Lots of wisdom from Christoph Niemann's brilliant Reddit AMA

Christoph Niemann is one of our creative heroes, an illustrator and artist whose talent, imagination and sense of humour puts him smack bang in the top drawer. So imagine our excitement when we found out he was doing an Ask Me Anything on Reddit yesterday, where he held forth on all manner of topics, from serious illustration insight to his love of butter. Here’s some of the wit and wisdom he shared…

On the Charlie Hebdo attack

What a truly horrible and depressing event. Worst of all so much more of it happens all the time, without that level of press and outrage.

Apart from having been utterly shocked and disgusted with the brutality and ideology of the attack, the most depressing realisation I had was this: usually my art is fairly uncontroversial, so I’m in a safe place. But if I had an idea that I think would be good and important, but for some reason I thought it could offend the wrong people, I may have very serious doubts about putting it out there. I wish I could say with conviction that “je suis Charlie,” but these guys were so incredibly brave and fearless in their fight for a freedom of expressing your opinion.

His advice for illustrators

You have to be an avid reader (especially of the publications you want to work for). At some point you will feel: I would have done this or that differently. That’s when you know you’re ready to contact them and present what you do.

What to draw to develop your drawing skills

That hasn’t changed much since the 1200s I guess – the human face. The human body. Perspective. Clothing. If you’ve mastered those, you’re good to go. Just for the fun of it you can learn to draw cats and dogs (I still can’t draw cats btw).

Oh, and iPhones. Somehow every other assignment I get requires drawing an iPhone these days.

On how to put across a serious point

I guess when it comes to anything important, we’re all like four-year-olds. Saying something once, and being very reasonable may not be as successful as one would hope.

Even an important story has to be repeated, and if we want people to listen we have to find smart ways to get their attention. Being loud and shrill is not as powerful as it once was (too many Kim Kardashian stories in that department).

I think people are curious and interested, but it is important to constantly find new and intriguing ways to present important issues. In theory it should be enough to just point to the facts. But often storytelling, humour, wit and a subjective artistic viewpoint may actually be a great way to open people’s eyes. That’s why I think the “art of saving a life” initiative was such a smart new way to tackle an issue.

On how he works

It’s a pretty tedious and twisted process. At first I just collect random ideas on a topic. More often than not, I realise that things dry up after four or five. Goodbye idea!

Sometimes though, I feel that there’s more and keep going. When I feel there are 15 good ones, I try to put them in order and see if there are good and surprising connections. It sounds terrifying but for a story of 25 pictures I usually need at least 75 ideas, and then weed out ruthlessly.