Spotlight Thank You For The Music, er, Drawings

It was a busy pre-Kwanzaa season, but we found the time to fly to Sweden to interview our illustrator for the vintage-hip Tilley campaign, Jenny Mörtsell. That's right— no cutting corners for us. None of this emailing of pre-fabbed interview questions and cobbling together of written responses to create some semblance of a live interview. Oh no. This time, we really went the distance.

Rethink: So, tell the Internet what it is you do.

Jenny: I draw drawings for a living.

Rethink: Uh-huh. Go on.

Jenny: My speciality is portraits but I do cats and shoes and hats too. Even food.

Rethink: And how do you feel about the whole pencil vs pen debate?

Jenny: I think as long as there's a human touch it doesn't matter if your tool is a pen or a pencil or a paintbrush or vectors or pixels.

Rethink: Isn't that kind of a personal choice?

Jenny: Exactly.

Rethink: There's no need to get snippy.

Jenny: Just trying to give my honest opinion.

Rethink: Where can I get a home-cooked meal at a reasonable price in Sweden?

Jenny: I would recommend Operakällarens Bakfickan for meatballs or biff rydberg.

Rethink: What do beer commercials in Sweden use when they need an easy sexist joke the way we use the Swedish Bikini Ski Team?

Jenny: We don't have sexist ads in Sweden. Nobody thinks they are funny so that would just be a commercial suicide. We make fun of ourselves instead.

Rethink: Do you like me?

Jenny: I think I need to get to know you better before answering that.

Rethink: Hahahah! Nice.

[The room grows quiet. Jenny glances wistfully at us before gazing out the bay window, towards the glowing Riksdag. Somewhere, a pigeon coos, rustles its feathers, and settles down for some earnest lovemaking.]

Rethink: What's the one thing you never want to draw again?

Jenny: I would never say never but right now I would be very hesitant before committing to draw soup.

Rethink: Can you draw me one of those, only riding a dolphin?

Jenny: For the right amount of money, yes.

Rethink: What is the deal with airline food?

Jenny: It's just forced portion control.

Rethink: Do you like jazz? If yes, explain yourself.

Jenny: More saxophones!

Rethink: If you could draw anything in the world, what would it be?

Jenny: My right hand.

Rethink: What's stopping you?

Jenny: I'm right handed.

Rethink: Isn't time we said goodbye?

Jenny: Ok bai!

Left: Jenny's right hand. Right: Jenny.

To learn more about Jenny, see her agency profile with Jed Root.

If you’ve worked with Rethink and would like to be considered for Spotlight, email lian..@rethinkcanada.com.