Kaine Lv (China)

Photo courtesy of kaxiaoxi

Kaine Lv (China)

Following of our adventures in China, with Kaine Lv. Kaine is a nice young talented poster drawer and even if she is not silkscreening her poster ".... cos you know most of those poster are used for only once, and i am really too busy to do that ", she really deserve her space here as proof that Chinese poster scene is really rising, as we already seen it before. Welcome Kaine !!

Hello, can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

Hi, this is the very question bothers me a lot.... And the reason why I am saying that is only because I always get confused by those questions. Seems I should tell a good long story but.... I don't really know how. So ugh I am kaine and coming from shanghai. I'm working for split works as a graphic designer.


When did you start drawing? Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

I started drawing quite early (4 or 5?), I don't mean those little kid's drawing but some really stuff. If you asked how I would say because I was/am so bored. And yea then I was majored in industrial design and printing design.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly? 

Apparently I am kinda only working for some independent music promoters and don't really have some collaboration with magazines....

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences? 

Speaking of influences, I won't say that is from art or designs books or someone particular.... Sometimes I will say read more fashion magazines or poster collections but that's all bullshit.... You gotta have that feeling and you cannot really get it from a book or someone's quotation. I get it from a decent music environment, which I mean is, because I only do gig posters, I put myself into that music. hours or even longer. Ugh..... Well sometimes even a bit postrock or a weird dream could influence me a lot. I like dark side stuff. Like when people are making super hero dreams and coming up some really positive artworks I am making some UGLY stuff to destroy the whole world. Although I kinda like traditional asian stuff too. Maybe that's because I am an asian.

What are the principal steps in your work ? How long does it take you to do a poster? 

I should say that I am kinda casual, i don't really have some dead principles on work. 50% of my works are hand drawing and another half are computer works. It usually takes my two days to come up a poster because we are music agency and we have got music event coming one after another. I have to be productive, creative and full of energy:) well it also means i cannot choose someone i like to work for.

For which band have you already worked for?

I have worked for a dozen of bands by the end of today, like mogwai, trippple nippples, Ólafur Arnalds, the pains of being pure at heart and many of others i couldn't remember....

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?

The most difficult thing I think is, well, if they have got toooo much text or logos to put on!

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

I don't really know what you mean by a graphic scene, is that a group of designers hanging out together?

My question was do you know other people making gigposters in china ?

Ok ok, Yeah ! My boyfriend, i guess you already interviewed him, his name is Ivan Belcic

ugh... and let me see....Chairman Ca from Beijing and a friend of mine called Duo Duo

 A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

I dont really have a website. I have a blog, kainelove.blogbus.com i upload my works there sometimes if i remember to do.... And also some other shit.... You can definitely see my work in real life, i have got plenty of them everywhere in my computer and office....

The best praise you received lately?

The most proud moment is when i see the huge rainbow banner hanging on beside the black rabbit main stage. And also when i see artist comments (especially when Jared leto said he thinks those works are awesome hahaha. I know maybe it is because he has to say that, but it  is still nice isn't it?)

 What can we wish you for the future?

Wish I could never stop making visual nightmares and sweethearts.

 Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!

Ivan Belcic of Twin Horizon (CH)

Ivan Belcic of Twin Horizon (CH)

Focusing on next Flatstock and other US events, it has been a while since last "other than US" interview has been published. But gere at CrewKoos we do not forget our goal to highlight the international poster scene, this is the reason why it is a great pleasure to welcome Ivan today. Following Idlebeats and promoter Abby Lavin, he is a new proof of chinese scene dynamism....

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

Currently, Mastodon’s new album, The Hunter.  Been listening to it on repeat all day.

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

25 years old, from New Jersey, moved to Shanghai about 3 and a half years ago.  I’ve got 2 bands, I’m working on a solo project, and I draw pictures, sometimes even in exchange for money.  And I play D&D on Monday nights.  I’m a warlock.

When did you start drawing?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love to draw.  My dad got me into comics as a kid, and drawing superheroes helped me a lot in terms of understanding human anatomy and visualizing how the body moves.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

A bit of both, but I definitely learned a lot more by doodling in class and in my spare time than I did in any art class. 

