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A Jenisfamous interview.... Molly Crabapple makes a business of dirty Victoriana by Jennifer Dziura  Molly Crabapple is a New York based illustrator who has crafted a career out of the small niche of perverse Victoriana. Those who have seen her work for burlesque troupes, SCREW magazine, or on MollyCrabapple.com, cannot help but wonder where a twenty-two year old got the idea to draw a barely-clad woman performing a burlesque act with her tapeworm, accompanied by the legend "Moral: Capitalize on Faults." Yet one might also wonder how such an illustrator maintains her secret above-ground life in which her work hangs in Museum of American Illustration and appears regularly in prestigious publications including Hamptons Magazine and The Wall St Journal. Here, Miss Molly tells all. 1. Can you tell us a bit about your artistic background? Where did you get your training? I learned to draw when I was 17. I was slumming across Europe and got the chance to live in a Parisian bookstore-turned-art-commune. There I was, surrounded by thousands of dollars worth of 19th century etchings. I had to copy them. I went to art school for three years, but my real training happened drawing with friends, hanging out with artists better than I am, and studying mounds of old books. 2. You've worked for magazines of many different stripes (both SCREW and Wall Street Journal, for instance). What are your favorite projects? I've got an odd style. On one hand, it's as detailed and downright cute as any children's book. On the other, I like to draw mean and dirty things. My favorite projects are ones where I get to use my style to its fullest. Often, these are the oddest projects. For instance, I've had great fun with a recent commision to create silly/erotic pictures of Victorian athletes for a sportsbar in Texas. How's that for offbeat? I also enjoy putting my artwork on objects. I recently made a limited edition t-shirt to raise money for New Orleans artists who lost their livelihood. My "New Orleans Forever" shirts sold out and raised hundreds of dollars. 3. Who are some of your influences? Which illustrators do you admire? Obviously, Victorian illustration's influence on me goes a mile deep. I learned to ink copying Gibson, Rackham and Willy Pogany. But I also love Brueghal and Durer, the old masters of Northern etching. For colour, lurid old postcards, early nineteenth century poster art, and Edmund Dulac. 4. The distinction between illustration and fine art seems to be weakening (take the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Whitney as an example). As an illustrator who hangs her work in galleries, do you feel there's a difference between illustration and fine art? The standard definition is that fine art you do for yourself and illustration you do for a client. But it's more complex than that. Most great masters were working for church, state, and sweet gold lucre rather than inner fulfilment. And, with the way the gallery system works, a fine artist is often making his work to please a gallerist in the way an illustrator works to please an art director. So, I say fine art's elevation over illustration is an old prejudice that's going the way of the bustle. Good riddance. 5. So, what goes into a Molly Crabapple illustration? What's your technique? I start off with a bunch of very sloppy sketches. After choosing the best one, I work it up into a very detailed drawing using mechanical pencils. I only ink using crowquills. Rexel drawing pens are my favorite brand. After I've outlined, crosshatched and stippled, I use a combination of diluted watercolour pencils and Dr. Martin's Dyes to colour the thing. Sometimes I go back in and use coloured inks for emphasis. 6. What's with the Victoriana? We've been seeing alot of it -- from McSweeny's to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Do you feel the 19th century is back? One of the great things about the 21st century in New York is that it's really every century. You can go to a party at CBGB's and watch 50's greasers dancing with Rococo artistocrats. I like Victoriana because it's twee and funny, because the 19th century was a massively artificial time and I'm obsessed with artifice, and because they really did have a grand, florid sense of graphic design. 7. I hear you're organizing a life drawing session that's been described as "cabaret meets art school". Tell us a bit about Dr. Sketchy's, and how it's different from a regular life class. During art school, I worked as an artists model. Nothing was worse than those sketch classes of silent students in a silent, grey room drawing a bored, boring model. After suffering through too many bad life classes, on both sides of the sketchpad, my friend A.V. Phibes and I decided to take matters into our own hands. At Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School, you get to draw all manner of gorgeous burlesque dancers and fascinating performers. You can compete in ridiculous art contests, and win great art prizes. And you can do it all sitting on comfy couches drinking. If you're in New York and want to stop by, the schedule's at http://www.drsketchy.com 8. How has the internet affected working as an illustrator? The internet is an amazing boon for illustrators. Since I got my website up (www.mollycrabapple.com), I've sold many originals (without having to give a cut to a gallery!), and gotten many high paying commissions from fans. These are particularly great, because, unlike the magazines that are the backbone of my business, fans don't take four months to pay. The internet allows anyone to quickly find what niche market their work appeals to. That means more sales and more profits outside of the traditional illustrator/art director model. Besides, emailing people your website beats lugging around a portfolio any day. Photo of Molly Crabapple by Aeric Meredith-Goujon
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