@illustratiesvanreinout

Instagram: @illustratiesvanreinout Website: www.reinoutdijkstra.nl

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

My name is Reinout, I'm just a really tall drawing-making-machine from The Netherlands. Originally from the smallest farmer-town imaginable, I moved to the city of Zwolle to study illustration design. I have a studio here and I live in a sea container!

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

There's always crooked lines and these strange colours. They make up colourfull characters. I always like a bit of tension in my illustrations. There are long shadows as though it's always four o'clock. The world consists of a strange mix between the now and the best from the seventies. I try to capture it all with my fine liners.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

With a piece of sturdy paper and in my right hand a fine liner. I like how fine liners are absolute, they don't forgive. The line you create is the line you're stuck with. I like to combine the crooked, the shaky and the hand-made elements with crisp digital colouring.

4. What is your artistic process like?

When on an assignment, I read the text four about ten times. Then I take a sip of coffee. Meanwhile, I make small thumbnails and start looking for reference stuff to put in the piece. I make a folder of photos as I start making a detailed sketch. After that, it's off to the Lightbox. I trace my sketch on a new paper. I take another sip of coffee, realise that it is cold and undrinkable. Then I trace my trace, and sometimes I trace that. After that, I turn on my scanner and usually take a very long time picking the right colours to create an atmosphere.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

I like making things. It's the best feeling in the world when you surprise yourself with the art you make. Also, coffee, containers, drinking, old movies and a lot of comics and friends.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

Being an artist sadly doesn't give me superpowers. If my life is a locomotive, art is the engine room. It keeps me going and striving for more.

7. Where did you study?

After some basic graphic design, I studied Illustration Design, right here in the city of Zwolle. It was exactly what I longed for. Telling stories through art, making them by hand, with the focus on producing as much as humanly possible.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

I'll be a fulltime illustration-man. My clients will give me manageable deadlines and they specifically ask me, because they like my aesthetic style. I'd like to have made a book by then.

9. What about in ten?

I like to think up a project which enables me to travel for my work. I think, if you can think of a project, you'll be able to do it eventually. Also, I want a studio of my own, a nice place for artists to work, to chill and to inspire each other. I also would like to be in a position where I could help young upcoming artists.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

If my art can buy me bread and bring smiles on people's faces, I'd be satisfied!

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

Definitely mashed potato stew. It's a Dutch traditional dish. With kale and smoked sausage. It's the Dutch variation of soul food.

12. Favourite book?

I'm currently reading all the classic 007 books. But one of my all-time favourites is The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster.

13. Favourite genre of music?

Phew, That's a tricky one. It might only be rock 'n roll, but I like it. But you can make me happy with soul, funk, disco, oldskool hip-hop, or stoner rock.

14. What are your hobbies?

Boardgames! Boardgames and casual drinking!

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

I was really close to becoming a teacher.