Plastic Bag in a Tree is Kim R. Foster: a British illustrator and artist living in Amsterdam.
Want to make something real?
kim@plasticbaginatree.com
(scroll down for services and price indications)
how did this happen?
For the majority of my 40+ orbits around the Sun, I didn’t even know what illustration was. I thought it was exclusive to children’s books - end of. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realised that it’s also comic books; poster designs; cool packaging; cool T-shirts; it’s colour and line and storytelling, and it’s the bit of art that I’ve always just made.
It took me such an exhausting amount of time to apply the term to myself because apparently I had a few things to do first. Like open a dictionary…
I started and didn’t finish a degree in fine art. I started and finished a degree in philosophy and creative writing. I moved from London to Manchester and started a band before I moved to the Netherlands, started another band and set up a one-woman 2D animation studio making corporate info-clips.
Then I got regular job as a copy translator and, for 7 years, got a good taste of financial security (it was so tasty). I got engaged, got married Then I lost my job when the company I worked for went bankrupt. After that, I went shopping for a sketchbook and a massive bottle of ink.
Standing outside the shop, hovering somewhere between jobs with a bag of goodies clutched in one mitt, it was fair to say that I was a bit lost. Then I thought, ‘Oh yeah, that… Illustration.’
It’s actually something I’ve just always done. I’ve made countless gig posters for my own band, for mates and for their mates. I’ve made album artwork for my own bands and for my mates and for their mates. I’ve made drawings of people, streets, buildings, boring things that I find interesting (because why not?). I’ve made custom cards for births, retirements and weddings (including my own). I even spent a full year (between the 9-to-5) making a 26-page comic book just to learn the process.
I’m still a musician and songwriter; I still write when there’s space; and I’m still a barstool philosopher. Now I also illustrate. But now I actually understand that that’s what I’m doing, which is nice.
wee note: the t-shirt design in the image at the top was made by the brilliant Aritz Aranburu.
what I do:
Standard day-rate (depending on your needs): €240
Logo design (usage depending): €480
Bespoke work (e.g. cover design, card): €250
Bespoke ink drawing/portrait: €150
•Please note that I can only give price indications here. This isn’t to be awkward, it’s because commissions vary and depend on the level of image detail required and the amount time, research and development required. For more info, send me an email and let me know what you’re thinking.
When making any piece of work, I seek to feel what I’m making while I’m making. Whether it’s true or not, I think this gives a finished piece a specific resonance. I also have a habit of trying to seek out the comedy and absurdity in a subject - both have proved essential tools for me when it comes to surviving the general confusion involved in being human.
Want to make something real?
kim@plasticbaginatree.com