We at JungleJar were fortunate enough to have Chicago-based illustrator and designer John Solimine of Spike Press (spikepress.com) do an interview for us.
This makes for another fantastic interview as John gets fundamentally honest with us and talks about freelancer hardships, Flatstock, and supporting your local library.
John not only has an impressive portfolio to take a look at aesthetically, but just as impressive are the names of some of John’s clients, but I try not to embarrass him too much.
Hello John, and thanks for agreeing to be interviewed for JungleJar. I really appreciate it, and I’m sure my readers will as well.
(Christopher): First off, I just want to say that Sonic Youth rocks, and I’m really digging the poster you designed for OMG Posters.
To start out, why don’t you tell us a bit about how you got started, and what, if any, were your biggest obstacles to overcome on your way to becoming successful?
(John John Solimine): I was working a dead-end advertising job designing websites for the military-tobacco-industrial complex – I use the term “dead-end” in every sense but financial – the pay was great but it was bad for my health – and I think that was also one of the biggest obstacles for me – giving up that big fat paycheck every 2 weeks. But when I did, I kicked myself for not doing it sooner.
(Christopher): Speaking of success, your clientele list is quite impressive. With American Express, Nike, and The Animation Show, just to name a few, picking you out of potentially millions of other artists, has this
revelation ever rattled your nerves a bit?
If so, how do you cope?
(John Solimine): Yeah, I guess I sometimes do get nervous – I start second-guessing myself and end up thinking “what would this client want me to do?” instead of just sticking with my normal work process, in which I usually just work towards what I feel confident about. Hopefully you get that out of your system and end up with something the client likes and also holds your interest.
(Christopher): Which job from which client would you say was your absolute favorite?
(John Solimine): It’s too hard to pick an absolute favorite – my favorite jobs and clients are the bands and promoters and clubs I work with on gigposters because there is total creative freedom and none of the annoying “make the logo bigger” back & forth…that being said, I tend to like my most recent jobs the best because I am not yet sick of looking at them.
(Christopher): While browsing your online portfolio and doing a bit of research via Google, I noticed that you’ve been featured in a number of publications.
Was there ever a time when you were so grateful for the opportunity and shocked at the same time by who was asking to interview you that it felt somewhat overwhelming? Other than this interview you’re doing now for JungleJar of course.
(John Solimine): Not really, although when I get that interview request from Juggs I will let you know.
(Christopher): Do you still have, or have you had, any type of communication with Miss Garvey since the third grade?
Note: Miss Garvey was John’s third grade teacher, and the first to recognize John’s talent. This comes thanks to an interview John did for Letter Cult.
(John Solimine): No.
(Christopher): You mentioned in your interview with LetterCult that you immediately began making band posters upon the initial birth of Spike Press. Was this just by chance, or did you intentionally try to fit yourself within that design niche?
(John Solimine): It was intentional – screenprinting was the cheapest, easiest way I knew to get my work out there – it also involved music and who doesn’t like music?
(Christopher): With your fantastic ability to make text so aesthetically pleasing when most people consider text to be inherently boring, what stopped you from just going full force with a career in Typography?
(John Solimine): I’m not sure I would call what I do “typography” – luckily I just draw goofy letters instead of worrying about x-heights, ligatures, etc. – although I do have a couple of fully realized alphabets that I have been meaning to fontamatize for awhile…
(Christopher): Do you have a favorite font that you tend to use more than the rest in your aggregations? If so, does it rhyme with Telvetica?
(John Solimine): Since I end up using custom type so often, I do tend to use alot of Helvetica-esque fonts for the small print for contrast, but I couldn’t name a number one.
(Christopher): Why do you think it is that we as people tend to find ourselves truly and wholeheartedly finding appreciation in Typography after the fact that we’ve learned a bit about it?
For example, you mentioned you really enjoyed comics as a child, and you specifically mentioned the way the Hulk’s cover art name was designed with a cracked brick focus. You didn’t appreciate it at the time, but once the voodoo that you do started to come about, you started to really understand the design concept.
(John Solimine): I think thats true with everything – the more you know about what goes into a particular skill, then the more you can appreciate the effort that goes into it – so its fun to go back and look at things you liked as a kid and be able to articulate based on similar experience why exactly you liked it.
(Christopher): Have there been any works of art that you’ve manifested that you find yourself particularly proud of?
(John Solimine): Right now I like The National poster series I just did – but that will change – the process is what I like the most so I tend to like my most recent output but after a while I start seeing all the flaws and ways I could have improved something – and then I start looking forward to a new project to try and make that one my all-time favorite.
(Christopher): You recently went to the Flatstock poster show during the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. Would you like to tell us a bit about that?
(John Solimine): Flatstock is a blast – its a good excuse to sit in the sun, get drunk, eat fried food and see alot of great posters – I also had a great time seeing The National close Saturday night of the Pitchfork Festival.
(Christopher): As a freelancer, do you ever find yourself near the edge as far as the stress levels go? Possibly saying “That’s it, I’m done freelancing.”, and looking at other ways to continue your work, but which also provide constant income and maybe a barrier between you and the client? I ask this, because I’m a freelancer as well and know all too well how stressful it can be.
(John Solimine): Yeah theres that constant struggle between monetary security and personal freedom – personally I would rather have the freedom – and when the illustration/poster work gets slow, I do interactive design work to pay the bills, which is nice to fall back on.
(Christopher): Who are your favorite artists? They don’t have to be graphic artists.
(John Solimine): Jack Kirby, Evaline Ness, Aurelius Battaglia, Alice & Martin Provenson, Seymour Chwast, Miroslav Sasek, Mary Blair, John Kricfalusi, Eric Canete, Heinz Edielmann, Milton Glaser, Chuck Jones, George Orwell, Joe Strummer to name a few.
(Christopher): What are your favorite spots online that you find yourself visiting on a habitual basis?
(John Solimine):
- drawn.ca – The Illustration and Cartooning Blog
- ffffound.com – Image Bookmarking
- gigposters.com
(Christopher): Anything you’d like to say to the JungleJar.com readers?
(John Solimine): Support your local library!
I’d like to thank John for his participation in this interview, and also for the best possible ending to an interview.
Support those libraries, we mean it.
Visit Spike Press.com and check out John’s work.
Sweet interview.
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