by Nate Williams

Calef Brown has been working as an illustrator since 1992. His clients include Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, and numerous other newspapers and magazines. Calef’s work has been used for advertising, book and CD covers, murals, and packaging. He has also written and illustrated four critically acclaimed children’s books beginning with Polkabats and Octopus Slacks in 1998. This was followed by Dutch Sneakers and Fleakeepers, Tippintown: A Guided Tour, and most recently Flamingos on the Roof–a 64 page collection of poems and paintings. Calef lives and works in Pasadena and Los Angeles, California, and is currently an instructor at Art Center College of Design.

Tell us about your first book? How did it come about? What was your inspiration and how did you go about getting it published?

Cover– Polkabats and Octopus Slacks

I decided to try to create a children’s book in 1994.

Although I loved freelance work and being busy, I was feeling a little burnt out from the pace and the deadlines after doing a lot of jobs, mostly editorial assignments, full time for 3 years. I wanted to illustrate something of my own that would have a longer shelf life than the magazine pieces that I was doing, so I decided to slow down, get away from everything and see what I could come up with.

Debt Burden for Bloomberg Magazine

How Now Cover for Martha Stewart Kids

In the winter of 1995 I took a two-month trip to India with some sketchbooks and art supplies. I spent about a year there traveling around the country when I was twenty-one, which was a lot of fun, very inspiring, and influenced my work a lot, especially my sense of color. I decided to go back to some of my favorite places in the south, including Madras, Pondicherry, Madurai, and Mahabalipuram, and just meander around, see some sights, relax, write and draw. At first I tried coming up with more traditional stories written in prose, but I found myself more attracted to short pieces in the spirit of the nonsense verse I loved as kid–Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash, Peter Newell and others.

Being far away from my usual life and routines, by myself with no responsibilities made it a lot easier to concentrate on the project, and I had a good time working on it.

I returned home with a rough book dummy featuring twenty-five poems and accompanying black and white drawings.

Dummy sketch for Bob from Flamingos on the Roof

Having no idea how to go about getting it published, I made fifteen copies of the dummy, added some samples of my color commissioned work and mailed it out to publishers. I sent some to specific editors if I could find names, and some I just addressed to the children’s dept.

I later found out that this is pretty much the wrong way to go about it, but after a dozen rejections (including some dummies returned unopened) I got an offer from Houghton Mifflin, and they published Polkabats and Octopus Slacks in 1998. I’ve done three other books with them since, and am working on a fifth one now.

You have written and illustrated several books. Is there a common theme or approach throughout your books.. or do you try something new with each one?

All of my books so far are collections of illustrated poems in a variety of lengths and meters, with the exception of Tippintown, which is one long poem with a common rhyme scheme for every two page spread.

Cover– Tippintown

My approach so far has been pretty consistent­– to keep creating and building on the visual world where the stories take place.I try to bring humor, a vivid sense of character and imagination, and in terms of the writing, a well resolved idea and structure for each poem. The poems are written with the intention of being read aloud. I want them to be musical – some rhythmic, percussive and lively, others quiet and atmospheric. I’ve written some manuscripts in prose, and continue working on new approaches, but am not ready to try to get them published yet. The poetry seems to come more naturally to me.

Who is your audience? Are you surprised?

My audience seems to be a diverse group. I’ve gotten emails from parents who say that their kids as young as age two enjoy the illustrations and having the poems read to them, and many teachers have used the books to teach poetry to children from age five up to ages eleven and twelve. Lots of illustrators and designers seem to like the books, which is flattering, and then there are folks my parent’s age that tell me they love sharing the books with their grandchildren.

I guess I’m surprised and pleased with the response to the books from people of all ages.

Where do you get your ideas .. I know it’s hard to say .. but do think of most of your ideas while doing a specific activity? What is your approach for tapping into your creativity? Or getting out of creative road block?

Dutch Sneakers and Fleakeepers

I go back and forth between writing and drawing in my sketchbooks, following trains of thought wherever they lead.Sometimes a drawing of a character or animal will suggest a story. A quick sketch of a goofy pirate inspired the poem Olf from Dutch Sneakers and Fleakeepers. Sometimes a word will be the catalyst.While scribbling some improvised nonsense in a sketchbook I wrote down the word tattlesnake, and a poem about a snake who spies on kids and tells on them to their parents pretty much wrote itself, to use an awful cliché.

