we were lucky to have
a cover at all
this month, after our artist suffered a
hairy – or rather furry – moment.
“I had a bit of a disaster last night,”
Elliott Quince admits sheepishly
when we call up one afternoon to see
how he’s getting on. “One of the cats
got into the studio. I spent the
morning scraping off furry footprints.”
Working from home, Quince is no
stranger to this kind of mishap, constantly having to fend off
‘help’ from his two little girls, aged two and four – “They’re
always offering” – as well as his pets.
Still, it’s a small price
to pay for an enviable
working life. The
self-employed artist and
comedian spends his
days at home – drawing
or turning Plasticine into
illustrations like the one
on our cover – and
nights on stage as Olaf
Falafel, ‘the eighth
funniest man in Sweden’
(olaffalafel.com
).
His use of the modelling clay only
came about after his elder daughter,
then two, was given some. He quickly
became hooked. “I played with it
more than her,” he confesses. “It’s
equally frustrating and therapeutic.
You have to take your time with it, but
it’s worth it in the end.”
His playing about paid off, with
Plasticine Tatooine
, a 2011
book in which he molded avatars for several of the minor
Star
Wars
characters. The book attracted many fans and
commissions, including from our art director Mat, who thought
Pyramid scheme
This month’s Egyptian-themed cover involved some Plasticine, a part-time
stand-up comedian and a cat
it would be a novel way
to illustrate our Red Sea
freediving story (p52).
Quince relished one
aspect of our brief in
particular. “Normally
I have to be careful to
keep my hands clean
when I change colour,”
he explains. “But with all
the beige, I didn’t have
to worry.”
In fact, in the end, the whole process was straightforward.
“I drew out the plan first in pencil, then put in a bit of a bevel in
Photoshop, which made it look raised.” After finalising the plan
with Mat, he set about making the model – twice the size of the
finished magazine so the characters weren’t too fiddly to make.
All in all, a simple and effective cover, with only one, or rather,
two hitches. “In the end, the cat didn’t
do much damage but then the girls
were making cards and there was
glitter everywhere...” He sighs. “Yeah, I
might have to get a lock on that door.”
For more on Quince’s work,
see quinkyart.com
M A K I N G O F
T H E C O V E R
01
04
03
02
MODEL BEHAVIOUR
01
Plasticine requires
patience and tools
02
Quince draws out
a plan first
03
His Plasticine
Tattoine figurines
04
The artist at work
WORDS
SARAH WARWICK
PHOTOS
ELLIOTT QUINCE
JANUARY 2014
FREE TO TAKE HOME
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