Our fifth interview here at illostribute is with the award-winning illustrator and visual instructor Nora Krug. With a background in performance design, documentary film as well as illustration, Ms. Krug’s work has been recognized by Print, Page and Jitter Magazine, the New York Art Directors Club, American Illustration and the Society of Illustrators. She regularly receives commissions from such publications as The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Guardian, while teaching illustration full-time at Parsons The New School for Design.
Tell us something about your background and how this has influenced you as an illustrator?
I grew up in the South of Germany, near the Pfalz wine region and the Black Forest, just outside the French border. My family went for walks in the forest almost every weekend, and I think growing up with this experience, and with the mysticism of the Grimm’s fairy tales had a big influence on me as a child, and as an artist–I have created three visual retellings of Red Riding Hood so far. My parents were interested in the edgy, anti-authoritarian children’s books and cartoons of the 1960’s and 70’s, and I grew up reading books by F. K. Waechter, Tomi Ungerer and Robert Crumb, whose visual humor impacted my own visual art.
When did you decide to pursue illustration as a career?
I decided that fairly late, as I was interested in many different fields and practicing many different disciplines as a teenager and young adult. I went to a High School that offered music as a main subject, and I almost became a professional violinist. I then studied set design and documentary film, and it was only when I met my illustration professor at the University of Art Berlin (almost by chance) that I realized that illustration could be an interesting career path. I never spent endless hours drawing as a teenager. Rather, I was interested in expressing ideas in a variety of media. In that sense, my work was idea–rather than medium driven. Drawing to me means communicating and I don’t draw to experience the physical sensation of a particular medium.
You studied at several schools. Describe your desires and decisions concerning each school as well as the effect international study has had upon your career? Were you school experiences positive?
Each of the universities I studied at influenced me in different ways. After I graduated from High School in Germany, I decided to move to Liverpool, England and to study at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, a school that had been founded by Paul McCartney during the previous year. The school was created for performing artists (actors, dancers and musicians), but also for artists who wanted to create visuals for the performing arts. I spent three years studying Performance Design and worked closely together with international students from different artistic backgrounds, creating CD covers, posters and set designs. The program was very hands-on, and I learned a lot about what it’s like working as an artist for the performance industry, since everything we did in class was created for the market, performed in front of a public audience or sold in stores.
Working with artists from different disciplines also helped me understand my own field in the context of other artistic fields, and within the arts as a whole. For my final project in Liverpool, I created a documentary about post-war Sarajevo. I then decided to study illustration and documentary film at the Berlin University of Arts, combining my interest in documentary film and illustration by creating animations and comics based on real people’s lives. After graduation, a Fulbright scholarship allowed me to study in the MFA Illustration as a Visual Essay program at the School of Visual Arts. Comparing these different educational systems, I’d say that the German system encourages you to think more independently. There was no particular schedule, and you had to pick and chose your own classes without anyone telling you what to do. Since German universities are subsidized by the government, there is no money for hiring advisors or renting fancy gallery spaces–students rely on their own imagination to create an interesting environment. I actually think that that’s a positive challenge for a young artist. On the other hand, I believe that American and British universities are more open to new and innovative ways of looking at the field. In Germany, illustration is still largely taught around an editorial context.
How important was your time at the School of Visual Arts in New York?
Both studying at SVA and the mere experience of living in New York City were very influential to me. Previously, I had mainly been following the European illustration field, and after moving to New York, I gained insight into a more American perspective on illustration for the first time. This impacted the way I think about illustration immensely–it was like learning another language.
Do you feel graduate school is a necessary step for a successful illustration career?
It depends on the individual artist. An MFA degree allows for a wider range of professional possibilities, but it doesn’t necessarily make you a better artist. For me it was very important, because spending two intense years with my peers and teachers and exchanging ideas and critical opinions improved my work in a way it couldn’t have improved if I had never gone to graduate school. For me, the best argument for why graduate school is important, is this exact exchange.
Very soon after earning your MFA, you began teaching at the Muthesius University for Fine Arts and Design in Kiel, Germany. When did you first consider teaching?
I first considered teaching when a friend forwarded me the job posting for a professorship at Muthesius University. Because of my own experience as a student in Liverpool, I was interested in the university’s inter-disciplinary approach. I applied for the position and was hired to set up an illustration track as part of the already existing design program from scratch.
You currently teach at Parsons The New School for Design, how do you find a balance between the classroom and the studio?
During the semester it is sometimes challenging, as I have to do my illustration work in the evenings after work, and on the weekends. But during the summer break I have the freedom to work on any project I want, without having to worry about whether it’s commercially viable or not. Teaching has also impacted the way I think about my own work a lot. I therefore see my work at Parsons as a form of both contribution to the field, as well as research that furthers my own work.
What is your favorite thing about teaching illustration?
I enjoy teaching when I can see that a student understands something new about their work during the course of a semester and that their way of thinking expands as a result of a class I teach. My favorite classes are the ones in which I can get students to think about their work from a different perspective: I’m currently teaching an inter-disciplinary class, called Visual Music, which brings together motion graphics, illustration and music composition students, who develop experimental videos with a music/sound component.
Describe your creative process. What tools do you use?
The most difficult part of my creative process happens during the idea-finding stage, which can be tormenting. Once I have come up with an idea for my illustration, I think about which medium could best represent that idea. Which tools I use really depends on the particular idea or theme of each illustration. I’ve worked with color pencils, acrylic, paper collage and watercolor, and often combine several of these media in one drawing. It takes several thumbnails and a detailed sketch to figure out the composition, and then I can finally start to enjoy myself during the execution phase.