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

I’m still a nine-to-fiver.  I was working for a local street fashion label a while back, but it didn’t really leave me any creative energy for my personal work.  I’d love to be able to support myself by drawing all day, though.  One of these days…

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

A bit.  A local music and arts website, Shanghai247, just launched a biweekly print newsletter – they’ve got me drawing a comic for each issue.  Other than that, it’s mostly posters with some album art mixed in from time to time.

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

I still consider comics to be my biggest influence.  Leinil Francis Yu’s Wolverine and Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man stand out as my favorites.  And anything Jim Lee ever touched was never less then godly.

Outside comics, I’ve gotta nod to Stephen Gammell.  His drawings in those Scary Stories books always captivated me far more than the stories themselves.  And I also owe a lot to Hyung-Tae Kim, especially in terms of his work on War of Genesis III. In seventh grade, I worked on an RPG trilogy with my friend Jaemin – he created the stories and I drew all the characters. Character design for an RPG is quite high on the list of dream projects I hope to one day have the chance to undertake.

In terms of contemporary artists, Benny Gold does some outstanding work with lettering and logos.  And then, there’s Godmachine.

What are the principal steps in your work?

If time allows, I prefer to sit on a new project for a few days to work through ideas in my head.  I’ve never really been someone to sketch things out or do multiple drafts – rather, I’ll come up with an image and then, to the best of my ability, put it down on paper.

In most cases, I’ll first do a basic pencil drawing, then go over everything with a thin pen – just a regular old convenience-store pen, nothing special.  I think that comes from doing all my drawing on the side growing up.  After that I redo the outlines and heavier lines with fatter pens or markers, and shade with the initial thin pen.  Finally, it’s scanned and then vectorized and colored in Illustrator.

I used to just do everything in pencil and really get into blending the shading…I should get back to that.

How long does it take you to do a poster?

Depends.  If the complete idea comes to me at once, I can get it done in a day or two.  Otherwise, it could take a while to cultivate a concept and the appropriate lettering styles.  I prefer to hand-draw the lettering, but if I’m pressed for time, I’ll resort to DaFont.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

Do I?  I bet you say that to all the girls.  As for the horses, I’d give it a try, but I’d make no guarantees on the quality of the results.

For which band have you already worked for?

Recently it’s been lots of Shanghai-based bands – mostly friends, with a few exceptions for people who are referred to me.

I’m working towards launching a hand-printed streetwear label soon, called Twin Horizon, and our first line, Shanghai DIY, comprises 5 designs inspired by Shanghai-based bands.

For which band would you love to work?

Any band that trusts me enough to let me draw whatever comes to mind while listening to their music is a band with whom I’ll gladly work.  And also Tool.

Do you choose the artists yourself?

I don’t think this applies to me.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster?

For me, it’s incorporating the lettering and all the gig information into the illustration. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I’ve got the drawing in my head long before the words even enter the equation, and then I’m made to deal with fitting them around it wherever there’s room.

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

If there is a graphics or arts scene in Shanghai, I’m well outside its bounds.

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

Interested parties may venture on over to www.twinhorizon.com.  I upload all my posters there, and soon, you’ll be able to buy shirts from our Twin Horizon label.

The best praise you received lately?

“I like it” usually does me pretty good.  Can’t really ask for more than for someone to appreciate your work.  I imagine selling some of our shirts will also provide lots of warm fuzzies.

What can we wish you for the future?

Self-employment is the best employment.

Abby Lavin (Promoter) (Shangai)

Abby Lavin (Promoter) (Shangai)

Randomly re-reading interviews, I found out that most of the artists were referring to show promoters when I asked them how they were choosen for a particular event. And the idea grown in my head to contact directly those guys from behind the scene. After all I already interviewed collectors, site/blog owners and even few printers, so why not promoters as they are also part of the poster scene. The first one to answer is Abby Lavin from Shangai I get to know thanks to Idle Beats guys I must thanks here once again for the chinese point of view they gave me to the poster world ! Hope to have more show promoters soon on the blog and do not worry, I do not forget drawers ;) 

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

Bikini Kill. I'm stuck in the '90s.

