Featured Artist – Mario Wagner | Anna Goodson Management

Featured Artist – Mario Wagner

Artwork by Mario Wagner

Where do you draw your inspiration from?
A lot of things: movies, books, news, people… life tells you so many stories, dramas, coincidences and tragedies.

What type of environment do you prefer to work in? At home or in a studio? Listening to music?
I like working from home, where there are some distractions and I am always able to switch on my computer, but for my large artworks I have to figure out how a studio works for me. Over 80 inch wide artworks are too big to have at home.

As a working illustrator, do you still find time to create art for yourself?
Yes, of course, I do both things equally – I try at least – but I need freedom from rules imposed by art directors and magazines. It’s a great challenge to work with my clients but to create new ideas and, on a more personal level, I need to create art.

When you are creating commissioned work, how do you take yourself out of the project and focus on the idea that needs to be conveyed?
After years of experience in the field of creating illustrations, clients book me for my style and my way of interpreting their stories, so we both know what to expect from each other, but I always want to be open to new ideas and make my clients happy.

Do you read criticism done on your work?
When it comes from a client it has to be given factually. I don’t like it when they tell you that you can do whatever you want and than criticise the whole illustration, style, colors, idea, etc. It’s different regarding my own artworks, as this is more personal and they can sometimes disturb people but that can be OK too and people don’t have always to understand my art.

How do you deal with negative criticism?
Everybody has a different taste and opinion. I don’t like every illustration that I see in magazines either, so I’m OK with criticism.

What is your favorite way to get out of a creative block?
Listening to music, getting out of the house, going into a book store. Sometimes it’s hard to say what will help.

Is there any one publication that you still have aspirations to see yourself in?
I would like to do more fashion magazines. We will see what comes up in the future… Elle and Vogue, here i am