MyDesyㄇㄞˋ點子 | 部落格

來自荷蘭的雙人組Loulou和Tummie，她們的創作就和她們的名字一樣親切可愛又迷人，充滿童趣的色彩並使用向量線條構圖，勾勒出一幅幅愉悅的美麗作品。

哈囉，Loulou和Tummie，很感謝你撥時間接受我們的採訪。可以請你跟ㄇㄞˋ點子的讀者介紹一下你們嗎?還有你們怎麼開始投入插畫領域的，又接觸了多久呢?

大家好啊，我們是在荷蘭的一個小城市叫做Tilburg裡面一起生活一起工作的兩個插畫家。Loulou喜歡機器人、怪獸和建築物，Tummie喜歡花、蛋糕、和可愛的Critters。

就像大多數的插畫家一樣，我們從會拿鉛筆的那天就開始畫畫。我們兩個都學視覺設計，然後後來去學校學插畫，我們就是在那裏認識的。在2004年從學校畢業後我們就開始經營Loulou & Tummie了，到現在已經六年囉。

• Hello Loulou & Tummie, really thank you for taking time to provide this interview. Please introduce yourself to MyDesy readers. How did you get started in the field? How long have you been illustrating?

- Hiya! We're two illustrators living and working together in Tilburg, a small city in the Netherlands. Loulou likes robots, monsters and buildings and Tummie loves flowers, cakes and cute critters.

Like most illustrators we've been drawing since the day we could hold a pencil. We both studied graphic design and after that went to art academy to study illustration (which is where we met :)

After finishing art academy in 2004 we started Loulou & Tummie, so that's six years ago now.

你甚麼時候開始感覺到想要投入設計和插畫的呢?你是去傳統設計學院學習，還是自學呢?我們也想要了解你的第一份設計工作呢!

從小我們就很喜歡在廣告和包裝上面畫畫，而且覺得從這裡維生一定很有趣，但是從來沒有很深入的思考過。在十幾歲的時候，我們選擇學習視覺設計，那時候繪畫「只是」我們的興趣。到最後，我們終於因為我們在插畫上面的熱情比視覺設計來的多而得到了視覺設計的學位，哈~~

我們的第一分支薪工作是當我們還在念書的時候。那時候Loulou為Dutch雜誌畫插畫(我們現在仍然定期為他們畫畫)，Tummie則是為FNV(荷蘭的貿易機構)設計海報，我們兩個都不敢回顧當時的作品，呵呵~

•When did you feel the calling to get into design and illustration first time? Did you attend a traditional design school or study by yourself? We would also like to know about your first design job.

As a kid we liked the illustrations on packaging and advertisements and figured it would be fun to earn a living like that... but never really thought further about it. As teenagers we chose to study graphic design and drawing was 'just' a hobby. Eventually, when we got our degree in graphic design we went to art academy to study illustration because our 'hobby' appealed more to us then graphic design :)

We got our first paid jobs when we were still in art academy: Loulou created editorial illustrations for a Dutch magazine (we still illustrate for that same magazine on a regular basis by the way) and Tummie designed a poster for FNV (the Dutch trade union.) We both rather not show what we created back then :)

你可以說明一下你的標準工作流程嗎?畫一張完整的插畫要多久呢?

大部分單張的插畫需要一到兩天來繪製，比較複雜的設計大概就需要長一點的時間，不過不會超過25小時。

我們總是先從鉛筆素描開始，我們先在紙上做幾個快速的構圖。然後視情況決定要不要再做些更大和更清楚的素描。

然後我們把素描掃描進去到Adobe Illustrator裡面，並且開始為素描加上一些其他的顏色，有時候我們會把原先選好的所有顏色換掉 。當我們完成之後，我們通常會把圖在做些微調，直到我們自己(當然還有客戶)感到快樂為止。

這就是全部啦!真的沒有甚麼太特別的地方。

•Could you describe your typical workflow for an illustration? How long does it take to complete some of your complex illustrations?

-Most single-page illustrations take one or two days and sometimes the more complex designs take a bit longer but no more then 25 hours I guess.

We always start off with a simple pencil sketch. We make a few quick scribbles to get the idea and a rough composition on paper. Not always but when necessary we rework a scribble into a bigger and clearer sketch.

We scan the sketch and import it into Adobe Illustrator. From there we basically trace the sketch and give it some color on the go. Sometimes we shift all the colors while working and other times we choose the colors on forehand. While finalizing we often change the layout a little bit and make small adjustments to the design until we (and the client :) are happy with it.

That's all, there's not much to it really!

你們有沒有遇到甚麼創意撞牆期呢?那時候你會怎麼做呢?

