Watchlist Magazine

Dan Haskett fires up the imagination. There’s great personality in his animation and his illustration work, so it is perhaps not so surprising to read about his successes with The NY Times, The Guardian, AMEX and Amnesty. He’s a achieved a lot since graduating in 2005 [UWE], and chose Berlin as his creative home within the last year, having previously worked from studios in London and Helsinki. Now Dan finds himself back in education at 26, studying for a masters degree in storytelling at Konsfack in Stockholm.

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How would you describe your journey into freelancing, and your progress?

I have been freelancing for about 4 years now. The first 2 years were pretty slow and involved other full time jobs with the occasional freelance job. I was then ‘let go’ from a job I had at a motion graphics company because they said I was clearly not interested in the corporate work and should concentrate on my illustration. It was pretty scary at first, but fortunately a couple of big jobs came in that I wouldn’t have been able to handle otherwise. Since then its been a pretty rocky road, never really a steady stream of work, but somehow managing to get by. It can be quite stressful, but I also enjoy being able to wake up when I want and to manage my time how I like. In particular, not having to book time off work for holidays is great.

I left London a year ago because it was too expensive to be a freelancer there, and moved to Helsinki. It’s a lot smaller and less stressful than London, and I found a big and cheap studio space that you could never get in London. It helped me to concentrate more on my work and also indulge in a bit of personal work. Since then I moved to Berlin in the summer which is maybe one of the best cities to be a freelance illustrator in, as its cheap and has lots of space. I just moved to Stockholm where I’m studying a masters in Storytelling, with the hope to work more with photography and film, but also keep the illustration going.

You’ve been very successful at winning commissions with big organisations like Amnesty, The NYT and The Guardian. Talk us through your strategy, and how it has evolved as you have progressed.

Having a good website has definitely been crucial. Being able to present your work online, in a clear and simple way is very important. Once you’ve got an online portfolio it’s basically about finding out who the art directors for magazines are and then emailing them, or if you’re brave, calling them.

A lot of them are very busy so calling can be quite scary because they may not have much time to talk, but they are normally pretty friendly. But basically it’s about finding out how to promote yourself and not be forgotten…mailing lists and postcards can also be a useful tool alongside the website. Also try to have a website that can be easily updated, although I say that having not updated mine for about 3 months.

How has the new digital world changed things for you?

When I was studying at school I mainly worked without a computer, and then in my third year when I made the Brighton Rock animation for my final project, I learnt After Effects and Photoshop. When I left school I quickly learnt to use Photoshop properly as I realised it was necessary to meet deadlines for commissions, and to easily make changes to colour, composition etc.

Now I spend too much of my time in front of the computer, and my work relies much too heavily on the computer than I would like. It has allowed me to work alot quicker and deliver work in a few hours, but I think my work has lost some of the character it had when I was just drawing and not able to correct every little mistake. That’s why I’ve come back to university, to use the computer as rarely as I can and get a bit more messy.

What creative tools have you found most helpful recently?

Photoshop is the main tool I use for my work, without it I don’t know what I’d do. Otherwise the internet is a very useful tool for finding inspiration and hearing about events or galleries. A lightbox can also come in very handy sometimes.

Tell us your aspirations, and how you are re-investing in your education.

I’d like to collaborate with more people, working as an illustrator can be a bit lonely sometimes, and it’s a great feeling when you work with someone who has similar ideas to you. Especially with animation, it can be very stressful producing a whole piece by yourself and it helps to share the work. Also it can really help to develop your own work and how you think, by working with other people, sometimes it can get a bit boring and repetitive working by yourself. Collaborations can offer challenges that you might not find otherwise. Ofcourse it can be very difficult to find someone who you feel completely comfortable working with, but when you do it’s great!

If you could press the reset button, what mistakes and obstacles would you seek to avoid?

I would not have stayed in London for 3 years after leaving Bristol where I studied. I would have moved straight to Berlin. Well actually, maybe I would have spent 1 year in London promoting myself and taking my portfolio around to companies and being more active with contacting people. Then I would have moved to Berlin. I wouldn’t call London a mistake, but it’s too stressful and expensive to be a young, struggling illustrator in.

How did moving to Berlin helped boost your creative energy?

Berlin was a great experience, and I’d like to move back there after studying my masters. It’s definitely the most inspiring place I’ve been to for art and creative freedom. Not necessarily in illustration, but more on the streets and the general atmosphere of the city. It feels much more like a young persons city because its cheaper and people have much more freedom. There have been many times when I’ve thought, this could never happen in London, or England, because the police would stop it straight away. But somehow its allowed in Berlin and there is actually a much more relaxed, safer atmosphere than in London. People can play music in the parks, or setup a fire display, and there never seems to be any security or police around. It’s maybe not a direct creative influence, but being able to just cycle around the city and see what you can find in a park or hidden in an old shop is a great feeling.

For people who haven’t yet been to Berlin, what advice would you offer them if they were interested in working there?

Go! But ideally you should already have clients from somewhere else that you can work for. Before I went I was told that it’s very difficult to get work in Berlin and it seemed to be that way. It’s possible to collaborate and do interesting projects with other artists, but I think that generally there isn’t much money in it. The studio spaces are extremely cheap and there are lots of places.

You manage to find humour in some pretty dark places – gunatanamo bay, for example. How important do you think this is to your success?

I’m not sure actually. I don’t really think about adding humour to my work, but I suppose that it can be found in places. I’m definitely inspired by quite a lot of dark humour in films and photography, and maybe some of that comes into my work. I don’t think it’s been that important to my success, or at least I can’t really remember many people mentioning it when they’ve hired me for a job.

What kind of core beliefs and attitudes do you think have driven you?

I guess you could say that one main belief that has driven me to continue working as a freelance illustrator, is being able to go on holiday when I want, and wake up when I want, and live where I want. Obviously this has side effects such as many late nights, and never being able to stop thinking about your work because you can always be doing something… even if it’s promotion, or self motivated work. But I think I’d struggle to go back to a 5 days a week job, where I would have to wake up before 9pm each day. Being tied to a city because of work can be annoying I think, at least while I’m still young and free to explore!

How have you tried to distinguish yourself from other illustrators and animators?

I have definitely tried to, because it’s important to have your own style that people immediately recognise as being yours. Some of my friends have thought someone elses work was mine, so obviously I’ve not succeded completely, but I think I’m doing ok. It’s very difficult to have a completely unique style now, especially with there being so many illustrators coming out of university every year.

What do you owe your creative heroes?

Lots of inspiration!

How have you found real life getting in the way of your animation and illustration?

I’d say it’s the other way around… animation and illustration getting in the way of real life. I’ve spent a lot of late nights working in a room by myself, and it can be quite stressful working 12-14 hour days, not really doing anything else, or even eating properly. But then you finish the project and have a break, I guess it’s kind of nice to have a slightly irregular pattern and not just working Mon-Fri, but sometimes you can never imagine actually finishing a job because its so big, or there is such a tight deadline. I guess I work well under pressure.

If you were to guest edit Watchlist, which 3 people would you profile and why?

Aki Kaurismaki because I love his dark, silent and dry films, but would like to know more about him. Michael J Fox because he has been my hero since I was a kid. Bill Murray because he is a genius, although I’m not sure what I’d ask him.

Tell us something everyone should know, but probably doesn’t.

In supermarkets in Sweden you can only buy 3.5% beer. If you want stronger beer or wine or spirits you have to go to a special shop which closes at about 3pm on Saturdays and isn’t even open on Sundays. A lot of forward planning is needed when drinking at the weekend.

See more at: danhaskett.co.uk