Interview » Valesca van Waveren.

01. The Place
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I am pleased to kick off a new ongoing series of AQ-V interviews with Valesca van Waveren, an extremely talented illustrator/designer based in Amsterdam. There she runs a small design studio called VALEZKI. Both Valesca’s client editorial work and personal work are super fresh, conceptually driven and visually quite intriguing. Impressively she holds both a psychology degree plus an illustration degree. Keep scrolling to see more of her exceptional work and read the Q & A.

02. History of Music
Illustration for the VPRO Gids, article about TV series ‘Walk on by’. About the history of pop music.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Q: Please tell me about yourself and your background.

A: I live and work as an illustrator and graphic designer in Amsterdam, the city where I was born. Two years ago I graduated from the Art Academy of Utrecht, specializing in illustration.

I just got back from a holiday to Basel, Switzerland, after a summer of hard work. Traveling is my absolute favorite thing to do. It is always refreshing to see how people live in another country; how culture affects us and how design is integrated in each culture.

Design in Switzerland is fascinating and different from Amsterdam; the posters, advertisements, furniture, packaging, the layout of newspapers to mention a few things. And what I find especially interesting is that each country has it’s own identity and communication mode. There are already a lot of differences if you look only inside Europe. These differences fascinate me.

For example, in Switzerland I went to the movies and went straight to an unguarded popcorn stand, served myself and had to walk ten meters to pay for it. The Swiss must be very honest, kind polite people, in Amsterdam this system would never work. You can find the kindest people in Amsterdam but if the popcorn stand was unguarded here the cash register would be empty and the popcorn would go straight into an Amsterdam mouth. (By the way I paid for my popcorn.)

I always love to look out for the absurdities which might appear to be normal. Did you know that the Swiss stick posters on the street where you walk instead of the walls?

03. Schoonzusjes (Sisters-in-Law) de Stookzus
04. Schoonzusjes (Sisters-in-Law) de Streefzus
Series of 6 illustrations for Viva. Article about different types of sisters-in-law.

05. Speedy ADHD
Illustration for Psy, magazine for psychologists. Recently possibilities were created for a quick diagnosis of some urgent (suspected) cases of ADHD.

06. Supervision
Illustration for Psy. The supervisory board is having a tough job checking out (mental) health institutes, dealing with money, quality of care, social network etc.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Q: I see you have a psychology degree. I am very interested to learn about what prompted you to also pursue a completely different degree and career in design/illustration? It looks as though these two worlds must collide for you a bit as I see some of your clients are in the mental health industry. I’m sure that having a psychology degree helps you to better serve this market?

A: My interest in psychology and art exist for a long time. When I finished high school I combined them both in my life. I studied psychology during the week and went to the Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam on the weekend.

After the first year I decided to focus on “developmental psychology” which I found very interesting. That same year I started working for the University as an illustrator for the psychology magazine. It was at that moment that I realized  I wanted to become an illustrator!

Later, during my study at the Art Academy of Utrecht I could combine both my interests as well. Working at an addiction clinic plus government sponsorship made me able to pay for my materials, paper and paints. My first  professional assignment as an illustrator was for this clinic as well!

So both worlds of interest have worked well together for me and they still do. I think a lot of drawings I make are very much related to human behavior. That is what inspires me a lot, and where my associations come from. Furthermore, designing is about communication and I can use my psychological background in thinking about the way an image or a design communicates.

07. Dutch Dirty Language
Illustration for Intermediair. When the Dutch are on forum discussions, their anonymity makes them feel free to become very rude and cruel.
(Needless to say, this seems to be an issue around the globe.)

08. Sneaky I
09. Sneaky II
Illustration for Intermediair Professionals Gids 2009. Article about secretly looking for a better job.

10. Modern Relationships – Twitter
Illustration for Viva, article dealing with 6 different types of modern relationships, this one is about twitter relationships: lots of words, but there’s really not much to it.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Q: How would you describe your design and illustration style?

A: I aspire to make work that is: communicative, humouristic, honest, surprising and colourful. Hopefully I inspire people to question normality, to embrace imperfections, to find treasures in what seems to be boring.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Q: What are your current projects that you are working on?

A: I just finished making a stuffed furry animal. I’m busy illustrating a book with very interesting poems. For the first time I am making patterns to make my own fabric, a project I am working on with my boyfriend who is a graphic designer and art director.

11. Lucifer
12. Bee Longing
Acrylic Paintings

13. iPod Shuffle
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Q: What would you like to be doing in the future?

A: After graduating I worked for the first two years making a lot of editorial illustrations. I was very fortunate to find enough work in this area. In the future I would like to design products of my own, such as a book with more autonomous images, interior design elements such as pillows, wallpaper, clothing or even more little stuffed animals.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

>> See more on Valesca’s website + flickr + blog
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A huge *thank you* to Valesca for sharing her incredible work plus her information and time!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[ All images ©VALEZKI ]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .