It’s a small step from tattooing to illustration, and one that Jean-Luc Navette decided to take some time ago. Tattooing is no longer his game, but rest assured, his ghosts are still visible in the work he does. Replacing ink with pencil, juggling portraits of the deceased with enigmatic landscapes, Jean-Luc has a taste for narration and musicality, and through his illustrations he relays his passion for the blues and forsaken soulsBooks and exhibitions follow one after the other, as do collabs with musicians for creating artrwork or visual identities. Each creation commands awe and melancholy in equal measure, and once put down, impatience sets in whilst awaiting the next apparition.
Hi Jean-Luc, it’s been a while – tell me a bit about your creative process, what kind of ambience do you need to be able to create ?
My method is to light up a cigarette and turn the record over. Then after a while, if I’ve chosen the right records, something happens and the motivation turns up.
Do you ever suffer from creative block ?
The last time we spoke, I had just been through a long-lasting creative block, so I came up with some new ways of avoiding falling back into that.
So do you have voracious appetite for images, or, on the contrary, do you already have an overac-tive imagination ?
Concerning inspiration, I have to admit that it comes to me a bit as if by magic, throughout the day. It can come during a walk or from a photo I’ve taken. It might be a song that I’ve heard which sparks a story or it can be from a story I’m reading which triggers an image. It really depends on the moment. I don’t necessarily need to be in a specific working environment in order to get inspira-tion. I just let it come naturally. If it doesn’t come one day, it’ll come the next. It’s not a problem, and in general, once you lighten up on the pressure, it comes along on its own. There are times when you think you’re not inspired enough to start a new illustration, but you can still brush up the techincal aspects of an image you’re already working on. Luckily I create images which take some time so I don’t have to come up with new ideas every day. That’s a luxury too, not working in tattooing anymore and not having to respond to daily requests.
So it’s quite a natural process then. You don’t necessarily need to search for inspiration in films or books.
Exactly, I prefer telling a story of the moment. I’m more at ease now in the way I tell my stories, so I don’t neeed to read as much. Nowadays it comes more naturally and I really try to find pleasure in drawing. It’s pretty simple, there are days when I just do an exercise which won’t end up as an illustration in a book or an order, but an exercise which feels good and frees me up a bit.
And you have changed technique for the last book, moving from black ink to pencil. That’s already somewhat of a departure. What’s the difference for you between drawing for yourself and dra-wing to order ?
Excellent question. Actually it took me a while to start replying to orders. With this technique, I continued exploring for my personal work, but at the same time I replied to requests with what people wanted to see. I wasn’t convinced yet about the final result, then little by little I started slipping them into orders. No one particularly picked up on the technique, so I realized that it was cool, it was still the same person doing the work – that’s what I was most worried about. It’s always a bit unsettling when you change what you do, wondering ‘will people still recognize my work ?’ But as long as you’re enjoying it, I think the result is always a success.
You have an unmistakeable style. At a glance, you can generally tell when something’s been drawn by you – that’s a real strength. Are you ever tempted to surprise yourself and others by doing something unexpected ?
I wasn’t exactly getting bored of illustration, but I was starting to be unsure of how to express things differently and was getting tired of the materials. All of a sudden, I felt the need to take a risk and surprise people. I wanted to feel differently about drawing, paper and reading. Regarding my images, I’ve moved onto something a bit less marked, a bit softer with more gray. I needed to use another tone, and today I’m even wondering if I should add a bit of color !
Coming back to the subject of tattoos, why did you give it up at the time ?
I think I just wanted to try something else. I told myself that I’d come back to it if I missed it, and for now at least, I don’t really miss it. Maybe one day I will start to yearn for it and I’ll have something new to express. Many things brought me to tattooing, including a need to see things differently. Today, I feel like there are so many great things around that it’s time for me to explore elsewhere. Nobody needs me in tattooing so I’m going to get my kicks somewhere else.
Would it be tough for you to keep doing what you did before ?
It wouldn’t be very interesting and for now I haven’t come across a theme or image which has ma-de me think it could only be expressed through a tattoo, and that it’s worth doing something new and exciting. I have to admit that right now I’m a bit distanced from tattooing, there are so many interesting things being done today.
I’d like to come back to the themes chosen, which are generally pretty dark throughout your books, like death, ghosts, darkness, as well as musical, political or literary luminaries. Are you still inte-rested in those themes ? Why choose them ?
My stories are pretty dark at the moment. The next book that I’m preparing with Banzaï editions isn’t going to be particularly light. It was made during the lockdown and talks about nocturnal en-counters.
Your last book was more concerned with people who really existed. Are there any artists who have had an impact on your life or art ?
I was definitely one of those teenagers who found role models through rock music first, and then through cinema, literature and the blues. I have a long list of models and heros who I reference from time to time through my illustrations or from whom I pinch a story out of one of their songs or a text they’ve written.
You said once that these artists made a difference in their own way. Do you belive that art can change things ? What is, according to you, the role of an artist ?
That’s complicated because when we were at school, we learned that an artist’s role was to talk about what was going on at the time. I grew up discovering heros like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen who taught me how to express things in a different way. There are so many great folk and blues artists who know how to talk about history through telling the small stories, using anecdotes of everyday life, themes which are more universal.
What message are you hoping to express through your illustrations ?
I’m not sure that today I still want to move forward, fist raised, and engage in a fight with my illus-trations at the same time, I believe we don’t really change and that the same subjects return des-pite everything. So can I change anything through my drawing ? I’m not sure. But at the same time, I enjoy it. So, I still have that objective, but I’m not sure it’s possible to reach it.
But it is important for you to tell stories.
When I draw, I sit down at a table the same way I would to have drinks with friends. I start telling my little story then after a while there’ll be a response to the story and we discuss it. It’s a bit like writing a private journal.
Music has always been an important inspiration for you, during the creative process. You’ve worked on many album covers, concert posters as well as being a musician yourself. Where does this obsession come from ?
I think it started when I was a kid. I remember it was the first real feeling of physical freedom that I had, and it felt truly magical. I still remember the feelings I had listening to certain records or the time I went to buy my first record. I’m lucky enough to have grown up in the golden days when we had cassette Walkmans. It was incredible to be able to listen to the music of your choice wherever and whenever you wanted. That’s stayed with me until today, always having music with me. I still find it magical now and it fascinates me as much as it did then. That really inspired me concerning what it means to share a 3-minute story with people. I think my graphic style is inspired by that. Making illustrations is a way of telling a story in a short time. People don’t look at illustrations for a long time, it’s not a comic. It’s a short song which lasts 2-3 minutes.
Music drums up emotion, and so does illustration, you can feel an individual emotion and you can also share it with others.
Yes, it’s something magical, there’s a connection, and something divine to it. Making music is uni-versal, like drawing, it has always existed, and always will. @jeanlucnavette
