Jan Willem Wennekes (a.k.a. Zeptonn) gives us some info about his background, work, and modus operandi.

— Briefly, tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi there! My name is Jan Willem Wennekes, and I was born in 1979 in the city of Arnhem. I studied Artificial Intelligence (2002) and Philosophy (2006) at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. I am mostly known for my self—taught illustrative work under the name Zeptonn, though I work on a variety of projects ranging mostly from illustration to graphic design and art direction. I now live and work in the town of Groningen, where I share studio space with other creatives (www.studiopats.nl).

I am fond of truly collaborating with other artists and (fair—trade) companies, something I did in my book Black & White Freedrawings (www.freedrawings.nl). I’m also greatly interested in environmental/ecological subjects (such as the cradle 2 cradle movement). Trying to be as eco—friendly as possible is something I think is very important for our lives. I feel that we as sentient beings have the responsibility to take care of our environment, the world we live in (and hence of ourselves), but that we should aim to live in harmony with the world. And I mean that in a literal sense, not in a spiritual sense: we can’t just take whatever we need, use it, destroy it and toss it away. Every thing or being in nature is part of cycles, and we have to match up our ways with those cycles. It seems that sometimes people forget that we, as humans, are just one part of a bigger whole: this giant ecosystem we all live in.

— You have degrees in Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy. How and why did you decide to become an illustrator?

Both studies were very interesting and I have no regrets pursuing those interests, it was very cool and I learned a lot. The philosophy of Wittgenstein is something I discovered while studying Artificial Intelligence, and I found it so immensely interesting and convincing that I decided to study philosophy to investigate it more thoroughly. When I finished though, I really had the feeling that I had gotten out of the studies what I needed, so the urge to continue working on those subjects went away. I came to the point where I had to choose between pursuing a job based on my degrees, or to pursue a more artistic career, something that had always been at the back of my mind. I had always been busy with design and illustration, and decided that I really needed to try the creative life. I just had to know if it was something for me or not. Turned out it really was, I feel happy about it every day!

— What interested you in the fields of AI and Philosophy in the first place?

Subjects that still interest me to this day: intelligence, behaviour, the brains, language, thinking etc etc — all the things that make humans so interesting and unique. What do we call intellegent and why? And what do we call a living entity and why? All these things kept me busy and drove me towards those fields. I still find it interesting to read about such matters (be it a scientific article or a good scifi book) but I see that as a personal interest now and not as my line of work.

— How does your educational background influence your work?

Wittgenstein’s philosophy (which is very hard to summarize) has definitely become part of who I am and how I think. When I discovered his writings/philosophy a door was opened so to say: a lot of philosophical ‘problems’ suddenly made a lot of sense (or better said: it suddenly made a lot of sense why I always felt that something was at odds in those ‘problems’). Speaking more generally, I think that whatever activities or studies you spend your time pursuing, will slowly become part of who you are and how you think. Someone who is spending a lot of his/her attention on lettering, for example, will slowly get better understanding of letterforms and will be able to appreciate more details. (to say it in other terms: you basically allocate more brain—matter — literally — to that specific subject) For example, in philosophy you learn how to analyze problems and how to get to the heart of the matter, instead of focusing on superficial details. I’m not saying that I am always able to do such a thing of course, but having worked like that for a longer period of time means that you have a more extended ‘mental toolset’, you are simply becoming more experienced with analyzing problems, and separating the core from the superficial details. So in that sense I think that my studies still influence my work (and working methods). The subject matter itself might not so much a part of it, but the analytic skills and ways of thinking that you acquire during academic studies become part of who you are. I feel that I still am a problem—solver, trying to analyze in what ways I can help clients and companies I work with. Although I now solve the issues at hand in a visual way with illustrative design, instead of with theoretical essays.

— What do you do to overcome a creative block?

Of course, detailing a good briefing for yourself helps, and analysing the subject you are working on. Sometimes it can help to do more research in books or on the internet. But an important tool is to just get started! Once I start drawing inspiration comes easier: the first things I draw might not be the best things but the more I think about the subject I am working on and the more I draw, the more interesting solutions come into view. Another thing is that you don’t stop being a ‘creative’ after six o’clock: inspiration can come at any time, anywhere: a lot of ideas come to you just before sleep, in the shower, during a short walk to the supermarket, in conversation with a good friend, etc. Just have an open mind and be ready for good ideas!

— What would you consider to be the best tool you have?

I don’t think there is a lot of difference in hierarchy between the tools I use: in order to make my designs I need pens, paper, scanner, and my PC with illustrator and photoshop, all equally — most of my work is a combination of handdrawn stuff that is reworked on the computer, so if either of those tools isn’t available my ‘production line’ doesn’t work. In fact it’s not that strict of course, and on holidays I always have a little booklet and pen with me so I can write down stuff and draw whenever I feel like it. So if you would press me to make a choice, it would be pen & paper.