Other than your previous work clearly being an inspiration, what else inspires you?
My London trip showed me a whole new level of illustrators. In South Africa we feel like maybe we’ve hit the ceiling a little bit with illustration. Travel helps me see what other illustrators are doing and that’s super inspiring. I’m trying to get my name out there a bit more, being a bit more present in London and New York.
What has been a cannon event in your career so far? Do you have a favourite piece of artwork?
For me it’s the scale of work that I’ve been able to produce. The reason why I got into design was because a friend told me that, if you work in Graphic Design: “You get to do cool art that they put onto massive billboards!” And that was really the only reason I got into it. I wanted every bit of work to be on a massive billboard, that was my goal. Well, within 3 years of working as an illustrator, I was working with an insurance company and my little dream came true. My work was featured on the biggest billboard in Africa, and then on the Adidas Tower. Once my work was shown on a large scale I looked back and gave little childhood Russell a pat on the back.
There’s a funny story with the billboard too. On Twitter there was a post with the title ‘Biggest Billboard in Africa, created by Russell,’ but the picture was so small and pixelated, people couldn’t really see me. So people lost their shit saying, “Why was a white man commissioned for this?” It made people angry until they realised I was a brown kid. Twitter is such a crazy, crazy space.
Do you have any advice for artists just starting out?
You have to stay persistent! When I first started Yay Abe I was sending out like 5 emails a day to South African agencies, and it took around 2 years to start getting replies. Brand collabs took about 8 years to get back to me.
I remember meeting an older artist when I was 21 and he was calling me a golden retriever with my energy level, saying, “Just wait until you’re 33!” And I was thinking, “Oh God.”
Other than that, you could always move somewhere where there are fewer people! Haha! You’ll stand right out. On this global stage, you’re up against so many great people in the UK and US, so that’s the fight.
What’s your ultimate career goal, where would you like to be in 10 years?
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. My absolute dream would be if my livelihood, my number one source of income, came from just me painting for myself, and if people would love to buy it. That’s my goal. By 40 I really want to be less in front of the camera with other brands and more doing my own exhibitions.
For my work to be appreciated on its own level, that would be cool.
Do you have a happy place? A place you escape to or a memory you carry with you when you’re suffering from a creative block or feeling stressed?
So this is the place me and my wife always talk about. When life gets super, super busy, when I’m painting murals and feeling tired and just want to relax, we always sit back and say, “Oh man, I wish we could be back on the couch.” Being on the couch with the TV on, and some snacks and our dogs. It’s what we always crave when things are too busy or too wild. It’s the mundane moments that we actually crave. It’s our happy place, but we can’t stay there for too long either!
And finally, we’ve heard your OG dog Tyson is in high demand and steals the limelight a lot. Can we see a pic of him so that he suitably steals your attention right at the end here, please? We wouldn’t be mad if Maybelline was included…
Thanks Russ!
