Totally Stockholm 1
paigns up, and the posters are missing. That’s me
ans someone has stolen them to hang on their wall at home. How does a typical project start for you, and how does your average process work? Usually it starts with an email or a meeting with a brief, then I send sketches. When the sketch is OK’d I ink it, colour it and then send it to print. At this point in your career, which of the different kinds of projects you work on is your favourite? What differentiates them from your point of view? How different is the approach you take into each? I have the same approach to all kinds of jobs. You never know, sometimes doing infographics for a big corporation can be as fun and rewarding as doing an album cover for a cool artist. It’s not as much what kind of job it is, it’s more about how I connect with the client. But I do like the jobs where I get to work with ink and paper the most. What do you think of the state of skateboard and graffiti art at this time? Do you feel the fact that both cultures are much more normalised and accepted now, compared to when you started, that they’ve become sanitised and some of the energy has been lost? I think it’s great that both of the cultures are growing, even though there is city-sponsored graffiti festivals and skateboarding is in the Olympics, there will always be people who paint walls by the train tracks and skate curbs in a parking garage. There’s not just one scene anymore, there are many scenes within the scene. How did the idea for your book come about, and what are you trying to capture with it? I’ve been working on and off with Dokument Press since the early 90s. They started as one of the first graffiti magazines (UP, f.k.a. Underground Productions) then it morphed in to a book publisher. I’ve done loads of book designs for them and we are close friends. Over the years, they have done some books about specific artists. About three or four years ago my editor Björn Almqvist asked me if they could do a book about my work, but I wasn’t into it. I thought it was too big of a thing and that I wasn’t worthy of a book of my own. Then he asked me two times a year until I finally agreed. I’m happy he didn’t give up. For me making a book that collects my work is a way to reassure [myself] that it will not be forgotten. One of my biggest fears is that my studio has a fire or a break in and I lose all my originals, now I know that most of it is collected and spread out all over the world. How has it been to look back on your career through putting the book together? Has it made you understand your development as an artist more? Yeah definitely. I also discovered that I have been on the same path since I was 15 years old. It’s just the media that has changed. I can see it what project it was where I learned specific techniques or discovered a new pen. That’s pretty cool. Finally, what advice would you give someone looking to start a career as an illustrator? Be social, get to know lots of people from all walks of life while you’re young. They are your future clients. Learn the basics, study the masters. Find your own niche, never half-ass your work, take all the changes you get, have fun doing it. OUFF! - Mander Selected Works is out now on Dokument Press 18 barnboks illustration