有啊，我們一直都很常遇到撞牆期。有時候你就是沒辦法有些好靈感，但是當靈感來的時候，素描就變得很容易。當我們沒有靈感的時候，我們開始上網瀏覽，或者是把工作丟在一邊，帶著狗去呼吸新鮮空氣。有時候當你沒有期望甚麼的時候，反而靈感就這麼出來了，這真的很難控制。

但是我們也會有狀況超不好的時候，當甚麼都想不出來或者是躺在床上用力想卻沒用的時候，我們大概就會去喝一杯或者吃頓好料的。呵呵~　

•Do you ever get stuck with creativity block? What would you do to get out of it?

-Yes, we certainly get stuck every now and then. Sometimes you just can't come up with a proper idea... but when the idea is there the sketch usually comes quite easily. When we have no inspiration we drown our sorrow browsing the internet. :) Leaving our studio for a stroll with our dog and get some fresh air works too. Sometimes, when you don't expect it something somewhere triggers an idea. It can be anything, it's hard to control.

But we also have bad days when nothing seems to come out of our hands and lie awake at night trying to think of something. On those days it's probably best to just go out for a drink or a nice meal :)

你創作裡面最主要的概念或元素是甚麼呢?

我們喜歡畫些色彩豐富的角色 。我們喜歡機器人、城市、花朵、橫幅廣告和可愛的東西，所以我想這就是我們創作的主要元素了。

•What is the main concept and key element in your work?

-We like to draw characters and usually make colorful designs. We love robots, cities, flowers, banners and cuteness so that might be key elements in our work.

你的一天是怎麼度過的呢?工作前想的第一件事情是甚麼呢?

我們起床(通常不會太早，我們喜歡悠哉地度過早晨)帶我們的狗去散步，在吃早餐的同時閱讀我們的郵件。因為我們的工作室離我們住的地方不會很遠，所以我們會看情況走路、騎腳踏車，或者開車過去。然後我們大概十點左右會到工作室，然後才開始回覆郵件，檢查網站上面的資料和一小時前收到的信件。

快中午的時候我們和在同一棟樓的另外兩個創意工作室一起吃飯，然後再帶我們的狗去散步。之後我們就會認真工作，接著在七八點的時候回家，Tummie就會煮一頓超棒的料理，我們的狗也一起吃晚餐。然後看一下電視或者是DVD，玩一下電玩或者上個網。然後就會出去小酌。如果真的很忙的話，就會再用我們的筆電工作一下。

半夜的時候我們會再去溜狗一下，然後上床用我們的筆電讀一下漫畫或者是書直到我們睡著。

•What is your typical day like? What do you think about first while you’re working?

-We get up (not too early, we like to take our time in the morning :), feed our dog and take him for a walk. We have breakfast while reading our emails and fresh up. Our studio is not far from our home so depending on the weather we walk, go on our bikes or hop in our car to head over there. Then, when we arrive around 10-ish we usually start off answering emails, check websites and procrastinate for an hour or so :)

Around noon we have lunch together with two other creative studios who work in the same building and it's time to walk our dog again. From then on it's hard work and around 7 or 8 we go home where Tummie cooks a great meal and the dog gets dinner too. Then watch tv or a dvd, play games, surf the internet, go out for a drink or when we're really busy we work some more on the laptop.

After midnight we walk the dog once more and go to bed and read comics or books or watch comedy series on our laptop until we fall asleep!

你可以說明一下你的工作流程嗎? 是甚麼讓你們想要畫插畫的，你們有發現從裡面看到自己可以做得更多嗎?

我們愛我們的工作，而且能夠獨立自主真的是一件超棒的事情(所以我們可以晚起，嘻嘻)。

今天做做簡單的編輯工作，然後畫畫或者是設計個真人大小的塑膠機器人，縫紉一下布娃娃，做一下包裝或遊戲的繪畫，還有參加展覽。每次我們都盡全力投入然後這也增強我們的功力和風格。

所以說，我們肯定會想要在我們接下來的人生裡面都從事插畫的。

•Could you describe your workflow? What makes you two want to illustrate and do you see yourself doing more of this kind of work? What drives you to be an illustrator?

-We love our job and being independent is great (so we can get up late :) Every now and then we get new exciting projects to work on so we keep facing challenges. One day working on a small editorial and the next painting a mural or designing a life-size plastic robot, sewing pluche dolls, crafting papertoys, draw for packaging or games or participate in an exhibition and every time we try to get the most out of it and improve our skills and style.
So, yes, we'd love to keep on illustrating for the rest of our lives!

你們怎麼在商業創作和個人間取得平衡?

我們沒有真的想過這件事情。我們大部分的時間都從事商業專案，剩下的時間我們就試著去做我們自己的個人創作~

•How do you come up with a balance between commercial products and more personal projects?

-We don't really think about it, we work on commercial projects most of the time and every bit of spare time we have we try to work on personal stuff.

你的插畫家工作怎麼影響你的生活呢?你有沒有看到甚麼不一樣呢?

