the many young Arab creatives to pick it up and be inspired, realise that they’re part of a growing and international cultural community, not to censor themselves or limit what they can do with their talents and skills.

Since the magazine is intended for a wider audience, not just for a specific group, I wish that I could see more people read the magazine who might not know anything about Arabs, both in the region and in the diaspora, and think beyond what they might see on the news. They’ll see a big, globally dispersed, and really diverse group of people whose youth and cultural producers are doing some really interesting things and provide a lot of perspectives and commentary on what’s happening around them and in the world.

6. How’s the independent magazine sector going to disrupt & conquer?
In our case, we’re dealing with a region that is highly censored. As independent publishers we don’t answer to anyone, which makes the content more raw and exciting. In my opinion, it’s got to ’challenge the status quo’ as I like to say. People don’t want fluffy, superficial content. Also we’re big on design, and I think being independent helps you develop a more individual design identity that reflects certain ideas and processes. This is opposed to a bland, sterile, market-oriented design, which you can call design-by-committee which is essentially a lot of compromises on each page. We intend to up the standards of publishing and visual communication across the region.

7. What’s been the most rewarding reader feedback you’ve had about your publication?
We’ve received some truly wonderful feedback and fan mail. For one, someone referred to Kalimat as the big sister of their publication. I’ve gotten a few emails from people who told me they fell in love with the magazine as, in addition to looking great, it covers topics that are often overlooked. There’s also people who email me saying “Finally!” in reference to exclusively featuring the work of Arab contributors. No fan mail about my glamour shot though (snaps fingers in disappointment).

8. Has publishing a magazine entitled you to unlimited free underwear?
Unfortunately, no. Just unlimited air-kissing.

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More info www.kalimatmagazine.com
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BUY ONLINE AT ANIKIBO

Kalimat Magazine is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What was the trajectory (catalyst) from magazine lover to publisher?
We would say that we are still lovers and only sometime publishers… We started in magazines, working our way up. Then setting up the Saturday Group when we were still young, which has now grown into a global fashion marketing and media business, which allowed us to invest and make Industrie happen. We blend art and commerce in everything we do, and we love developing ideas, be it campaigns, brands or magazines. Before Industrie, we founded Man About Town. We were also the founding art directors of GQ Style and creative consultants to Vogue China prior to that. So we are not new to the game…

2. What would be key elements on an new editions inspirational mood board?
We edit for ourselves, meaning that we use the editorial to answer questions we have. If we look back, examples would have been, how does Jefferson live. Who is the New Establishment. What is Rick Owens fitness routine… We ask the question and let Industrie help us get it answered. What’s next for us… well that we won’t tell anyone until we come out with the next issue.

3. What to date has been the most (un)fortunate misprint?
That we didn’t print more magazines. We’ve been taken back by its success. We’re very grateful to everyone who still supports independent publishers and goes out and buys the mags.

4. Who or what would be your dream feature?
Anyone that would never do press, is who we want. Martin Margiela, Steven Meisel alternatively something that hasn’t been done before. We had Mert & Marcus on the cover, shot by Mert & Marcus. That was a first. When Marc Jacobs decided to model for us, wearing the best of his own woman collections! That was a first.

5. Who do you wish is reading your publication?
The people that we look up to. The heroes of our working lives. That’s the audience you ultimately want to please.

6. How’s the independent magazine sector going to disrupt & conquer?
We can’t host the conversation, not enough people buy magazines or visit our own sites. We can put out great stories. The best thing about a world in which social media is where we inform and inspire, is that a great piece of content can be amplified a thousand times over its own audience. The content is the media, not the format or publishing method.

7. What’s been the most rewarding reader feedback you’ve had about your publication?
That they actually read the magazine. In publishing, we call our customers ‘readers’, but most people flick and look…

8. Has publishing a magazine entitled you to unlimited free underwear?
The things we aspire to, are not offered to us, and would they be, I’m not so sure we’d lust for them anymore! What is unattainable is most desirable. And when it comes to underwear, we don’t wear any.

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More info www.industriemagazine.com
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Industrie Magazine is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What would you say is the most important theme in your work?
I would say ‘contrast’ in general. Meaning the good and the bad in our world. Only white can live through black and the other way around. That’s why I only paint in white and black. This is such an important theme for me because only than I can understand things a little more in this world.

2. What’s most inspiring to your working process?
The most inspiring thing of a working process, is the working process itself. Although I have a love/hate relationship with it. The process can run smooth when all aspects come together at the same time, but sometimes it’s such a torture and you have to dig deep to see if something is down there to bring to the surface. The process is never the same.

3. Have you any strange talents that influence the work you produce or the way you produce it?
I lick my brushes, I spit in my paint to make it more smooth and I mix my paint on the back of my hands. For the rest I go to bed early and always work sober. I eat fruit and vegetables like a rabbit and drink tea like an old English lady.

