Colin Anderson – “I can create worlds the way I want them”

November, 2016
Reading Time
4.5 mins
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Image © The Interviewee

We talk to Colin Anderson about photography and digital art.

This week Creative Chair is in Melbourne, Australia where we’re talking to Colin Anderson, a talented and imaginative photographer and digital artist.

You can see more from Colin Anderson on his website and on Behance.

Crucified

Work2Play

Your disciplines are photography and digital art. Which came first and how did the other fall into place?

When I was young, I was really into illustration. I turned to photography when I went to art school and became very passionate about it. When Photoshop came along, I desperately wanted to get my hands on it, but computers were so expensive in the early days, so I had to wait. I continued in photography the old fashioned way using a lot of the equipment that I would fashion myself. It makes me laugh looking back on how far we have come in photography in such a short time.

First Responders

Museum

Ice Reign

You work a lot with things like Cinema 4D and Photoshop, why is that?

I love CGI and photoshop because anything is possible. I can create worlds the way I want them. There is a freedom through these programs that I can’t always achieve in the real world. You can’t always jump on a plane to get that mountain you need for a background. There’s not too much that I can’t create from scratch through the use of these programs.

Beauty Sleeping

“People come to me for a very specific look and feel”

Crushed with Eyeliner

Does undertaking a commercial project require a significantly different approach or are you generally granted a lot of creative freedom?

Each client is different. People come to me for a very specific look and feel. I kind of get the hard or difficult jobs. Sometimes I get a very vague outline of what’s needed, and I can just run with it. Other times briefs can be very specific with rough layouts that are controlled right down to the colour palette used.

Surf-0

I recently did a job for Pearl Harbor and the State Department. The brief was to create an image for Sadako Sasaki, a new exhibit at Pearl Harbor. Sadako was a 2-year-old girl that was caught up in the Bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. Before her early death at 12 years old she attempted to fold 1000 cranes in the pursuit of world peace. I had total freedom with this image and they loved the results.

I like client work like this because of the variety it gives me. I am so happy to be given such a wonderful opportunity to create a beautiful image for such a touching but inspirational story.

Of which of your commercial projects are you most proud?

Without doubt, it is the Sadako Sasaki images for Pearl Harbor. A lot of love went into this image.

Sadako Sasaki Colin Anderson

Finally, if you died and got reincarnated as a song, what would that song be?

Ha Ha, I’ve never been asked that question before. I won’t be obvious and say,”happy birthday”. So l think l would have to go with Nirvana’s version of “Where did you sleep last night”.

Where Did You Sleep Last Night"
Where Did You Sleep Last Night (1994)
Nirvana
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What began as a fun question to end an interview, has now become a wonderfully eclectic collaborative playlist by 161 people (and counting).
Colin Anderson
Playlist
Our Forest