Another source of ideas is rather odd, but has provided lots of material– I may suffer from some dyslexia, because I am constantly misreading things, especially if they are seen at a glance. For example I was in a supermarket walking along the frozen food aisle and in amongst the ice cream I thought I saw a carton labeled Alphabet Sherbet. In the split second before I looked more closely I thought “Alphabet Sherbet? Like Alphabet Soup or Alpha Bits Cereal? Do they make that?” It turned out to be Apricot Sherbet, or Assorted Sherbet or somesuch , but I really wanted to try some Alphabet Sherbet with little frozen letters.

Alphabet Sherbet from Flamingos on the Roof

It also sounded like a gentler, less psychotic version of

“word salad”… Anyway, the idea stuck with me and became the first poem in Flamingos on the Roof.

Some sketchbooks

endpapers sketch– Flamingos on the Roof

My overall approach is to attempt to find inspiration wherever I am. I keep a notebook with me all the time, and try to stay aware and open to ideas.It seems like a good idea to spend time every day writing and drawing without any goals, even if it’s for just a little while.I have a lot of interest in the Surrealist practices of automatic writing and drawing, it’s amazing what your subconscious will produce and the connections that are made .The final poem in Flamingos on the Roof came from a dream I had where I was walking in a garden at night and looked down by my feet to find a live golden sphinx about the size of a kitten looking back at me. The piece is called Tiny Baby Sphinx:

Tiny Baby Sphinx from Flamingos on the Roof

Tiny Baby Sphinx.
She looks at me and blinks.
I offer bits of catfood,
the kind that really stinks.
I wonder what she thinks about
at nighttime when she slinks about,
inviting other sphinxes out
to gather in the moonlight.

The other major source of inspiration for me is music. I try to think of the poems as songs that are recited, they need a rhythm, a cadence, and require a beginning, middle and an end like a good pop song. I’m definitely inspired by lyrics from people like W.S. Gilbert, Cole Porter, Hank Williams, Louis Jordan, Slim Galliard, Dylan, the Beatles, Ray Davies, Nick Drake, Robyn Hitchcock, Captain Beefheart, Beck….

I have played guitar most of my life, acoustic fingerstyle mostly.

My heroes are Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, John Fahey, Leo Kottke and Jorma Kaukonen. I don’t have the talent or inclination to sing so I play instrumental stuff in open tunings. Since the strings are picked individually, rather than strummed, I find myself unconsciously thinking of the distinct notes as syllables of words, musical passages as sentences. This has helped me find another obtuse way of coming up with ideas for the poems, in this case, for translating musical phrases into written phrases– meters and beats for the poems. This is useful when I’m stuck and I can’t find the timing or rhythm of a particular poem– I’ll try to play around musically with the phrasing, substituting notes for words.

Generally when I feel blocked I try to let go and switch to another mode , reading, taking a walk, maybe working on something with a definite problem to solve like an illustration assignment, or I play Tetris– the only video game I’ve ever been remotely good at.

Which is your favorite poem In your most recent book Flamingos on the Roof? Why?

Cover- Flamingos on the Roof

paintings for Flamingos in progress

I have two favorite poems from the book. the first is Weatherbee’s Diner, a favorite because I worked on it over seven or so years, beginning with a goofy idea about a god-like figure who eats weather for dinner. It turned into a sort of nonsensical crossword puzzle that took a long time to finish, and was satisfying to solve.

Weatherbee’s Diner from Flamingos on the Roof

The second favorite is Allicatter Gatorpillar, which is about– big surprise–a half-alligator, half-caterpillar creature who, by and by, becomes an Allibutter Gatorfly. It’s just idiotic, and fun to recite.

How long does it take you to complete a book? What’s the process?

The writing is ongoing. I have sketchbooks with lots of poems in various stages of completion, and drawings to go with them in the same states. I get a group of finished ones together that I think will make a good collection and send them to my editor. She gives me her picks of the best ones, and we usually agree on almost all of them. I begin to put together a dummy and refine the drawings to go with each piece, and either work with a freelance designer like George Mimnaugh , who designed the first three books, or as in the case of Flamingos, I design it myself with the help of my editor, the art director and a designer at Houghton. We decide on a trim size together, and I get feedback on the cover and title page ideas, and font choices.