4. Which artist of the past would you resurrect to collaborate with and why?
I’d love to do a collab with Frida. While we’re working on our bloody painting I’d tell her that not all men are dicks and I’d love to help her shave that dark unibrow.

5. Do you think your work is understood or misinterpreted and why?
Both! Some people buy my paintings that only see the white side in the work, while there is always a dark side next to it. For example: The project ‘Killer Heels’ got a lot of attention. Among women animal skins in fashion is acceptable again – women need to have those high heels urgently. What I wanted to do was open up their minds to stopping this. Some blogs cursed me for using ‘real’ crocodiles to realise the ‘Killer Heels’ project. Off course I never used any real animals!

6. If you could decorate one place in the world what would it be and how would you do it?
I would paint the ‘White House’ black with a brush and a bucket of paint.

7. What to date has been your ‘cherry on the cake’ moment and what was it that got you there?
There are more cherry’s on my cake, BUT… doing a performance on the opening-night of the Stedelijk Museum (Modern Museum), in Amsterdam, was probably the most special moment. I loved showing my work to an audience that normally visits the museum for all its big names and now I get me a little stage inbetween them.

8. What we ask everyone! Does your artistic style influence your underwear?
Yes. I just wear black so I can wear them for weeks.
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More info www.sitnie.com
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12►

SIT is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What was the trajectory (catalyst) from magazine lover to publisher?
I have always loved magazines. I have collected them for as long as I can remember. Especially the ones that question the format of a magazine and what a magazine is or can be. I always wanted to make my own magazines. As soon as I had an idea I liked, I just made it. My first one took around 3 hours to make the final artwork for the entire magazine (and unfortunately it then took several months to actually print!!!).

With the right concept, a magazine can be super simple to create. It’s really not rocket science. First you need a simple idea that you believe in, and then you need time to actually produce itdistribute it. No one has time these days, so you literally have to make time. You work nights. You work weekends. You rope in some friends, maybe a couple of keen students. Anything to get it off the ground. Not having money is no excuse. If you really want to make it happen, you can. Fanzines cost fuck all for example. Or you could start working nights at a printing press. There is always a way.

2. What would be key elements on a new editions inspirational mood board?
Not sure what this means? I rarely work off a key visual. More of a key concept. I then form (or find) my visuals from the concept. Naked Woman Covered In Glitter, And Words.” was a 220 page glossy magazine with nothing but a single line on each page describing what should be on the page. And the One Page Magazine project is a simple way of reducing the entire content of a magazine down to one single page.

3. What to date has been the most (un)fortunate misprint?

The printing has been ok. Rob Stolk in Amsterdam are a fantastic printers, and I hang around during the entire production process (which probably is a bit annoying for them, but it is super interesting, and means I can correct/approve anything there and then. But there was a problem with the shrink wrap process at first. This was done through a record company, using the same technology as they use with 12 inch vinyl. We lost around 10% of the printed stock due to complications at this stage.

4. Who or what would be your dream feature?
We were looking into ways of working with bigger publications, like a one page bible, or a one page phone book, or something like that. Scanning it would be a bitch though. There is a new One Page Magazine in the pipeline which is on this level of madness. Hoping to release it next year sometime. And there are some larger scale pieces in the pipeline too.

5. Who do you wish is reading your publication?
Anyone who is interested in contemporary magazines and their content.

6. How’s the independent magazine sector going to disrupt & conquer?
Go niche. I hate these general magazines – A bit of fashion, a bit of film theory, some art, some stories. I can’t believe people still do these things in the 21st century. That is what the internet is for – a sea of ‘stuff’. What I really love is niche publications. The more niche the better. People who are so obsessed by one small thing, that they decide to make a magazine about nothing but that one thing. Whatever it may be.

7. What’s been the most rewarding reader feedback you’ve had about your publication?
There has been some great feedback online, and it has been picked up by numerous exhibitions and museums (most recently at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis and the Copper-Hewitt Smithsonian in NYC) and it is always flattering to be invited to participate in these things. But the biggest compliment is when someone actually buys a copy. Magazines are not cheap – people will look at many magazines, yet buy few. So the greatest compliment is in the sales figures. If someone decides to part with their hard earned cash to buy an experimental publication such as One Page Magazine, that is a real compliment.

8. Has publishing a magazine entitled you to unlimited free underwear?
No, not yet. But I have great faith for the future.

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More info www.onepagemagazine.com
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OnePageMagazine is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What would you say is the most important theme in your work?
My recent work has been focusing on ideas of ingenuity and practical creativity within a narrative. Paintings about knowing what you need to do to change a situation but having or not having the skill set or mechanisms to do so. Human behaviour. Pattern.

