Bodil Jane (3/4)

We yield the floor to Amsterdam based Bodil Jane (Bodil is her first name, Jane her second: together they are her alias), who recently graduated as an illustrator. She’s already made lots of beautiful illustrations for a variety of clients.

Dear Flow blog readers,
I still work on my illustrations from home: a tiny room in Amsterdam West. All day long it’s like having to play Tetris on my desk. I always have to tidy up in between because otherwise there’d be no room for me to work. Luckily I have big windows and a lovely balcony. In summer I open the doors and enjoy my neighbor’s favorite brand of music: André Hazes (a popular Dutch singer). My desk is like a showcase, because the top is made of glass under which I can display my collections. Perfect for me, as I collect lots of curiosities.

Apart from all the knickknacks I also collect books. When I was a student I lived in Copenhagen for a while. There are loads of flea markets and antique shops over there. I used to buy all kinds of little books of botanical and scientific drawings. I’m still always on the lookout for this kind of books with butterflies, fish and mushrooms.

Apart from that I also have all kinds of illustrated books of course. One of my favorite illustrators is French Blex Bolex. This book I got from a French exchange student who shared my house for a while. It’s filled with characters such as the dancer, the thief, and the klutz. These are the bachelor and the mustache wearer.

I like to keep inspiration scrapbooks. Every flyer, packaging or image I find too pretty to throw away I paste in here. I don’t actually use them for inspiration exactly. They are more like pictures I like to look at occasionally and sometimes they bring back memories.

Whenever I go on a holiday or a city trip I also keep a travel journal. I paste tickets and business cards in them. I keep track of all the great spots. A while back I found something that really moved me in a charity shop in Haarlem; an anonymous travel journal from a trip to Paris from 1958. I can never resist buying something like that.