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JIRO BEVIS



>>>>>English Here

Picture
あなたの事を少し教えて下さい。
僕はロンドンに住むイラストレーターです、日本とイギリスのハーフで十年前留学生としてきてから住んでいます。僕のアートは常に変/進化していますが、根本的には自分の好きなものとか自分が興味のあるものを描きます。



どういう風に時間を使い分けますか?
普段は絵を描いてます、でもロンドンで住むのは安くないのでフリーランスで他のイラストレーターの仕事をやったり、後は他にも色々やっています。フリーランスなので時間をフレキシブルに使う事が出来て楽しいです。ロンドンは楽しい街でいつもなにかやる事があります。ギャラリーとか美術館に行ったり、友達とパブとか公園にいったり、レコードを買いにいきます。友達のスタジオにもよく行きます、すごくいい刺激になります。

何から喜びを感じますか?
音楽、友達や家族と過ごす時間、絵を描いている時に上手な作品が出来ると感じた時。DJをやっている友達と遊ぶ時は本当に楽しいし、みんなも楽しくしている。


あなたのアートは何に影響を受けますか?
当たり前な所で音楽、映画、美術館、ギャラリー、ポップカルチャー、サイエンス、自然、他のアーテイスト、何でも面白いものとかです。インターネットで見るものからも直・間接的に影響されます。インターネットで見て気に入ったものをフォルダーに入れていて、今は1万枚ほどたまっていてちょっとメチャクチャになっていますけど、その中を見ると何らかのアイデアが湧いてきます。

アートを作るときのどういうプロセスが一番楽しいですか?
プロセスはシンプルです。まず紙に絵を描くのから始まります。年を重ねて行くと共にスタイルは変わっても絵を描くのが原点です。音楽を聞きながら、いい感じになってきてから始めます。絵を描く意外のスタイルを持つのがちょっと怖いと感じることがあります、でも一番大事なのが絵を描く事で、もっと上手になる様にずっと頑張っています。

日本にはよく来ますか、日本に付いて感想はありますか?
行きたい程行けてないと思います。去年は二回行きました。日本は好きで日本のハーフと言う事で愛着心もあります、でも日本にいる時はどうしても自分はgaijinと感じます。親戚は群馬にいて会いにいきます、家族は東京に住んでいます。日本に一年ぐらい住みたいと思いますが、日本語が喋れないので無理だと思います、でもいつか行くかもしれません。

最近僕が三菱A6Mゼロ戦闘機のチーフエンジニアの堀越二郎の親戚だと言う事を知りました。彼は宮崎駿のヒーローで、彼の最新作の映画、『風立ちぬ』は堀越二郎の話です。どれくらい近い親戚かは誰も分からないですけど、僕の祖父(Oji-chan)にそっくりで年も同じぐらいで、二人とも堀越という名字で、群馬県の藤岡市生まれでした。


あなたのワークスペース、それとも一番仕事をしやすい場所の写真を送ってくれますか?

新作はありますか? あなたの作品へのリンクがありましたら、お知らせください。

今はいくつかのプロジェクトがあります。一つは音楽業界の中で尊敬している人たちとの仕事ですごく楽しいです。T-シャツのデザインもやっています、夏には友達と一緒にロンドンでショーをやりたいです。もっと日本人とお仕事をしたいのですけど、日本人は独特なイラスト文化があって(漫画、アニメ)ちょっと入り難い面があります。

Translators page is >HERE<.

Tell us about yourself ...
I’m an illustrator living in London and working, I’m half Japanese and I moved here about 10 years ago to study and have been here ever since. My work has slowly changed and evolved over those years although I would say my main aim has always been to draw things I like and that interest and please me.


How do you divide your time ?
I would say I draw most days, living in London isn’t cheap so I usually have illustration jobs on to pay the rent and stuff, but of course I try to mix things up. The great thing about being freelance is that I can usually choose when to work and I have a lot more flexibility with what to do. Living in London means there is usually always something interesting to check out whether that’s going to galleries, museums, hanging out with friends in parks or pubs or going record shopping. It’s also nice hanging out with friends who have studios and seeing what they’re up to, keeps the creative juices flowing.


What makes you happy ?
Music, being with friends and family and even drawing sometimes when on those rare occasions I feel like I’m drawing something that I feel will look great when finished. I have friends who put on nights and DJ regularly and they’re always good fun,the music’s great and most importantly positive vibes.

What inspires you and your work ?
Anything really, although I guess the obvious things are music, movies, museums, galleries, popular culture, science, nature, other aritsts, basically anything that interests me. The internet is a big help, I’m very inquisitive so there is always something new I discover which influences my work directly or indirectly.  I keep a folder of images that I like from the internet, last time I checked it had over 10,000 images in it, it’s a bit of a mess but I can often look in there for a few minutes and get some ideas.

What processes do you use/enjoy when making art ?
Well I try to keep the process to my work fairly simple which is to try and draw everything by hand on pieces of paper then working from there. Over the years there are small changes where I have refined my style and become more efficient but the basic process is the same. I always have music playing when I work, that’s a big help which gets me in the zone. I’m probably slightly scared to branch out too much and try other thing although I think my priority is to always improve my drawing skill which I think I have been slowly doing over the years.

How often do you get to visit Japan and what are your thought on the place ?
I probably don’t visit Japan as much as I would like to although I did go twice last year. I absolutely love Japan, being half Japanese I obviously have a strong bond although I do definitely feel like a Gaijin when I go. Most of my family live in a small town in Gunma, so it’s nice to visit them as well as the rest of my family who live in around Tokyo. I have often thought about moving out there for a year or so but I think the fact my Japanese isn’t very good is a big disadvantage, maybe one day though.


I recently found out that I am closely related to Jiro Horikoshi who was the chief engineer for the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane, who also happens to be Hayao Miyazaki’s hero, the next Ghibli film coming out later this year called Kaze Tachinu is about him. I don’t know the exact relation to me other than he looks incredibly similar to my Oji-Chan (who was of similar age) and they were both Horikoshis born in Fujioka, Gunma, but sadly none of my remaining family there know the exact relation.

Any current projects or links to recent works you'd like to tell us about ?
I have a few projects on at the moment, working for a couple music based people who I have massive respect for which is very exciting. As well as that I have a few different t-shirt designs I’m working on for various people and hopefully a group show with some friends in the summer in London. One thing I would love to do more is work for Japanese people although I understand that is difficult with Japan having such a strong identity of it’s own when it comes to illustration through manga and 
anime.




Jump >>Here<< to Jiro's website.


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