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from what do you do?

My name's Abby. I'm originally from Washington D.C., but moved around a lot growing up. Started learning Chinese when I was a kid living in Hong Kong, which led to me deciding to move to Shanghai about 4 years ago and have an adventure. Ended up working here at Split Works (www.spli-t.com), a fiercely lovely group of people who organise concerts and music festivals, mostly in China with some work in other Asian countries too. We work with a lot of awesome musicians, both from within China and from overseas. We tour with different artists all the time throughout the year, but our main annual events are the JUE | Music + Art festival (www.juefestival.com) and the Black Rabbit Music Festival (www.hei-tu.com). Both of those events take place in Shanghai and Beijing.

When did you start your business, how did that happen ?

Split Works was founded just over 5 years ago, but not by me! The founders of the company, Archie Hamilton and Nathaniel Davis, are a couple people who really saw the potential for China's live music scene to develop in exciting ways. A couple of the early events Split Works produced in 2007 were a Sonic Youth China Tour, and a music festival called Yue in Shanghai, that featured a cool mix of international and domestic talent. Everyone from Faithless to Talib Kweli to lots of kick-ass bands from Beijing.

Today are you living from your activity, or do you do something else for a living ?

Nope; I'm still here at Split Works full time. 

Which bands are you working with regularly ?

We've worked with so many different acts. It's hard to keep track. I think you can see the full list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_Works

But there are a few artists we have ongoing relationships with, including Olafur Arnalds, Handsome Furs, and Hanggai to name just a few. We've done multiple tours/shows over the years for each of those acts. 

  

Is it you, or the band, who decide which artist you are going to work with on a particular event ?

For each event we do, the main decisions about design are made by Split Works, but we always get final approval of the design from the musicians themselves. 

  

How do you (do they) choose the artist you are going to work with on a particular event ?

99.9% of our posters are done by our in-house graphic designer, Kaine. But we do sometimes work with other artists too. Especially if Kaine is too busy, then we look for a freelance artist to come up with a design. But I like working with Kaine because her style is quite versatile. We promote so many different types of music (punk, hip-hop, folk, electro, etc.) so it's great to have a designer who is able to come up with poster art that fits all those different styles. 

  

What is the most important for you when you ask for a poster ?

aesthetically speaking, i like clean lines and bright colours. but really, i'm a stickler for detail, so i'd have to say the most important thing to me is having all the key info about the event (address, ticket booking hotline, etc.) presented in both Chinese and English in a way that's easy for people to read. after all, the purpose of the poster is ultimately to drive turn-out to the show.

What kind of advice would you give to a young artist who would like to work with you ?

Assassinate Kaine. 

Are you a collector yourself ?

I'm not a massive collector, but I would like to be. My friends at Idle Beats studio have given me a few of their prints over the years, which I love. I have a framed print of that Handsome Furs Asia Tour poster in my apartment. Probably my fave poster find of all time was at a night market at Alexandria, in Egypt. there was this dude selling primary school supplies -- notebooks, pencils, etc...and I saw he had a really dusty, tattered A1 poster meant for a biology class, with a diagram of the human heart and all the text "ventricle," "aorta," etc...written in Arabic. so I bought it (for like 5 cents US) and brought it back to Shanghai and framed it. it's such a gem. 

If so, what is your top 5 artists and top 5 posters ever ?

oh man...that's a tough one. i guess i'm not a big enough collector to really have a list like that!   

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we find you on the web, what are you working on at the moment?

our JUE | Music + Art festival is taking place in Beijing and Shanghai March 9-25. I'm really excited about that one. It's our 4th year of the festival and it's developed organically and splendidly. people can find info about that event at: www.juefestival.com.

You have a particular viewpoint on the poster scene, how do you see it evolve ?

I'm amused/inspired by a lot of the gig posters i see around Shanghai. I hope that in China people will increasingly start looking at posters as works-of-art and keepsakes to frame. It would be great to see more screenprinting studios cropping up around the country. Idle Beats is the only one I know of, and they rule. 

What can we wish you for the future?

Health! 

Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!

You're most welcome. thanks for the opportunity!

