It was after his return to Germany in order to complete his diploma, that he decided as part of his final project diploma to create a sketchbook based around street people in the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. This was a six-month project using pencil drawings.
Having completed his diploma, Olivier attempted to obtain freelance illustration work without much success. He even hawked his portfolio around the Frankfurt Book Fair. But while doing wonders for his presentational skills, it didn't achieve much in the way of work. It was at this stage that he took a job as a graphic designer in a small design firm. It was after spending just over two years there, a friend who had gone to the School of Visual Arts in New York and met Marshall Arisman, encouraged Olivier to take the same route, convinced that it would be just as successful for him. The award of a German Academic Exchange Scholarship meant that he was able to do so and the next two years were spent in New York, and again it was a period during which he drew constantly.
The drawings that he produced then were in line only, but it was Marshall Arisman who made the very valid point that in order to have a completely successful career as an illustrator it would really be necessary to find a way of working in colour too. His designer training meant that he instinctively moved to using a computer for colourizing his drawings and everything then fell into place. That is the method he has used ever since. Scanning his own pencil drawings and then manipulating them on screen. He was able to illustrate a portfolio piece and design a mailer that was sent out to Art Directors in the hope of eliciting a response.
It had an immediate response from New York Magazine. The Art Director, Michele Parrella assigned him a series of drawings, working with a writer on a piece entitles I Want To Be A Millionaire. Based on the efforts of a web entrepreneur to create a web based karaoke site it gave a wonderful opportunity for a series of drawings in real situations. He was given the luxury of two months to complete it and made the most of the opportunity. The self-promotional booklet created a great deal of interest from the Art Directors of a number of leading magazines. Olivier saw the greatest value of his time at SVA as his contact with working illustrators as his tutors. The inspiration and insight that this gave him has largely contributed to his success since leaving college.
Even though by then he was already very busy as an illustrator with regular editorial work from both sides of the Atlantic, Olivier was attracted to the idea of joining The Artworks seeing the opportunity of being able to concentrate on the work entirely without the distraction of the time out spent on self promotion. The added advantage was the admittance to a prestigious peer group who are all genuinely interested in each other's work. As he joined the group shortly after the mailing of our catalogue, we produced a special broadsheet Have Pen will Travel featuring his work. That was mailed to all of our clients and had an immediate success in launching his career into areas outside of his already impressive Editorial client list.
Now a regular weekly contributor to The Guardian newspaper, he finds the discipline imposed by short deadlines rigorous and his methodology of the combination of hand and computer craft means that he has the freedom of working and living wherever he chooses. A very valuable asset for an artist who thrives on location and reportage work. Of the many commissions that he has completed the one that possibly gives him the greatest satisfaction was a commission for the Reader's Digest by its Art Director Martin Colyer, who is widely regarded as one of the most astute commissioners of illustration. A series of drawings on location in Palermo, the results show the unique viewpoint that an artist as opposed to a photographer can bring to an assignment like this.
In addition to the weekly work for The Guardian, Olivier occasionally contributes to the Review section and it was his portrait of Jonathan Franzen that received the Gold award at the Association of Illustrators annual show.
Partial List of Clients |
|
Advertising & Design |
Financial Times |
| Conran Design | Folio Magazine |
| Craik Jones | Fortune |
| Hicklin Slade & Partners | The Guardian |
| Innocence | Harper's |
| M & C Saatchi | Inc Magazine |
| Redpath | Jane |
| Royal Designers for Industry | Management Today |
| Two Associates | New Yorker |
| Wieden & Kennedy | New York Times |
Editorial |
Reader's Digest |
| Amico | The Times |
| Boston Magazine | Smart Money |
| The Daily Telegraph | Texas Monthly |
| ESPN | San Francisco Magazine |