My fifth featured artist is Jason Walton. Jason Walton is an illustrator living in Portland, Oregon. He draws things so you don’t have to.
The following is my interview with Jason.
What are five words you would use to describe your style?
“Versatile. Graphic. Humorous. Cartoon. Bold.”
What, or who are your influences for your illustration style?
“Vintage cartoons (advertising characters, Looney Tunes, Space Ghost), vintage posters (Olympic/Skiing/WPA), roller derby uniforms from the 70s, my five-year-old son, logo design, Portland creatives, New Yorker cartoons, the posters of Modern Dog Design, Egon Schiele, Joe Ciardello.”
What are your thoughts on the merging of web design and illustration?
“To me, it’s a beautiful thing. Since the dawn of websites, I have been dreaming of the possibility of keeping my work in digital form. Not that I don’t love printed or handmade things, which I do; it’s just that from an efficiency/ecology perspective, I love this new realm.”
Do you have any insight you’d like to share about your process of creating the artwork you did for Sushi & Robots?
“For these robots, I was inspired by the unself-conscious spontaneity of my 5 yo son’s drawings. Something that helps is the fact that I create with a mouse, without sketches, which gives some randomness to the lines that is not necessarily my default inclination. Historically my work has been very tight and controlled, but have recently undergone a creative rejuvenation — partly because of my son and partly from looking at the book Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art.”
If you like sushi, what’s your favorite?
“Being born and raised in South Dakota, I am a late comer to it, but I do love Sushi. Any sushi with shellfish is tops for me. I also love the pickled ginger that comes with it, which I now suddenly have a craving for.”
If you owned an army of robots, would they be good or evil?
“Robot Army? My robot army would be good… good at robbing banks
and bringing me the money. ”
Jason is currently working on an illustration of a jet-pack pilot for The Faster Times that they will be using on promotional products for subscribers. He loves his job.
