We're pleased as all get out to introduce you to the campaign art for our 10th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival! Celebrating a decade of bringing the community together through cinema, we think this year's art is perfect - filled with incredible detail and tiny easter eggs while also shouting out our new cinema home the Oriental Theatre! As you begin to see this beautiful work plastered all over town, we'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the brilliant artist behind it. So without further ado, meet Melissa Lee Johnson!
Tell us a bit about yourself! Where did you go to school? Where did you grow up? What brought you into the illustration world?
So, to cover the basics facts- I went to school at MIAD and I grew up in West Bend, Wisconsin.
I started focusing on art as a pursuit when I was 11 years old. How I made that choice, I don’t know. I focused on drawing for years, and the illustrator angle developed from my loving of reading. I was a major bookworm, and I always felt inspired to make drawings in response to text. I really dug the classics (and reading them made me feel like a smug little smarty pants), so I spent a lot of time making drawings about works by Edgar Allan Poe, Kurt Vonnegut, Sylvia Plath, etc. Real cool kid stuff!
Your illustrations have wonderful texture and line quality, what medium(s) do you work with, and what is your process usually like when approaching your pieces?
Lately I’ve been working on my iPad with the Apple Pencil, which is the best thing. It’s so portable and it’s such a natural drawing experience. I was pretty late to getting into digital work, but now it’s my favorite. I also use photoshop on my desktop to work on larger compositions.
So the way it works is like this; I sketch in pencil if I’m sketching like a “good illustrator.” I like using mechanical pencil and card stock/computer paper because I’m a peasant. I definitely don’t stick to my sketches as I work.
Then, I start drawing figures and objects without any kind of setting or background. After I have all of that created, I draw the background. It’s exactly like a dollhouse where each piece is modular. I’m pretty intuitive (some may say indecisive) about composition, so I like making work in a way where composition doesn’t dictate the whole process. Usually I have a moment where things click because of one small drawing. For example, the way I drew a fireplace for one of the rooms in the MFF piece made the entire illustration come together in my mind’s eye. I then go back and tweak things for a seemingly endless amount of time.
Oh, I forgot to mention- I make a ton of mood boards. Setting the tone with visual references is super important for me.
Who/what are some of your sources of inspiration, either within or outside the realm of visual arts?
As I said earlier, literature has been very inspiring for me. I also feel inspired by medieval painting. More specifically, I enjoy the art historical era before linear perspective was really pinned down. I’ve always found inaccurate representations to be more interesting. For similar reasons, I feel inspired by Outsider Art/Art Brut. I’m also pretty into interior and fashion trends. If you spend a lot of time drawing people in some kind of space, it’s helps to be interested in what they’re wearing and what the spaces looks like.
Can you talk a little bit about your experience working with Milwaukee Film for the 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival campaign?
It was a total nightmare. No, just kidding! It was a very natural process. It was a ton of work, but it felt very “me.” Even though this is a huge project, I felt little pressure. I guess I’m at a place where I feel confident in my abilities and can trust the process.
What is it like to be a Milwaukee-based creative? What makes this community unique?
It’s a little hard to say because it’s all I’ve known. I can say I really love the sense of closeness within the community. I feel like I really know so many of the people here!
Where do you see your work going in the future? Do you have any dream projects you’d like to work on?
Doing a New Yorker cover would be up there. That would be total lifetime achievement status. I really do have a love for publications, so creating editorial work is really the goal. My big picture goal is to get to a place where I’m exclusively illustrating full time. I honestly love working and can’t want to get to that point.
Do you have any other hobbies that you enjoy? Is there anything you've always wanted to get into but haven't yet (art-wise or just in life)?
I regularly bike, read, and do yoga. Also, and I have two Chihuahuas with my boyfriend. Their names are Bambi and Sparkle, and they are the light of our lives! Bambi is such a old soul, I swear she is a little old lady in a dog body. Actually, she’s probably just three squirrels in a trench coat. Also, she’s a Taurus. Little Sparkle is really weird but everyone loves her. She’s either bouncing around like a puppy, or she’s sleeping. She’s a Gemini, so I’m not surprised. The theme song from Curb Your Enthusiasm does a good job of describing her vibe. I actually don’t know when they were born, I’m just going off of the dates we rescued them. That’s how astrology works, right?
How do you feel film has had an impact on you as a person and as a creative? What is your favorite movie and why?
I think a lot about the concept of mise en scene when I’m drawing. Mise en scene is just everything in the camera’s frame at a given time- so it’s the scenery and the characters, and how it’s lit and framed. There’s a French film called La Jetée thats made up of a series of still photos. La Jetée made the concept click for me. I can watch a film as a series of compositions and get inspired to draw.
It's really hard for me to pick a favorite film, so I’ll list a few; American Hustle, There Will Be Blood, 2001: A Space Oddyssey, and Annihilation.
Where can people find you/your work? Website, social media, etc...
Website: melissaleejohnsonart.com (I’m updating things right now, so if it looks like a mess, forgive me. Conversely, if it looks awesome, that means I just finished updating!)
IG: sauceboss_666 (or just search Melissa Lee Johnson)
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Melissa! And double (nay, triple) thanks for creating such amazing art to celebrate our 10th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival!
Posted by: Tom Fuchs