In conversation with Jesse Stone about collage, process and scenery.

Jesse Stone is a craft creator of surreal and serene collages. His imaginative landscapes slow the breathing, command attention and bring the viewer into a beautiful and colourful new world. Recurring in Jesse's works are scenes of road-trips through mountains and deserts, cowboys, boats, skylines and sun. His patchwork topography has gathered him an audience of over 40,000 followers on Instagram at just 21 years old. We were lucky enough to catch him for a chat about his ambitions and his working process. 
Why collage? What brought you to it, above other art forms?

My early artistic years were spent drawing and painting but, as the years passed by I became more aware of digital art. I found that digital manipulations were far more interesting than painting, this then became something that I invested a lot of my time into. Collage was an art form that grasped my attention fast when spending a lot of time on social media. Both analogue and digital collage art were a point of interest and so by experimenting on photoshop daily I started to appreciate the art I was making.

 

 

What is your creative process like, from ideas stage to completion, and what materials do you use?

 

My process begins with scanning some images of people from vintage magazines, I then envision them within a landscape and begin to experiment using photoshop. Once I have the line work of the landscape filled out I experiment with colours - the choice of colour palette is super important as it sets the mood and tones of the piece. My final touch will be the halftone texture and that is present in all my designs, it is like the icing on the cake.

 

 

What do you hope viewers get out of looking at your work?

 

The aim of my work is to spread joy, positivity and wonder. The sceneries created hopefully reminds viewers about a memory or even give them a sense of admiration. As an artist, I hope to inspire others through my work.

 

 

How has your approach to artwork changed over your life, and where do you think you’re headed next?

My style has already changed over the years and it continues to develop the more I experiment. I’m moving into the illustrative side of art but, keeping my collage foundation and that’s the direction I’m heading for as I take my work further. I will continue to work freelance and collaborate with companies and hope opportunities will come my way in the future.