Interview: Jake Ross
WORDS: RUBY AVERY - DE WAAL
Meet Jake Ross, a designer and contemporary artist with a flair for the adventurous and eccentric. His work bursts with curious characters and vivid scenes inspired by lives lived boldly, embracing the unexpected and the unconventional. A proud Billy Blue College of Design alum, Jake has carved his own unique career path, blending art and design with the most fun parts of life. We caught up with him to talk about his creative journey and how he took the leap to follow his passion.
Tell us about your earliest memories of getting creative. Were you always the kid with a pencil in hand?
Mum encouraged my brother and I to draw everywhere we went. We used to steal all the sheets of art competitions at local IGAs, and she was a school teacher so she used to bring home boxes of paper and we just sat there and drew all night. I loved drawing as a kid, I didn’t pick up a brush until my late 20’s. I always think when I’m getting smashed with a project about the times I sat around the table with Mum and Ben and just drew all night to abba and the sound of music sound track and laughed. It always brings me back that I have the best job in the world.
Skating, surfing, cowboys - your work is packed with all kinds of wild fun and quirky scenes and characters. Where do you draw your inspiration from, and what gets you feeling energised to create?
I’m currently mustering some cattle and sheep now into some new fields with the old man and my brother. Usually after a muster or surfing trip I’ll sit in the studio for three months without leaving, having nothing but the air, the waves, the animals, no contact, which empties your mind of all bullshit and rejuvenates an insane amount of great work. I think we are living in a hellish fast-paced world, that anytime you can slow your mind, with a run or surf or gym or playing with animals, your work mind fruits. I always gather inspiration when I’m quiet.
“I’m currently mustering some cattle and sheep now into some new fields with the old man and my brother.”
Do your ideas hit you fully dressed and ready to go, or do they unravel as you work? Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished piece.
It’s pretty funny, they usually come to me. I do the shittest rough drawing known to man, sleep on it, and then work on the roughs the next day. When you start eliminating and adding to the scene, it changes dramatically. I drew one the other day, it started as a wild western wife and husband shootout and turned into a wife running her husband over on a John Deere and planting him in the fields… a hell sick idea, but I wouldn’t have had it if I had the initial idea and roughs.
You’ve carved a niche working with some iconic Aussie brands like VB and Budgy Smuggler. How did you break into that space, and what do you find most rewarding about it?
The most exciting part working with these guys is that they are all family and Australian owned, and they all love Australia and a beer as much as I do. I usually get these works either bumping into the creative directors or ambassadors in the surf, farming or creative events and having a fun, innocent chat about what we could do together. You have to understand they are human as much as you, and they want to achieve a goal, you just have to make it easy for them.
“I do the shittest rough drawing known to man, sleep on it, and then work on the roughs the next day.”
Tell us about the decision to change careers to pursue art and design. Was there a defining moment that pushed you to back yourself?
There’ve been a few changes in my career. When I was a young buck, drawing took a back seat and my brother and I were drafted to AFL. I got injured, studied counterterrorism, and joined the Navy. After many deployments, I broke my back offshore and was flown to Sydney. That’s when my creative career took off. I started a clothing brand with my brother, where we finally drew on tees and sold all over Australia. I then challenged myself to study at Billy Blue in Sydney and saw you could actually make a living as an artist. That changed everything, and I started painting and drawing seriously.
What made you follow the instinct to study design, and how did that experience of studying help shape your confidence and creative voice?
I wanted the challenge but I didn’t know where to start as a creative. I wanted to understand how I could make my own website or portfolio, or help clients when print comes around, instead of outsourcing everything, so I reached out to lecturers and alums from Billy Blue. I didn’t realise then, that I had made one of the best leaps for my career. Billy Blue gives you the confidence to reach out to people, they give you the skills to kill it come pitch time, they gave me a community to support me in decisions. Not only do you get to study with some of the coolest cats in the game, you have a contact book that can help you out in any situation.
Insta: @jakeross.art
www.jakeross.me