Dummy sketch for Sally from Flamingos on the Roof

Once we have a tight dummy together I start on the paintings, which usually take about two to three months, in between other assignments. I try to clear time so I can work on them exclusively for a few weeks straight, especially in the beginning.

Now that you are a well established author and illustrator of Children’s books.. do you still do much freelance illustration work? What’s the difference between these markets?

Silent Retreat for The New York Times Magazine

I still do freelance jobs all the time. I depend on it, but I also really enjoy the variety of doing illustration for different audiences and markets. There’s a nice balance to doing quick editorial pieces and other freelance work along with the longer process of building a kid’s book. Different mindsets are involved. I also keep painting for myself and have the occasional small gallery show, and I participate in group shows that come up. For a couple years I’ve been doing some drawing-based stuff with ink and pen that’s more about improvisation and line than the shape and color based aspects of my illustration. Last year, with the design help of Keith Shore, I produced a zine called Clunkers, a tract of pithy verse inspired by the sound of dropping names. The poems reference Tupac Shakur, Betty Crocker, Princess Di, Trent Lott and Roger Daltrey, among others. Doggerel, I believe is the word for it. Not for kids, but not really for adults either. More nonsense.

Not So Sure from Clunkers

Trent Lott’s Old Confederate Recipe from Clunkers

What is the most satisfying thing about being an author? The process? Seeing people enjoy your creations? Spending endless hours alone ? Etc

It’s very satisfying to me when I receive the first bound copy of a book. I like the realization that it’s finished, it’s a book now, after all that time spent as separate little chunks of nonsense in my brain and scribbles, then sketches, paintings…all the thousands of little decisions made until it’s done. “Wow”, I think, “I just spent half a year making a book about, among other things, applauding slugs, Poseidon’s toupee and wind-borne biscuits….something is really wrong with me.” But even more satisfying than creating something very silly and unnecessary, is the response I’ve gotten from kids, parents, teachers and librarians as well as other artists and writers who like the books and appreciate them. I often get emails from parents who tell me that the books have inspired their kids to read, or write their own poems and stories, or draw. I didn’t set out to do anything worthwhile but it seemed to happen somehow. Oh well.

What is your work environment like? Do you have a pet? What music is playing? What are you drinking?

I have a space in a shared studio building with some friends, but I mostly work at home in a wooden house in Pasadena that I share with my girlfriend, Anissa, two cats, and a small fuzzy dog. I have a room for painting, and a slightly less cluttered office/computer room. I usually do prefer some kind of music on, more likely quieter and instrumental if I’m writing, louder and with lyrics if I’m drawing or painting. I drink green tea most of the day, and can’t wake up without it.

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on another book of poems for Houghton that is due out in the spring of next year, and am illustrating a picture book for Atheneum by Jonah Winter…doing some paintings for a group show of small works at Giant Robot in New York. Let’s see…I’m finishing up a four page piece for the next installment of BLAB! due out this fall, editing an audio reading of Flamingos with music, and lastly, I’ve started on another project with Keith Shore, who is designing a book dummy with some of my drawings and quasi-poems in the form of questions, which I’ll pitch to publishers later this year.

Calef’s books available at Amazon.com

Flamingos on the Roof

Polkabats and Octopus Slacks: 14 Stories

Dutch Sneakers and Flea Keepers: 14 More Stories

Tippintown: A Guided Tour

Pop-Up Aesop

Spelling and grammatical errors by Nate Williams
Translated by Iani

DOMA, a group of Argentine artists who started in the Street-Art scene in 1998, work with all these elements, adding a dash of irony into the mix. As their work has progressed through urban installations, guerrilla art and absurd campaigns, DOMA has created various concepts and characters which gradually evolved to come alive in the animations, motion graphics, films, toys and VJ performances. Residing in Buenos Aires, they divide their time between severals original different projects.

The Members are Mariano Barbieri, Julian Pablo Manzelli, Matias Vigliano and Orilo Balndini.

I love how you took a giant doll to a busy street (Florida) and the project was less about the doll as an object but more about how people interacted with it. What are some of the memorable interactions you have witnessed with your projects?

