Iconshock Interview: Icon Artist Paddy Donnelly

This week we are bringing to Iconshock the origami icon guy himself…ladies and gentlemen, Here it is... Mr Paddy Donnelly!
Just about anyone in the internet interested in icons has seen his work. His origami icon set has been featured in tons of blogs and design magazines throughout the world, but this guy doesn’t stop there. He sure caught our attention with his icons, which I must say are one of the most original we’ve seen, but when we dug in his work, we found out that his designs go further. His “RedBurma” project uses clever visualization to bring to attention the atrocities that the military junta has casted upon their people. His other projects like “Shake hands with a stranger” and “Faces I see” deal with humanity and socialization in a new era where we seem to spend more time staring at a cold monitor than to somebody’s eyes. We are huge fans of his work, and that’s why we stalked him for weeks to get this interview. Enjoy the thoughts of a great artist, but overall a great guy.

1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? How old are you? Where did you study?

I'm a 24 year old Irishman living in Belgium.  I'm a web designer, illustrator, blogger and peanut addict who studied at the University of Ulster where I got a degree in Interactive Multimedia Design and a Masters in Multi-Disciplinary Design.

2. What was your motivation behind the "Red Burma" project? Are you planning something different after the John Yettaw incident and the "upcoming" 2010 elections?

The RedBurma was actually a mini project for my Masters, where one of my lecturers Chris Murphy challenged me to spread the word about the situation in Burma, using only the colour red.  An interesting way to approach a political topic and my first foray into visualisation.  I have plans for some future projects but I may revisit the RedBurma project soon and update it.

3. Do you have any special song stuck in your head these days? What music do you usually listen to while you work?

I've been listening to a lot of The Who and The Rolling Stones recently, but while I'm working I listen to a range of music from Daft Punk to the Stereophonics.  Anything to keep me motivated!

4. Do you recommend freelance work for an aspiring designer/illustrator?

I think there is a lot to learn in the freelance world, however I would recommend working first in an agency to get to know the market, learn how to deal with clients and make deadlines before diving straight into freelance.  I work for Nascom here in Belgium and the experience I have gained here is priceless and has dramatically improved my work from my student days.

5. How the hell did you come up with the origami icons idea? Did you expect it would be such a gigantic success?

I was looking to promote my blog while I was studying to gain more awareness about my projects. Everyone loves something for free, so I thought about giving away an icon set.  I wanted to bridge the gap between online, digitally perfect work and offline, more traditional creations and making the icons out of origami just came to me after some intense sketching. I still get so many links to my blog now, almost a year later, from other blogs which include them in lists of inspiring icons.  I never thought they would still be floating around now, but that's the way of the Internet.  You never know what will catch on.

6. If you had a million dollars to invest on the internet. What would you do?

Hmm, tough one.  I don't think I would use it to invest in an already operational product/site but I would invest it in setting up a project of my own.  I have an idea for each one of those dollars rattling around in my head but currently don't have the time to work on them.  The thing is, and we learned this with The Big Word Project you don't need a penny to make a project successful on the web.  There's endless possibilities out there and all you need is an insane amount of effort, not $1M.

I'd buy a trip to Greenland with the money though, always wanted to go there. They've got Narwhals!

7. What could be the highest point of your life? Having kids? Fly to the moon? Win an oscar?:)

At the minute? Probably seeing a Narwhal :) Come one, it's a cross between a whale and a unicorn!

8. Do you think we will tweet in 5 years?

I think Twitter will still be around, yes, but probably not in the same form as it is now.  We will most likely not have to type in our message anymore.  It will know where we are, who we're with, what we're doing so it can do it automatically for us.  There will be a million new things on the Internet to play with in the next 6 months though, never mind 5 years, but the idea of microblogging is here to stay for a while, I think.

9. Which application is your weapon of choice for icon creation?

Adobe Illustrator, no alternative.

10. Any advice to any aspiring artists out there?

Always invest so much time in growing your own ideas and projects.  Don't just settle for going to work every day, sitting in your cubicle and dealing with clients. Work on something your passionate about and make it a success. Life's too short!

Iconshock has featured Paddy’s work here: 50 strikingly original (and free) Icon sets.

and here: The definitive list of the best 100 free social media and web 2.0 icon sets.

Follow Paddy on Twitter

And of course, If you like this interview please tell the world! Retweet!