Meet Waldemar Stepien.
The illustrator behind our Lager Lime... Wal
Had you always wanted to be an illustrator when you grew up?
Funnily enough no, when I was speaking to my mum earlier, she reminded me I had always wanted to be a journalist. I didn’t know drawing could be something you get paid for; I didn’t realise an illustrator was something that existed.
Are your parents creative?
No! The thing is I’m a bit of an anomaly in my family because the only person that sort of introduced me to creativity and making things was my uncle. He was very talented and helped me get into it. I naturally was drawn to it; I was drawing a lot and was kind of good at it from an early age. I mean everyone is creative in their own way, but they aren’t in the conventional way.
You style is very distinctive. What inspires you and what influenced your style?
That’s interesting because I don’t think I do have a distinctive style. I get bored easily and struggle to do things over and over again. I’ve always been interested in so many things all at the same time therefore it’s very hard for me to do one thing and stick with it! What I’m interested in is ideas and concepts, I would say style for me is a way of thinking, a way of approaching things, a way of framing and I think because I have a graphic design background, I like to approach things with a new set of rules. However, I love simple things, and portraying a message. So I think that’s what I’d consider myself to be: Very simple whilst getting a message across – tongue in cheek I would say.
When you were working on the LOAH can illustration, what was the process?
What was great about the LOAH project is that I was given a lot of freedom. I was given the brief and told to run with it. Usually, the way I start is I put down as many ideas as I can and see where they take me. We ended up with the guy squeezing the lime, but the lime was also the sun and the person could also be the landscape; which I thought was a great way of expressing the concept but bringing some of that lightness and fun to the illustration and the blue sky drinking and also incorporating the flavour!
Have you got any exciting projects coming up?
I’m looking to explore different ways hopefully moving into more 3D work and see my work in a different way and maybe bring in some movement! I’m excited about it because it’s always good to see self-progress.
