Ph7labs Blog

Interview with Fernando Volken Togni

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1 – To Start, tell us a bit about yourself where you were born and where you live…

I was born in Roca Sales, a small town in southern Brazil where I lived till 1999 with my parents. In 2000 I came to Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, a southern state, where I studied and where I live and work till now. I am graduated in Communication – Advertising and I work with graphic design at DCS Communications. I also work as illustrator, which is my biggest passion, and this is the way I fell free to express my thoughts and feelings better. I am passionate by art and illustration.

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2 – How did you get started in the arts?

I always loved drawing. Since I was a child, my big passions were crayons, paint, colored pencils and paper, a lot of paper. I could start in the arts when I entered the university and where I studied colors and graphic design. As long as I studied I did an internship at advertising agencies working as art director. Now, I am graphic designer and I draw for living.

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3- Where do yo draw your inspiration from?
I think my work is based in my beliefs, the turbulence of reason and emotion and a lot of misticism, which I believe that are hidden in nature and the details, which is something I love. The valley of Taquari, where I have grown up, one of the most fertile in the world, made me to prefer certain colors and animals and my childhood curiosity is always present because I am a meticulous observer, passionate by intrincate and chaotic forms of life.

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4- Can you describe for us what a regular day is like for you?
I wake up around 8, take a shower and eat something. I take my bus and walk 10 blocks listening to music on the way to the office. I pass my day creating layouts and checking emails and occasionally I check my twitter account. I always have lunch and drink a coffee talking to my friends. I work till night and when I live the office I make some exercise, go walking downtown or meet some friends at a bar or something, where I draw with nankin and a moleskine. When I go home, I watch tv or draw my illustrations on the computer. Oh I always go to the bed so late… I need to change this..

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5- What is your most common approach for completing a project?
II always draw my ideas mentally and then I sketch up them with pencil on a moleskine or on a lot of A3 size sheets spread on the desk. Then I use a scanner, but sometimes I draw the simple shapes directly on the computer. I always start with black and simple forms, and then I fill them with geommetrical shapes and intrincate patterns or shapes. I make some structure and sometimes I ask for someone´s opinion to check if I am on the right way. But a lot depends on intuition and tests, lots of them. Finally I put some colors, and test them. I prefer to color my drawings just in the end, and I use to combine a few intense colors with a dark one to have bigger contrast and impact.

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6- Out of all your work what is your favorite piece and why?
Every piece is single and means something to me, but one of my favorites is a poster that I have done to Omega Code´s fant art poster contest. I liked the final result because I wanted to symbolize some misticism hidden in the music in which I was envolved, and the illustration came out exactly the way I was feeling that moment. This is the most important, to produce something feeling it truly.

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7- Is it easy to make a living in the work that you do?
I think it´s not that easy, because it demands to be focused in your own style and beliefs. Sometimes it is a lot frustrating. The design, illustration and advertising worlds are full of hard work and people have to do their best to be a highlight. But I believe that there´s always a place to every style of work and special need.

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8- Who is your biggest influence?
There´s a lot os people who I admire. I am passionate by the intense artists as Picasso and Dalí. I love the illustrations of Jasper Goodall, Sanna Annukka, Catalina Estrada, Genevieve Gauckler, Parra, Pietari Posti, Andrew Holder, Bruno 9li and so many others. I appreciate Stefan Sagmeister, David Carson, great revolutionary graphic designers.

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9- How important is technology for the work that you do? What tools could you not live with out?
So important, because my illustrations are made by vectors, which are pure mathematics. I couldn´t live without Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, Corel Draw or any vectorial software and a computer with good capacity.

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10- How important is color in your work and why?
Colors are my biggest passion in life. Since I was a child and I read a book called Flicts, about a color that couldn´t find its place in the world. Colors make my drawings gain life. I have som phases using more black, which is my predominant base color, but I can´t live without three or four intense and basic colors, to bring movement and contrast to my static images.

11- Whats your favorite color?
The green jade. Green is contraditory.

12- Where can people get in contact with you?

They can talk to me through my facebook.com/nandovt, my twitter @nandovt, my cargocollective.com/nandovt or they can feel free to drop me lines through nandovt@gmail.com. I´d love to keep in touch.