2. What’s most inspiring to your working process?
Travel, observation, trying to make sense of our behavior.

3. Have you any strange talents that influence the work you produce or the way you produce it?
I’m obsessed with repetitive tasks and being able to focus on a specific thing (I’m not sure that’s a talent though) that helps me paint all day, everyday. That said I usually lock and unlock the front door probably more times than I should when I leave the house.

4. Which artist of the past would you resurrect to collaborate with and why?
Illustrator / painter Charley Harper. His sense of colour and spatial balance is amazing. His creative life and consistent productivity over many years is something I admire.

5. Do you think your work is understood or misinterpreted and why?
I like artwork that is open to interpretation. I make each piece or body of work around a specific set of concepts or ideas that make sense to me but I wouldn’t want the work/concepts to be so obvious or based purely on aesthetics that the viewer can’t see or understand an idea that links to their experience. I don’t think a painting works if you know exactly what the artist is trying to say at first glance.

6. If you could decorate one place in the world what would it be and how would you do it?
I’ve wanted to paint a lighthouse or many lighthouses for a long time now. If you have a lighthouse I can paint, send me an email. I will travel and we can have a nice coffee, then I will paint the lighthouse. I think they are amazing.

7. What to date has been your ‘cherry on the cake’ moment and what was it that got you there?
Going to the studio everyday and having the time to create new work, and travelling and painting in unique locations around the world.

8. What we ask everyone! Does your artistic style influence your underwear?
I’m a big advocate of heavily patterned socks.
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More info www.kylehughesodgers.com
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Kyle Hughes-Odgers is a post from: INDIGITS

Since their first gig back in summer 2011 they’ve established themselves firmly in the local scene and have gone on to support acts such as Fink, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Elektro Guzzi and Nostalgia77. Chook tells us more by way of the important 10 need to knows…

1. How did you get started?
I asked Claudine (Muno of Claudine and the Luna Boots) to use some vocals she had recorded some time ago and never really used. I made a DnB track with them, that went quite well. So we decided to work on more tunes together. After the second track we thought it might be worth trying to do an album which we did.

2. What ingredients do you need to mix together to produce the recipe of your sound?
A good dose of vocals
3 spoons of guitar
10 kgs of bass
and some rolling beats

3. Did your first gig make you hungry for more?
We were really nervous before our first gig. I personally hadn’t felt that anxiety in over ten years and I guess I missed it. I really enjoy performing with other musicians. Also it’s great not to be alone when you’re on tour. Originally coming from the dj field I always had to travel on my own which can be quite boring.

4. What’s the biggest ‘cock up’ to date?
I guess that must have been at our first concert. After we played our first song, we had no sound on stage for 40 minutes. So we had to send the people back out and call them back in once the problem was solved. They were very tolerant though.

5. What is it that inspires you to make your music/sound?
I don’t know, all I know is that I can’t live without making music. I just feel very unproductive if i’m not in the studio.

6. What would be the icing on the cake?
I guess just playing great concerts and seeing people enjoy our music.

7. How will you be remembered? (what will make you vintage?)
Hmmm my grey hair is going to make me look vintage

8. Describe your music as if it were a fine wine WHISKEY.
An intriguing bouquet offering comfortable scents of candle wax, a sophisticated smokey mid palate followed by a rife oak aftertaste

9. Digestive! If you weren’t doing what you are doing now, what would make you happy?
Mountain biking and playing chess

10. AfterMint! Does your musical style influence your underwear?
Not really.

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More info www.monophona.com | www.facebook.com/monophona | www.soundcloud.com/monophona
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Photos: Joël Nepper

Monophona is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What was the trajectory (catalyst) from magazine lover to publisher?
Just the love of print, publication design and creating something that looks really cool and has good content that can inspire other creatives.

2. What would be key elements on an new editions inspirational mood board?
Fun, bright and really… really nice type.

3. What to date has been the most (un)fortunate misprint?
Getting the gender of one of the artists wrong. Sorry Masaki

4. Who or what would be your dream feature?
Feature whynotassociates!

5. Who do you wish is reading your publication?
Mums and Nans

6. How’s the independent magazine sector going to disrupt & conquer?
Future Kings and Queens will realise that the Tablet just isn’t doing it for them. They will realise that well considered designed magazines is just the way to go.

7. What’s been the most rewarding reader feedback you’ve had about your publication?
I loved it so much I cut it up… into an illustration

8. Has publishing a magazine entitled you to unlimited free underwear?
Yes, one of the perks.

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more info www.justifiedmag.co.uk
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Available to buy on Anikibo

Justified Magazine is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What would you say is the most important theme in your work?
A lot of my work deals with bringing together seemingly unrelated elements to show something new about the two. I tried to dive into the cliché and ended up with results I’m really proud of.