我們的工作和個人生活總是結合在一起，尤其是自從我們生活在一起之後更是這樣。我們整天一起思考和討論設計。對我們來說要把工作和社交分開幾乎是不可能的，不過那對我們並不造成問題。我們喜歡這樣，搞不好我們上癮了。

我們總是用設計師的角度來看每件事情，我想這應該是每個設計師都這麼做吧。

•How does your job as an illustrator influence your life? Do you feel that you see things around you differently for example?

-Our work and personal lives blend together all the time, especially since we live together as well. We're thinking and talking about illustration and design 24 hours a day, for us it's almost impossible to keep work and social life separated but that's not a problem. We like it, perhaps we're even addicted :)
We both look at everything we see and do from a design perspective but I think that is something all designers do. 

向量創作中的甚麼讓你這麼著迷?甚麼工具或者是應用程式你會用來做創作呢?

使用向量的方式讓我們可以控制每一個我們想要表達的東西。你可以不斷地做改變，不管是弧度或者是顏色，直到你滿意為止。但是縫紉玩具就比較沒辦法自由變化了。

我們主要使用Adobe Illustrator來做插畫，但是通常都用鉛筆和紙開始。當然，我們還使用刀片和膠水來做紙玩具，還有縫紉機來做些布玩偶。

•What is it about the vector medium that fascinates you? What tools and applications do you use to create your vector arts? 

-Using vectors gives us the control to make everything exactly the way we want it. You can keep on changing every point, curve and color until it's perfect. We like that aspect but that is also why it's refreshing to sometimes paint a mural or sew a plushe toy where there's less control.

We mainly use Adobe Illustrator for illustrations but always start off with pencil and paper. And of course we use paper, craftingknive and glue to make papertoys and felt and a sewing machine for the plushe toys and canvasses.

你未來想要做些甚麼呢?有沒有甚麼新的案子呢?或者是有沒有你現在正在做而你們非常興奮的?明年你們的Vectips會有甚麼讓我們特別期待的嗎?還有就是你們怎麼讓插畫看起來像是在玩而不是在工作的呢?

我們沒有甚麼計畫，我們只是專注在我們的工作上。我們真的只是繼續做我們現在在做的，而且希望機會會一直到來。

我們一直都在嘗試著要找出些新的東西。我們不喜歡重複我們已經做過的事情，這會讓我們一直覺得有趣。商業性的案子也很像在玩耍，但是也不是一直都是。這真的要看每個案子的情形，每次越到最後期限的時候，感覺起來就越像是在工作。

我們現在正在做一個真人大小的塑膠玩具，這是我們為了Graphic Design Festival Breda所設計的。那個玩具會被生產成超小的尺寸，然後我們會把它變成每一個我們喜歡的荷蘭設計師。我們現在也正在進行一個大型的國際專案，裡面有上百個角色，不過現在我們不能跟你說太多。

•What are your plans for the future? Any creative work coming up, or that you're currently working on, that you're excited about? What can we expect from you over on Vectips this coming year? To what extent does illustrating feel like play, and when does it feel like work? What do you do to keep things fun?

-We don't make or have real plans, we just dive in the projects that come our way. We'd love to just keep on doing what we're doing now and hopefully exciting opportunities will keep on turning up.

We try to come up with new things whenever we can. We don't like to repeat what we've already done which keeps it fun for us. Commercial work often feels like play too but not always. It really depends on each project and often the time we get to finish it, when a deadlines is nearing it often feels more like working :)

At the moment we're working on life-size plastic toys that we designed for Graphic Design Festival Breda which are being produced on a very small scale and will be customized by Dutch designers we like. We're also working on a big international project that involves hundreds of digital characters but we can't say much about that at the moment.

你們的職涯中有沒有哪些最具挑戰性的案子呢?那挑戰是甚麼?你們怎麼克服的?

去年我們為鹿特丹的展覽做了一個大房子，還有一個三公尺高的紙玩偶。那比我們想像中的還要複雜，我們遇到了很多麻煩，因為我們從來沒有做過這麼樣的尺寸。幸好最後我們解決了所有的問題而且在時間內測試完成，而且很幸運的是，那個超酷的。

•What's been your most challenging project so far in your career? What was challenging about it? And how did you overcome those challenges?
-Last year we created a big house out of felt and a 3 meter high papertoy for an exhibition in Rotterdam. That was much more work than we thought and we ran into many problems because we never worked on such scale. But, eventually we solved all problems and managed to finish it in time by trial and error and hard work... and luckily it turned out pretty cool too :)

感謝你們接受我們的採訪，你們有沒有甚麼建議要給我們一些想要更專業的插畫家或者設計師呢?

做很多作品，然後從中找到你們自己的風格。對自己的作品嚴格並且讓大家知道。把作品上傳到Flickr或者是任何一個你喜歡的地方。

•Thanks for the interview Loulou & Tummie! Is there any advice that you'd like to give aspiring illustrators and designers who are working hard to grow professionally?
-Make lot's of work, try to find your own style, be critical on your own work and show the world what you do, upload it on websites like flickr.com or whatever you like best!