Intervjuserien: Mo B. CorelDRAW Illustratör & Designer i Tyskland

Min intervjuserie har nu kommit till ”Mo B, CorelDRAW användare som driver sitt eget frilansanföretag Mo B. ”Econceptum” i Tyskland. Jag intervjuar människor jag lärt känna genom Corels forum på nätet, och som likt mig själv är betatestare av CorelDRAW och PHOTO-PAINT bla. Några av oss har träffats i verkliga livet.

Intervjuerna görs på engelska och jag låter dem vara oöversatta även på min svenska blogg, för att deras ord ska vara desamma som på min engelska blogg.

Your Name: Mo B.

Website:
www.econceptum.com

Style & type of work you produce?  graphics design and illustration

You like myself is a user of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. What was it that made you discover , and drew you to CorelDRAW Graphics Suite? 
I came in contact with CorelDRAW the first time in my apprenticeship as a sign maker, where it was mostly used for car lettering and vinyl cutting.

What year was it? 
It’s been back in 1995.

Which Programs do you use, Corel and none-Corel programs? 
I use CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTOPAINT as well as may other programs: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, Gimp, Inkscape, Artrage, Google Sketchup, Kerkythea, Sculptris, MapZone…

Do you use any analogue tools in conjunction with your work? 
Sometimes, when it is required by a client. I’m not a fan of mixing both analog and digital media, my experiences in the past with that were not satisfying.

Which year was it you started your business, your work? 
My creative work has a long story, but my graphics design and illustration business was founded on beginning of January 2012, this year.

Would you recommend CorelDRAW Graphics Suite? 
Of course I would. But as a graphics designer nowadays it’s better to have oneself not restricted and bound to a single program or suite. Every each one has its advantages, and a creative designer or illustrator should pick the tool that expresses his creativity the best at the moment. Every graphics suite is only a tool, like a hammer or a broom.

What, more importantly, made you begin working with the work you do today? After all you could have made a career as a hairdresser or something in that line instead, like any other human being. 
As a young boy I started to draw. I was stunned by all the great and inspiring TV comic series during the 80ies, and I’ve learned to draw humans with action figures.
The apprenticeship I’ve absolved was a bit far away from creative expression, but I’ve learned a lot technical stuff which helped me later in drawing and painting accurately. At the same time I bought my first airbrush, and started to do freelance work in my spare time with portraits and airbrushes.
Most of my career I’ve worked as a sign maker, until I took a job as a corporate publisher in 2007. My responsibility was graphics design for an european IT supplies distributor, and I’ve learned a lot in a few years. That was the time I fully exhausted the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite for the first time, and I’ve started to work with it on a daily basis until today.
After this employment, which I had to quit cause I moved house, I’ve been working in several frustrating occupations, and I’ve started to prepare my own business.
My business was planned for years, but I never dare the big step to self employment. You know, in the last years, every year a new kind of crisis was anounced: we had the global economic crisis in 2009, then the euro crisis and so on, so I thought it would be better to wait. beside that, I’m a blockheaded do-gooder, so I worked out a concept to combine my passions with my personal interests, and it seems the right time to start my own business is NOW.

What is that you like with your work?
To be self employed as a graphics designer is very demanding, that is what I like the most. Reinventing tasks and workflows is required, daily. And that feeds the creativity at the same time as it demands it.

In an interview in the Digital Artist Magazine, who interviewed me a few years back, I was asked what I would like to see in future versions of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. Is there anything you would like to see? 
A lot. Some improvements on the meshfill tool and artistic media, some elaboration on export formats, procedural texture fills and- oh, Google Sketchup import! That would be cool! But at the moment I am very satisfied with CorelDRAW. Corel PHOTOPAINT could have a bit more brush options and texture fill options.

Do you drink coffee or tea in the morning?
Hm, both, but coffee is my favorite. I’m a night owl, so I need coffee, but I enjoy tea.

What do you think is important to think about running your own business or in your line of work, to think about. Is it discipline or and something else?  Flexibility, creativity and friends or a family who reinforce ones back. I think that’s everything one needs, isn’t it?

For someone just starting out, what do you think they should think about?
They should think about almost everything. A business plan helps to get the right and reallistic idea of the project, but the opinions of friends and family is also very important. Noone should start with nothing: no plan, no clients and no reserve assets are doomed for sure.

Is there any big change in how and what you worked with when you first started out. Have the business changed in any way? 
There are many things in change at the moment. The ACTA thing is currently in progress, which will change the copyright laws and our internet life fundamentally. What I observe in the novel book and learning book sector is that more and more publications are digitalized, that will be a difficult market for illustrators in the future.

Thank you!
Stefan Lindblad
Stockholm, march 2012
www.canvas.nu