How long did it take you to develop this method?
I didn’t really develop a particular method. For me, each time I make an illustration, I basically start from scratch and each time it feels like I’m tapping in the dark, at first. This is partly because I do become bored quite quickly if I feel like I’m beginning to settle with one particular medium or method, and I always have the urge to push myself and create something I’ve never done before with each new illustration I create. Every time it feels like a new search process, and I never know what the final result will be beforehand.
What are you feelings concerning the evolution of style? Do you feel there is one distinct aspect of your work that will remain constant?
I find it hard to look at my own work objectively (that is, if there is such a thing as objectivity). I hope that my work has become more complex over the years, but I suspect that there is a certain visual naiveté that is a constant in my work.
Do you have a favorite part of the image-making process? And if so, why?
I usually experience the creative process as a struggle. Only when I’ve worked out the idea and composition I feel that I can enjoy myself. During the execution phase I usually listen to the BBC’s iplayer on line, which has an archive of plays, comedy and political discussions. Distracting myself this way oddly helps me focus in a deeper way. Sometimes I look at my drawings and I remember what exact play I was listening to while I created that piece. I think without listening to the BBC, I wouldn’t be able to focus for that many hours in a stretch.
Do you keep a sketchbook? If so, do you draw from life or is it more of an escape, with no set boundaries or concept?
I am slightly ashamed of it, but I have never kept a sketchbook. Because drawing for me isn’t about physical exercise, I have no urge to draw unless I have a project that I’m working on. In order to fully immerse myself in a project, I have to be at home at my desk. I don’t enjoy drawing from life, much. My goal as an illustrator has always been to convey emotion, and to create an invented version of reality, rather than to copy reality as I visually and formally perceive it.
What is a typical day like for you? Is there a certain time during the day when you feel you do your best work?
It would be hard for me to describe a typical day in my life. My days are filled with school work, commercial and personal illustration work, and an immense amount of insurmountable errands I have to run, and the structure of my day depends on the urgency of any of these tasks on any particular day.
Do you keep a tidy studio? Are you an early-morning riser or do you stay up late?
With a full-time job, I can’t really afford to stay up late, except on the weekends, when I sometimes work until 2 in the morning. Right now it is 1:30 in the morning, and I am in bed, typing. I try to keep my studio tidy. But I always have too many research materials and art supplies lying around to be able to keep things completely under control.
Do you have a favorite artist or illustrator (or several)? How have they specifically influenced your work?
I have liked different illustrators at different stages in my career, for different reasons. Illustrators whose work has continued to fascinate me are Tomi Ungerer (for the combination of ruthlesseness and charm), Tadanori Yokoo (for his stark compositions and interesting color scheme), Maurice Sendak (for the way he tells stories) and David Hughes (for the way he visually combines control and intuition). I also like the uncompromising nature of German expressionists like Otto Dix.
What relevance do you feel the history of illustration has for the contemporary illustrator?
Knowing about history is extremely important, because it is the foundation of the present. It’s very important for young illustrators to be aware of the development that led to what we perceive to be the contemporary field, and to be able to position themselves and their work in the context of a larger historical context. And I don’t only mean in an historical illustrative context, but in a larger historical and sociological context. A piece of art will always, whether intended or not, reflect something about who we are and who we were as a society. If an illustrator isn’t aware of that presence in their work, they run the risk of the being misinterpreted or misunderstood.
While in school, I was routinely surprised at how unknowledgeable the majority of my classmates were when it came to the history of illustration. Are your current students aware of their artistic heritage? Are they interested?
I think students become interested in what you teach them, once you teach them. If you’re not aware that a history of a field exists, you’re probably not interested in it. At Parsons, each student has to take a least one class in the history of illustration, and several other required classes in the history of art and design in general. We also offer other visual history classes, such as the history of comics.
What are you interested in outside of illustration? Do these interests inform your work in any specific way?
I believe that anything in life influences an artist’s work, because both worlds constantly merge in the artist’s mind. I’m very interested in world politic, and that interest led me to create a series of biographic visual narratives on the lives of unknown people whose lives were impacted by major political events.
Do you listen to music when you work? What’s your favorite genre? What are you listening to now?
When I don’t listen to the BBC, I listen to music while I work. My favorites include Amy Winehouse, Gnarles Barkley, The Rolling Stones, The Streets, Etta James, 19th century German folk songs, West African and classical music.
The lines that once separated graphic design, illustration and fine art continue to disappear. What is your opinion concerning this (relatively) recent development?
I think that these developments are natural and important. Due to the decline in the editorial market, illustrators have been branching out, looking for new areas to explore. At Parsons, we give students the opportunity to explore these fields early. We have a toy design class and a class called Beyond Editorial, in which students come up with illustrative concepts for everything other than the paper surface, including customized furniture design, product design (illustrated USB sticks, skateboards and sneakers) or textile design. Because of the change in the field, authorship is becoming more and more important. Illustrators today don’t simply respond to someone else’s content anymore, but are responsible for their own. This is a shift that’s very beneficial to illustrators, because it creates a larger platform for self-generated and personal work.
Do you have any new or recent projects you’d like to tell us about?
I’m working on a biographic visual narrative on the life of Belgian comic artist Hergé, and on a long-term project dealing with cultural identity.
All images © Nora Krug. To view more of her work, visit her website at www.nora-krug.com. And if by chance someone is interested in education at Parsons The New School for Design, check out the school’s homepage right here.
Thank you for taking the time to do this interview and for participating in illostribute. I appreciate your contribution and support so very much, as well as the inspiration your work regularly provides.
Toby Thane Neighbors for illostribute.com