Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2012, Blaðsíða 32

Words
Ása Baldursdóttir
Photo
Nanna Dís
Equipped with a computer, Siggeir
Magnús Hafsteinsson began his
career as a graphic designer fifteen
years ago. Since then, the artist
who is better known as Sig Vicious
has worked for a number of compa-
nies and runs his own advertising
agency working for large clients
like Coca Cola distributors Vífilfell
and telephone company Íslands-
sími. He makes use of a colourful
palette, and his work often features
elements of pop culture, politics
and humour. We visited Sig on an
overcast Sunday morning to learn
more about what drives him.
dId YOU TAKE INTEREST IN dE-
SIGN AT AN EARLY AGE?
Well, when I was thirteen I had an Atari
computer and was a part of a computer
clique. I started drawing in a program
where the resolution was 480x320 and
you could choose from 16 colours. I
didn’t do well in school, so I spent a
couple of years working at a bakery
and the shipyard, but I took interest in
design again in my early twenties.
dId YOU WINd UP STUdYING
GRAPHIC dESIGN?
No, I’m completely self-taught. I want-
ed to become a graphic designer and
I knew that I had to learn how to use
Freehand, a program that some design-
ers used back then. I went to Siberia for
three months in 1997 and used my time
there to master Macromedia Freehand
completely. When I returned, I got a job
and started working on brochures and
stuff like that. Lets just say I have grown
to what I am today; you are always
learning and developing as an artist.

Some of my early work isn’t very good
when I look at it now. The first thing I
made was a flyer for a fashion show at
Hótel Borg; it was epically ugly. I made
it in Photoshop and used something
called difference clouds—I was very
happy with this at the time.
ARE YOU INFLUENCEd BY OTHER
PEOPLE’S WORK?
Well, I’m inspired by a lot of things,
but it doesn’t play directly into my own
work. I take a lot of interest in street
and graffiti culture, even though I’m not
doing it myself.
YOU’VE RECENTLY dESIGNEd
SOME EVE-ONLINE SPACESHIPS.
TELL ME ABOUT THOSE…
Yeah, so first I took a couple of old
photographs from Reykjavík and su-
perimposed them with spaceships from
Star Wars. Then I wanted to develop the
idea further using more original mate-
rial, so I got my friend Oscar Bjarnason
to take photos and used ships from the
EVE-online game as models.
I have actually received a bit of feed-
back from the EVE community; they say
that the scale of the ships is incorrect.
However, they should know that this is
art, not EVE reality!
WHAT dO YOU FINd MOST FUN
ABOUT BEING A dESIGNER?
I most love making vinyl covers be-
cause I am typically given a lot of artis-
tic freedom. I like to ask for two or three
keywords, but other than that I can do
whatever.
WHAT ARE YOU dOING NOW ANd
WHAT dOES THE FUTURE HOLd?
Well I’m working for a commercial
agency. Of course I like to work at a
small company, as an artist, but you
cannot live exclusively by making flyers
and vinyl covers. I’ve done projects for
big companies like HP and Nike in the
past, and this kind of work is very dif-
ferent in terms of project size and pay.
I think I will be doing this as long as I
have the freedom to create.
32
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2012
Fashion | Interview
Snoop-Around is a photo/interview website that visits creative people at
their homes, work or studio spaces and brings you a unique view of their
lives. Visit them at www.snoop-around.com
digital Attacks In Reykjavík
We Snoop Around at Sig Vicious
“Some of my early work
isn’t very good when I
look at it now. The first
thing I made was a f lyer
for a fashion show at
Hótel Borg; it was epi-
cally ugly.”