His work has appeared regularly in numerous publications worldwide, including The Sunday Tribune, The Sydney Morning Herald, The South China Morning Post, The Irish Times, Asiaweek, Wirtschaftswoche, and El Tiempo. He currently lives in Barcelona.

You have been a professional illustrator for some time now - have you found the demand for illustration has declined in recent years. Are design companies not using illustrators work as much as they used to?

I can't say, because my circumstances have changed so much. In Barcelona where I now live illustration is rarely used in design or advertising, and only in certain types of publishing. I am also moving more into the publishing side by choice. I don't remember a noticeable decline in work before leaving Dublin two years ago.

You have a variety of illustration styles - do you find illustrators today have to be careful not to be pigeonholed with one particular style? Or is changing style a natural thing that happens over time?

I have always experimented with different styles and media. When I see work that I like I won't let it go until I've figured out how it's done. This way different techniques and styles assimilate themselves into my own work, and it naturally changes over time. In over-supplied markets such as London, narrow specialisation is necessary, but I've never liked to work like that.

What is your opinion on the stock illustration sites currently on the internet? (like ispot) Many key illustrators have complained that they denegrate the value of an illustrators work - with illustrators making less money and eliminating the need for original, commissioned artwork? What is your opinion?

I saw an advert in Communication Arts, taken out by some two hundred prominent illustrators declaiming stock houses. I don't feel threatened by them myself, and I've never had much time for protectionism. Good illustrators will always get work, and in general the more illustration that is used and seen, the better.

You currently have a website - do you find having a website to promote your work essential?

Essential no; useful certainly. I've just signed a contract with an agent in the US who contacted me after coming across my website. Whether he'll get me any work remains to be seen of course. I've also re-established contact with an art director I used to work for in Hong Kong, which has resulted in regular work.

Do you get more interest in your work as opposed to being in an illustration stock catalogue - or directory?

In my case I think so. People fishing in print directories tend to pay more attention to geographical location, and I've featured in several UK catalogues while living elsewhere, without a great deal of success. Having said that, I did get my UK agent through Contact Illustrators. Does this sound familiar?

Do you think illustrations being commissioned for websites will increase over the next few years? Or is illustration for print still the predominant form?

I have done one website job, a set of navigation icons. The requirements of websites differ somewhat from print; the need for streamlining works against large or elaborate illustrations, but the whole thing is evolving so fast that it is difficult to predict. There is also a different class of illustrators/designers whose work arises more directly from electronic media, and who are perhaps better positioned for this market.

Who are some of your illustration influences? who do you like currently in illustration?

My earlier influences included Ralph Steadman, Roger Dean, Frank Frazetta and Brian Froud, but that's going back a bit. Nowadays my tastes are fairly catholic, and would include NC Wyeth, John Singer Sargent and Lucien Freud for their skill and their pure love of paint; Paul Gaugin and André Derain for colour, cartoonists Robert Crumb, Los Bros Hernandez and George Herriman, and contemporary illustrators like Gary Kelley, Eric Dinyer and Marshall Arisman. The current fashion for oils has thrown up some fine painters such as Daniel Adel and Gregory Manchess.
Caricaturists I like include Sebastian Kruger, Philip Burke and that clever bastard Hanoch Piven. And for visual concepts, Guy Billout and our own Brian Cronin....the list is endless.

You are due to publish your own childrens book this year - what is it called? Are you publishing it yourself?

The first children's book I illustrated was Scarlette Beane, by Karen Wallace, which was published by OUP/Wolfhound press in August. It's also due out in the States, Germany and Denmark. I've also written a book called The Boy Who Would Not Get Out Of Bed, which is due to be published in Germany in 2000, and I have a few others in the pipeline.

Is childrens book publishing hard to break into?

Children's publishing requires a fair bit of effort to break into, and a lot of patience. Many large publishing houses move with the speed of a legless brontosaurus in soft sand, and it's not unusual for a book to take three years to see the light. Ideally, a publisher wants to see a finished text, character sketches and a few completed illustrations, and will often ask for it to be storyboarded to boot. I took a couple of ideas to the Bolognafiere a few years ago, which is the largest Children's book fair in the world, and spent four days footslogging around an enormous convention centre, visiting about a hundred publishers.

Do you like the fact that you are more in control of the final work?

I enjoy doing children's stuff. Deadlines are long, of course, which provides ample opportunity to lie around and squander precious time for several months, and then get into a panic and work like a maniac, which is how I generally work anyway. I have a houseful of pint-sized critics as well, which helps.

You are currently living in Barcelona...Is there a strong illustration scene there?

there's far less illustration used in Barcelona than you might expect. It's not used much in Advertising or in magazines. Most openings are in newspapers and book publishing.

Was it harder to get work in Dublin? There seems to be a core band of illustrators in Dublin who get most of the work - Do you think this makes it harder for new illustrators to get attention?

Naah! I think persistence is necessary to gain a foothold in any illustration market. Being in the right place at the right time is the trick, but this is not as random as it sounds. The right place is knocking on doors, and the right time is once a week. It's not easy, but sooner or later it will work.

An art director wants work that looks good, that fits the brief and meets the deadline, and illustrators who work in this way are most likely to get repeat work once they have landed a first job. The idea of a clique is a myth, and I feel a damaging one, as it tends to discourage young illustrators from employing the necessary perseverence in the first place.

What is your preferred medium for illustration - acrylic? goache? etc.,

My preferred medium is whichever one I haven't had a go at yet. Gouache is one I could never get on with, however, and I wouldn't be at all sorry if I never saw another coloured pencil. Where deadlines permit I occasionally use oils, but acrylic, watercolour and Photoshop are my staples at the moment.

Check out Jon Berkeley's Portfolio in Illustrators Ireland: Illustrators Ireland

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