Idlebeats (China)

Idlebeats (China)

Gregor Koerting is originaly from Dresden in Germany but we will not classify him as german because he is now working with his friend Nini from Nanjing. This is, one of, the reason I am so glad to welcome Idlebeats on the site. It is the best evidence that Rock Poster Art has spread, really, all over the world. If you add to that the fact that chinese caligraphy give really a wonderful "exotic" touch to the posters, you will definitly understand why this interview means so much to me

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?

It just depends, who of both of us can enforce his favorite that day. Wether The Knife or Watain, both are from Sweden. If we´re able to come to a compromise you have to stand Joy Division, Wire, Arbouratum, David Bowie or anything weird.

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

I´m from Dresden which is far south-east of Germany. Nini is from Nanjing, a city sits on the east coast of China, near by Shanghai. We have a silkscreenstudio in the center of Shanghai where we create and print our graphic artworks and gigposters for indie-concerts worldwide. But we´re also printing other artists works, providing workshops and making customized illustrations.

When did you start drawing?

Well, this is hard to tell. I began to draw when i was three years old just like all the other kids of this age. However i obsessed about it a bit more.

I think the interest for drawing does´nt come by just doing it. It has more to do with what you see and the necessity to convey it to yourself. During my childhood i´ve particularly contemplate artworks and illustration of the others. Permanently i got my nose stucked into my children books or was sighting the album covers of my parents record collection.

Drawing could (and still can) make me escape of the world around me and make me able to create my own one. Mostly i was drawing brutal battles between knights, devils and tanks. Later on as a teenager i started to do grafitti what has make me aware that i also can give an expression to other people instead of just doing my own crap. But basically i miss my childish mind of the old days sometimes. Just to do without thinking how others will like it.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

The latter.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

Basically we can have a modest life only with doing illustrations. What also means we just have to serve our skills for other ideas. This is basically not a problem, i think. Everything can be interesting if you´re getting yourself into it right. But there are limits of course. For instance i would never draw a flyer for the KKK or shit like that.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

Yes we do. There are different book projects we were doing the illustrations for, but also for underground comic fanzines or bigger magazines like ELLE.

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

This is related to the answer of the third question. I got a lot of influence by illustrations i´ve seen in the past. Especially of Werner Klemke or Karl Schrader. I´m impressed of old paintings of Grunewald and Fra Angelico also the print art of William Blake. Rockposterwise i would exemplify Victor Moscoso and Gunther Kieser as those whom gave me loads of inspiration.

What are the principal steps in your work ?

This is kinda different. Mostly i start with a sketch which i improve more and more on the light table. Sometimes a first quick drawing says all. But we´re also trying alternate ways by using photographs or clay. The coloring we´re doing on Photoshop or by hand with watercolors.

Do you do everything by hand or on computer?

As already mentioned. If the computer helps you to get the goal better, easier and faster, of course we´re not refusing technology. The separation of the layers for a print we´re doing generally on computer.

How long does it take you to do a poster?

Including the printing, around one week.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

I defenitely don´t have any problems to do horses or dolphins infront of a sunrise. This should be fun. Anyway you´re learning with every project.

For which band have you already worked for?

Okay, till now we did Crystal Stilts, Deer Tick, Melvins, Jucifer, Wooden Shjips, Handsome Furs and lots more. Also amazing chinese bands like Snapline and Duck fight Goose.

For which band would you love to work?

The Knife and Watain

Do you choose the artists yourself?

Sometimes. But we´re also receiving requests by artists or promoters betimes.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster?

I would say, the entire arrangement is making a poster. The lettering you´re doing and if the motif is significant enough to make it catchy on the first glance. Sometimes i come up with an sensational idea but later on i find out that it does´nt work as a poster.

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

We have lots of great minds in Shanghai concerning graphic art(comics, design, video art, illustration): Long Hua, Kim Laughton, Twoqee, Cheeri Wang...

A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

First of all visit http://www.idlebeats.com/ There are all further informations and most of the prints we did last years.

The best praise you received lately?

"You have a very distinctive style."

What can we wish you for the future?

That i´m occasionally allowed to play Black Metal at the studio.

China

Idlebeats