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It is unlikely that local sources of creativity can be discerned in Koren Shadmi’s illustrations and cartoons or that he is an Israeli illustrator. Employing images of a snowstorm, a ferocious tiger, and attics, meticulous drawing and use of bold watercolors are virtually alien components of illustration in Israel, and position Shadmi far from the paucity of material and naïve illustration.
A poetic attitude to illustration and an approach that involves the viewer with sophisticated use of space and gestalt (frames the viewer completes in his mind), position Shadmi at the forefront of illustration in the US, where he lives.
Koren Shadmi was born and raised in Ra’anana. When he was twenty-one, following his army service as a graphic designer, he won an SVA scholarship and went to study in New York. Shadmi has published a number of comic books in Italy, France, the US, and Israel, and he illustrates for several American newspapers and magazines, and at times for the Israeli press as well. In 2009 his work was selected for the Best American Comics anthology edited by Charles Burns, and this year he won the American Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for his work. He maintains an active illustration blog, a Facebook page, and publishes an internet comic in installments that is due to be published in book form (links provided at the end of the interview).
What was the attitude to illustration in your home?
When I started drawing I focused more on comics. I started attending Uri Fink’s comics course in Ra’anana when I was nine, and from then on became more and more involved in this world. My parents were very supportive, my father drove me to meetings at newspapers; there wasn’t a time when they said forget all this drawing nonsense. I was a good student, a geek extraordinaire, so it never affected my schoolwork.
What kind of place did illustration occupy in your childhood?
I’ve been drawing since a very early age. At first I copied drawings from TV series like Transformers, and then I moved on to comics. It was really hard to find comics in Israel back then, especially in Ra’anana. The first comic I read was Asterix, at some stage a comics store opened in Ra’anana and I started reading all kinds of American comics. When I was about fifteen I started working with Uri Fink and he’d lend me countless comic books.
What was your first work to be published?
A strip of four frames for the weekly children’s Kulanu (I was fourteen).
When did you realize you wanted to be an illustrator?
When I was eighteen I thought I’d be a cartoonist, and toward the end of my army service I decided I wanted to study in New York. I chose the School of Visual Arts that offered an illustration program. I thought it would be interesting to focus on a sphere I was less familiar with.
What can you tell us about the process of choosing to work overseas?
The comics and illustration world in Israel is small and limited, I always dreamt of studying in the US, and when I was accepted to the SVA with a scholarship it was a done deal. It was a real opportunity and I was too young to be afraid of relocating; the older you are the harder it is to make the leap to another place.
What does your day look like?
I get up every day at eight a.m., and after an hour of messing about on the internet I start working on various projects. My day is pretty flexible, and when there’s a lot of work I sometimes work late into the night, but that’s quite rare. I try to take breaks when I can and get out of the studio. When I have to write, I usually go out to a café to work.
What technique do you use in your work?
I usually draw in pencil, go over the lines in ink, and then add textures of watercolors that are scanned separately on the computer, so that the process is semi-digital.
What part of your studies became part of your profession?
The studies in New York helped me to focus and understand what I need to create in order to break out as an illustrator. The illustration world in New York, as with photography, is very competitive. At school you learn to develop a language of your own. I knew how to draw before I went to school, but it helped me to improve and push myself to the next stage. James McMullan was my teacher there, he’s one of the most famous illustrators in the US and creates the posters for the Lincoln Center. He taught a special method of figure drawing that emphasizes the movement and vitality of the body rather than a realistic copy of the world. His lessons were discussions about sketching and drawing at a level that you don’t hear anywhere anymore. Sadly he’s since retired and doesn’t teach anymore.
Does the profession fulfill the expectations you had?
There’s always a certain amount of disappointment, I expected to get a lot of interesting projects, and it’s rarer than I thought – a project I get excited about comes along once in a while, but most projects are articles that aren’t all that interesting and I have to create an interesting illustration to liven them up. I got a few interesting projects from Israel, but budgets here border on the humiliating. I really think illustrators in Israel need to try and raise their rates.
What are the five comic books you’d recommend?
• Dan Clowes – Ice Haven
• Chester Brown – The Playboy
• Chris Ware – Acme Novelty Library #19
• Dave Cooper – Ripple
• Joe Matt – Spent
Do you work on independent projects?
About a year ago I started a comic in installments on the internet, a kind of twisted flatmate drama about a guy who finds himself trapped in a weird apartment with crazy flatmates, I update the comic twice a week and people read it devoutly. There are several thousand readers a month. The comic is due to be published in book form in France next year, it’s really exciting.
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Koren’s studio in New York
“Foreclosure” for The Progressive Magazine
“Bandaid”, personal project
“Tiger”, personal project
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
Clients think they want a complicated drawing with lots of details, but actually most of them want something simple and clear.
What advice would you give young illustrators?
Be tough with yourself, don’t pat yourself on the back too soon, and always strive to improve.
Relevant Links:
• Blog of works, sketches, and lots more
• Koren’s Facebook page
• Webcomic in installments The Abaddon
Liav Zabari is an illustrator and heads the Illustration Department at The Naggar School of Photography, Media, New Music, Animation and Phototherapy in Musrara, Jerusalem
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