We could write a book about reactions. That’s what interests us the most about our work, it’s like we’re addicted to the reactions people have when they see our work. The day of the Giant Dummy in Buenos Aires downtown, it was amazing to see how there were people that would not have any reaction whatsoever, they wouldn’t look at it, they would just keep walking, continuing their sad and monotonous routine with their suits and briefcases. The ones who paid the most attention were the “street kids” (homeless), that were asking for money or cleaning shoes, they literally stopped doing whatever it is they were doing to start playing with us for the whole evening. They wouldn’t let us take the dummy away.

There seems to be a trend in graffiti today that references old Nintendo games .. I refer to it as STREET NINTENDO .. you know Happy Clouds, rainbows, simple smiling characters, etc .. Do you think the artistic medium often influences subject matter?

Definitely, having grown up discovering digital media must has affected our lives and everyone else’s around the world. We saw this change through our teenage years after a more analog childhood. We received our first emails at the age of 22 and 24 years old approximately. Nowadays, there’s 3 years olds with their own email address. I think we were the last generation that had an analog childhood without internet. That’s what I believe gives us a fairly special perspective.

Chu (DOMA) & Nasa

Fase, Chu (DOMA) & TheLondonPolice

DOMA, KidGaucho, Barfuss, Nasa, etc

What are some current trends in Graffiti?

At this very moment a new trend must be coming out, it’s hard to say and be precise…. For what I’ve seen here in BA, after the post crisis stencil boom, a lot of these guys gave the city a new layer, stickers, and huge murals, and as a parallel, as far as graffiti goes, the city was invaded with tags, bombs, and trains, etc… This movement is slowly growing… We have to thing that the street art got here not too long ago… When the boom started in places like Europe and USA, the liberalism, punk and graffiti were happening, back in the 70’s and early 80’s, but in those times, Argentina was going through one of the worst dictatorships, with 30,000 missing people, and young people were in a completely different frequency… they were either hiding or were militant…

You are originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, but you have traveled quite a bit. What are some of the unique things you see in the Argentine Art Scene? What other scenes have some unique things going on?

I think you can find unique things everywhere. We have discovered very inspiring things in all of our trips. From Ecuador to Mexico, Barcelona, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Berlin, New York, etc…

The Argentine Art Scene, I think, was going through a positive change as far as fitting in… Strong ideas and conservative customs are giving space to new expressions these last couple of years…

Chu (DOMA), Fase, Nasa, KidGaucho, Maybe & RunDon’tWalk

The truth is that there isn’t an art, illustration, street art, toys venue … the market is very focused on fine arts and is very traditional.

Beyond this, there’s the work of certain artists with amazing talent in many different areas. The political and cultural vision the third world can express through humor can be observed as something very unique… we have lots of local artists that work on those areas…

Why do you reference Ronald McDonald a lot? Does he represent something specific in your work?

We only did pieces about Ronald Mc Donald from 2002-2003, during the Mundo Roni Proyect. After the crisis in Argentina, we created this character that was a candidate to president named Roni, as a parody to Ronald Mc Donald. Trough this very important and absurd campaign, that even had a website, a tv spot (in Locomotion Channel), flyers, stencils, serigraphy, an urban performance, and a closing at the Ruth Benzacar Galeryand then in Berlin No Tango.

What do you think about the current trend in marketing where big companies hire street artists, hip artists, etc to legitimize their products? or to make them “Cool”? What’s your take on corporate graffiti? Do corporations have the same right as individuals?

It’s a very delicate subject… very hard, and we’re a part of that. First of all, I think that it depends on the type of project and the final purpose. Something that we DON’T do, is to sell any character or anything that represents DOMA to be used as an image for a brand or campaign, we’ve had offers, but we always declined. Unfortunately, there’s this brand called John Foos (the ones that make a lot of money by copying the Converse’s All Star shoe model) took a photo of one of our mural and other artists and used it as an image for their campaign. It’s a real shame, so we’re working on it, trying to figure out our next move, with layers, etc…

Apart from that, we have interesting offers from serious companies, which we’ve learned to choose and work with according to their profile… where there’s respect for the artist and mentions our name. Obviously in exchange for something we need, so we benefit each other….

Actually, I think that just because corporations have the same right as the individuals in some countries, the world is the way it is, everything is a mess, no equality and negative contrasts. While lots of people have nothing, others have everything. The fact of making profit without caring about the cause is the reason why these corporations make the world like this, also abuse and environment hazardous. If a corporation has the same rights as a person and the corporation got psychological treatment, just like a person would, the profile we would get back is of a psychopath , therefore, nowadays it’s very hard to realize that the world is in the hands of psychopaths…

What are some of DOMA’S latest projects?

