I really have had one of the best jobs ever!

It has been a great pleasure and a privilege to have been able to work in a job that has been so interesting and challenging as well as allowing me to meet and interact with so many great people!  For the last forty plus years I have worked as an illustrator with clients and creative minds all over Switzerland. A small country that has a long history of culture and design. Since I started out the tools needed to create an illustration and the logistics needed to deliver the finished job  have changed drastically. Today with email and online delivery services the market is global!

 My work includes everything from layouts and storyboards to vector illustration and full 3d. People, places, products, events, cars, buildings, animals and industrial scenes have all been part of the work that I have illustrated throughout a thankfully long career. I have always tried my best to interpret the brief in as creative way as possible, offering a wide range of styles and creative interpretations.

When I started illustrating the tools i used were conventional. Paper, pencil, watercolour, gouache or airbrush. For layouts i used magic markers and carried dozens of markers around in a large box so that I could work in agencies directly. They were heavy, expensive and constantly ran out of colour! Back then there was no internet and delivering jobs was either by hand or by courier! Getting approval from clients also took a long time.
In the early 90's I bought a Macintosh computer. I was optimistic that digital illustration was the way to go. The learning curve was steep and the price expensive but I was convinced that I was making the right decision!

Next to my commercial work I am involved in producing fine art prints which I exhibit regularly, and also sell from my online shop. If you are interested in seeing my work please visit www.johnhollanderart.com

 Next to working with various 3D softwares, I mainly used 2D software such as Photo-shop and Illustrator. Thanks to advance in technology I now can do much of my work on the ipad. This can run versions of those original software apps. An amazingly powerful tool that frees up the work place and makes communicating with clients a breeze.

The new tool that is causing an uproar is of course AI! This is as much of a ground change as the move to computers in the 90's. Love it or hate it its creative possi-bilities in the field of Illustration and graphics are mind boggling!. It can be used to create completely new ideas, concepts and of course, finished artwork. To get the best results it needs patience, a conceptual and logical mindset and a willingness to experiment.