2. What’s most inspiring to your working process?
Music. A piece can change drastically depending on the music I am listening to. It is interesting to go back and look at things I’ve made and remember the songs that were playing at the time.

3. Have you any strange talents that influence the work you produce or the way you produce it?
As I mentioned above, I’m really big on associations (music and mood and colour) so I definitely let the music I’m listening to guide the tone of a piece.

4. Which artist of the past would you resurrect to collaborate with and why?
I would really love to sit down with Ray Eames. She is such an interesting figure to me and seemed to have an insane intuition about things like colour and form. Also, a resurrected Ray Eames would probably look really scary and cool.

5. Do you think your work is understood or misinterpreted and why?
It might be strange, but I don’t mind if people misunderstand or misinterpret my work. I’m not sure if it’s my place to cram a message down a viewer’s throat.

6. If you could decorate one place in the world what would it be and how would you do it?
I’m staring at a white corner of my room that I think I’ll make something for this weekend. I have old magazines and fishing line. I’ve started to experiment with more spatial collages with elements floating above and below each other.

7. What to date has been your ‘cherry on the cake’ moment and what was it that got you there?
I was recently approached to do a piece for Wired Magazine, and that was a really big deal for me. The email came out of nowhere and I really hope to do more work like that in the future.

8. What we ask everyone! Does your artistic style influence your underwear?
Yes, yes, and yes.
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More info www.arianbehzadi.com
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Arian Behzadi is a post from: INDIGITS

1. What was the trajectory (catalyst) from magazine lover to publisher?
For several years I worked in a very dull job as a graphic designer for a large, well known telecommunications company. The job wasn’t especially bad but it offered very little in the way of creative freedom or the possibility to produce anything I could actually be proud of. I decided to start a small illustrated zine called Koodoo in my spare time. I chose themes that interested me and drew a series of illustrations related to each theme. Every zine was printed in one colour and they were cut and bound by me. I sent these out for free to anyone who was interested in my artwork. I printed a few hundred of each issue and spent hours printing and binding them. This was my first taste of independent publishing and it was fun to be creating something of my own.

When I eventually left the day job I decided I wanted to explore independent publishing further and I ended up founding Ammo Magazine. I’d discovered many of the artists in issue 1 of Ammo via Koodoo and they spread word of my new magazine which was very helpful.

2. What would be key elements on an new editions inspirational mood board?
I usually plan each issue in my sketch book to begin with. At first I’ll scribble down words and sketches until something sparks my imagination. Then I’ll start researching my chosen theme via the internet/books and gathering inspirational bits and pieces including photos, text snippets and other visual research. By collecting these things I can get my mind focused on the theme.

3. What to date has been the most (un)fortunate misprint?
Luckily there haven’t been too many mistakes so far. Having said that there was one that springs to mind… In an issue of Ammo I was running low on space and at the last minute I had to re-arrange several pages to fit everything in. I moved some of the artwork off of the pages and onto the artboard. Unfortunately one of those artworks never made it back in! I received a polite email from the artist in question saying they’d received their copy of the magazine but their artwork didn’t seem to be featured. I was gutted to have made such a stupid mistake as I aim to make each magazine as perfect as possible. All I could do was apologise and promise them a place in a future issue. Luckily the artist was really understanding and I’ve since featured them in a special edition so all’s good!

4. Who or what would be your dream feature?
I’ve been lucky enough to feature some of my favourite illustrators already. So far I’ve interviewed several very well know artists including Si Scott, Gemma Correll, Jessica Hische, Graham Carter, Peskimo, Rilla Alexander, Ben the Illustrator …and the list goes on! There are lots more I’d love to interview though. I love McBess’s artwork so It’d be great to get him involved at some point.

5. Who do you wish is reading your publication?
The magazines are aimed at anyone that has an interest in contemporary illustration. It’s great to know that Ammo magazines are on bookshelves of respected artists and studios around the world. It’s also nice to think that students are buying the magazines and finding inspiration within our pages.

6. How’s the independent magazine sector going to disrupt & conquer?
I’m not really sure independent publishers are trying to disrupt or conquer? I guess most are just producing quality output based on their own interests? Having said that it feels that larger, ad driven publications aren’t doing so well whereas smaller indie mags with a specific focus are popping up all the time.

7. What’s been the most rewarding reader feedback you’ve had about your publication?
I get some really lovely comments about the content and quality of each magazine which is very rewarding. It’s also nice when I see anyone describing Ammo publications as small ‘art books’ as opposed to magazines.

8. Has publishing a magazine entitled you to unlimited free underwear?
Nope, not yet! Who knows though, maybe oneday?

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More info www.ammomagazine.co.uk
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Ammo Magazine is a post from: INDIGITS