We had this thing at the OneDotZero Buenos Aires and then in Berlin Pictoplasma Character Walk. It’s called Versus and it’s basically two dolls facing each other and talking to each other through projections.

This year 2007 we’re launching a series of mini figures in vinyl with Kidrobot, where there will be a family of 15 different characters. We also have a new Plush line coming up for march approximately and more art shows.

Some might call José Reyes a designer. They wouldn’t be wrong. His diploma from SCAD reads “BFA in Graphic Design.” He’s spent 12 years crafting arresting visuals for both print and web, serving clients from Delta to Dixie Crystals to Paste Magazine (his art-direction for Paste earned him a 2003 Utne award nomination as well as recognition in Communication Arts). Upon successful infiltration and trade-secret-pilfering of such major ad agencies as BBDO South, Tausche Martin Lansdorf, and Puckett, he began his own firm in 2002: Metaleap Design. But the term “designer” doesn’t quite capture what Jose does. Not exactly. He is the visual-arts equivalent of a soundtrack composer; taking words, information, ideas and underscoring them with musical accompaniment that can only be heard by one’s eyes. Ok, you can stop laughing now. Seriously.

How do you decide on using illustration vs. photography?

So much of what I have to do with every project is tell a story very quickly. Sometimes photography is great for that, and others, illustration. I usually find myself going to illustration for editorial, portraits and tough conceptual work. Oftentimes, illustration can capture a certain ephemeral ‘now-ness’ or energy that photography simply cannot. Many people fancy themselves photographers and can pose as a decent one if they’re great with photoshop even if their technical ability is lacking, but an illustrator must be a true artist at heart and that comes through quickly when you look at their work. In both cases, a discerning eye will be able to tell the imposter from the true artist.

How do you go about finding an illustrator?

Usually from postcards, sifting through books and magazines, websites, competitions and word of mouth but none of them hold court over another, though. I love it when a designer turns me on to a new illustrator because designers can hold captive what they think they have discovered, so in sharing their find, they get to take part in proliferating great art, and thats always a good thing.

When looking at an illustrator’s website what type of presentation do you like?

Honestly, I think an illustrator’s website could be straight html on white with their work presented quickly and not hidden behind over-used flash transitions, and work just fine. An Art Director doesn’t need to know that you can build a killer website, that’s not why we want to work with you—it’s all about the work—and no flash magic will make a weak portfolio look any better.

What can illustrators do to make the experience positive for an art director?

First, and most important: do not take the job if you are unwilling to or don’t have the time to push yourself. My job as an art director is to mine the creative basin and sift the ideas to get to the great one. Nothing will sour an art director more than if you accept the project, then complain about either time, money or creative. A good art director is reasonable and will work with you on any of those issues.

It is also important to know that we are on the same team and want to produce—corporately—great work together. The experience can be soured if an illustrator is strong-willed about giving up on an okay idea because they are being asked to go back to the drawing table for new ideas.

I love an illustrator who will send me at least three sketches, if not more. Sketches are fast and easy and I am amazed at how many illustrators want an art director to buy into their first sketch. It doesn’t take that long to draw a thumbnail and oftentimes, I just want to see what you’re thinking. If I get shown a range of ideas, I’ll be more inclined to listen to the ‘why’s’ of a more edgy approach than if I get sent one idea and am told that that’s all you have time for.

Who are some of you favorite illustrators and why?

Yuko Shimizu, John Hendrix, Rick Sealock, Pablo Lobato, Melinda Beck, Ryan Heshka, Travis Lampe and Olaf Hajek. All of these great talents are first and foremost—humble and just a pleasure to work with. They each exude a professionalism and creative curiosity that has turned many a lemon of a project into something wonderful. I can’t say enough about them and how much they have made my job easier and made the projects I’ve worked on better than I could have made them myself.

Do you illustrate in addition to designing?

If you consider doodling on the corner of a piece of paper while on the phone, illustrating.

What are the latest Metaleap projects you are excited about?

Each issue of Paste or byFaith magazine that comes around the bend is exciting as they always involve getting to work with illustrators. We’re also currently working on redesigning all of the collateral material for a music hall of fame, a website for an architecture firm and much more.