Living History Artist Andy Jones
The wonderful images of our resident artist Andy Jones will be available to purchase if you are a War History Online subscriber, there are also plans for a calendar at the end of the year which will include the best pictures from his collection.
Andy studied at Stockport and Liverpool, he was awarded the Norman Moores Scholarship in 1999 to study in Pourrieres, France.
He has participated in numerous exhibitions to showcase a wide range of his work and has illustrated in National papers as well as Jaguar, Symantec, Walbridge Tilbury Ltd & Kraft to name but a few.
Currently to date he has been focusing his attention on documentary illustration.
Andy also time travels back to France 1944 as a US 2nd Ranger documenting day to day antics with the group he is a member of Normandy44, which in Andy’s words, is pretty exciting.
War History Online asked Andy a few questions…
Where are you from originally?
Born in a small market town outside of Liverpool, a little place called Prescot. Lord Nelson’s mistress was a resident, we have a 500 year old school and we also made excellent clocks to which we still have a museum dedicated.
Tells us a bit about your art/design background. Where did you study?
I studied illustration at Stockport College and then at the famous Liverpool Art School where John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe first met.
I studied various illustration disciplines that included traditional print that still influences my digital artwork. It was here that I won a scholarship to study in Pourrieres in the South of France. Loved every bit of it, following in the footsteps of Paul Cezanne and the other impressionists.
After graduation I followed illustration in various disciplines still not knowing what or even how to do the whole business thing. I took part in various exhibitions and one-man shows, mainly based around landscape painting. On route onto an undefined path.
When did bonjourjones begin and how has it grown?
bonjourjones was developed from my experiences working for several years as a lecturer on a graphic arts course at a college in Liverpool.
While teaching, I basically I got bored with doing sporadic freelance graphic design jobs that never really gave me the opportunity to create impact. Then boom, all those little simple sketches I had been creating all of a sudden meant something. The power of simple design. It is what I always loved; I always tell my students that simplicity is key with any piece of design.
In the living history arena there is an endless source of inspiration, which is what I feed from. I’m not a cartoonist or satirical illustrator but a designer who feeds off nostalgia and big hefty, smelly vehicles. The people and experiences all aid in my illustrations too.
Some well known characters in the living history arena may even see themselves in the illustrations. I hope they will not be too offended!
Last year I gave myself a time scale to get myself a website and all that is affiliated with self-promotion up and going, and now I have a fully functioning enterprise.
Who or what inspires you most?
I’m inspired by nostalgic print and with the advent of the internet the mind just boggles. I am like a design sponge and now with websites like Pinterest I can share my inspiration with the rest of the world.
Illustrators and designers like Royston Cooper, Sempé, Alexander Girard and Miroslav Sasek. Documentary illustrators such as Xavier Pick and Yank magazine’s Howard Brodie have their own role in my development also.
I can trace my inspiration through memory. One of my most memorable illustrations, at aged six, was of a cartoon in a dentist waiting room. A girl with a huge gob of shiny teeth chomping down onto an apple drawn in the style of Sasek. Loved it.
What next?
I will be attending Armour and Embarkation 2012 for which I have created a limited edition print for the event thanks to Jack and Keith.
I will also be attending several of the reenactment shows. Of course War and peace, Victory and Pickering with the lads of the 2nd Rangers Normandy 44.
I will have to get my sketch book out around the camp. I will also have a stall at a new show in Liverpool at the National Trust Speke Hall in July. Like everyone else I’m sure I will plan on having a memorable time in 2012. Hope to see you there.
We will be showcasing Andy’s excellent work regularly and we look forward to seeing his unique images appearing in War History Online.
