Meet the creators of your new favorite magazine
You may recognize Marina Esmeraldo’s vibrant illustrations from places like Refinery29, ASOS, Nike and to our delight, Semplice. Marina, a member of the Semplice family, is an illustrator and image-maker based in London and Barcelona. This month Marina and her husband, James Vincent, launched a weekly online magazine called In Shades. The magazine pairs short fiction with illustrations submitted by writers and artists worldwide. We talk to Marina and James about the magazine, what it’s like to work with the same person you live with and where they plan to go from here.
You have three weeks of gorgeous stories and illustrations out for the new In Shades Magazine. How does that feel?
Marina: Thank you! It feels so great to finally share the project and the website with the world. You know how having ideas is easy and that making them happen is the difficult part? Building something but also then taking responsibility for its growth and maintenance is exciting in many different ways!
Tell us what inspired the magazine. Do you remember how the idea first came up? What were the last few months like as you brought it to life?
James: Short fiction, which historically has been seen, certainly in Britain, as a sort of underachieving runt sibling of the more successful novel, seems to have had a bit of a resurgence, and it occurred to both of us to be a good fit for the attention deficit age we live in.
The first time we talked about it was on a Sunday evening towards the end of last year. We sat at the bar of our favourite Vietnamese restaurant, Mosquito, which is here in Barcelona, and talked about combining this short fiction idea with Marina’s passion of illustration. After that In Shades became our rainy day project. It has taken more work than we expected, but it’s been really rewarding too.
Where does the name In Shades come from? Anything to do with the Tom Waits song?
James: I didn’t expect someone to pick that up in our very first interview! I am a big fan of Tom Waits and In Shades is the name of an instrumental piece from his album, Heartattack & Vine. The song is like the soundtrack to an imaginary film. The fact that it has no words means that you can project your own story into that space. We also liked the two words. And “Shades” could be to do with colour (although certainly not of Grey), which ties in with the visual aspect of the project.
Tell us about the Six Words Written on a Napkin stories. What do you think writers and designers can learn from the exercise and the Hemingway anecdote that inspired it?
James: This strand relates to Hemingway’s famous iceberg theory, whereby he just shows the reader the ‘tip of the ice-berg’ of a story, and lets the subtext or deeper meaning be decided by their imagination. His six word short story (For sale: baby shoes, never worn) is a perfect example of this minimalist storytelling style.
I’d find myself coming up with them on the tube during rush hour. It’s the only sort of writing you can do in a crowded tin can. We decided it’d be fun to challenge other writers to come up with their own. It’s harder than you might think.
Given that contributing writers and artists may be across the world from each other, how do they collaborate on story illustrations?
Marina: Sometimes the author will mention certain moods or keywords that create this mental imagery for the illustrators. With “Good Fortune”, for example, there was active collaboration, since James wrote that one and I illustrated it. During the process he gave me active feedback that made the work better.
You’re headquartered between London and Barcelona. How do you keep the project moving between travels?
James: We both spend a lot of time on planes. That’s another place you can write six word short stories.
Marina, we know your formative years in Brazil have a big influence on your art. Have Barcelona and London shaped your style in any way?
Marina: Absolutely! Both Barcelona and my hometown in Brazil are sunny, coastal cities with a lot of vibrancy and colour everywhere, so the mood of those places, the culture and history definitely inform my work. As for London, the design industry is so competitive and the level of people working there so high that it just keeps you motivated to keep on working, improving, hustling.
The Peaches portrait you did for Lenny Letter is awesome. How did that collaboration come about? Any other exciting projects in the works?
Marina: Glad you like it! I was about to set off on holiday with my family in Italy when I got an email from the deputy editor with the commission. You don’t say no to Lenny! I ended up working on it in this beautiful villa in Tuscany with lots of screaming children around me. I’m pretty excited about all of the projects I’m working on at the moment, particularly In Shades and an illustrated book (my first!) that should be launching this autumn.
We can imagine it’s both fun and challenging to run a publication with your spouse. Can you tell us what it’s been like working together? Any wisdom to share for other couples who are also coworkers?
Marina: We’ve really been enjoying creating something together as we’ve wanted to collaborate for a long time. I find it very constructive to get feedback from James — he has a natural sensibility and his non-designer perspective is always thoughtful and informative. We definitely strive for balance by having times to NOT talk about work as well as leaving each person to manage their own expertise and tasks. On the other hand, the close & 24/7 availability of a spouse is great for productivity and taking advantage of momentum, and you can definitely achieve more in less time.
You both work separately on your own art. How do you make time for side projects like this?
James: We get up early and work late. It’s definitely a passion project, and we are both spinning other plates, but we hope it will start to grow now that we have launched it.
Why did you decide to use Semplice for In Shades magazine? Any tips for someone building a writing-heavy site on Semplice?
Marina: I’d been using Semplice for my personal portfolio for a while and was just really taken with the power of the platform. It can be as simple and as sophisticated as you want. I could tell that we’d be able to create a beautiful website very quickly and make great use of all the tools available. Because you can use a multitude of typographic services and the theme is built to be inherently responsive, I think it’s an awesome platform for writing-heavy sites.
What advice do you have for people interested in submitting a story or illustration to In Shades magazine?
James: No advice to impart, just send us your ideas! For writers send us your stories, and for illustrators examples of your work, as the illustration side is tailored to each story. We are always interested in meeting new collaborators. This is another real aim of the project.
Who do you secretly wish would submit their work?
James: That’s a good question. We are lucky enough to already have contributions from two acclaimed novelists — Christina Koning and Aliya Whiteley — so that’s a very good start. I hope we can keep collaborating with great talent both new and established.
What’s your hope for the future of the magazine?
Marina: We want to connect with people who love stories, simple as that! We want to help champion the resurgence of short fiction by offsetting it with beautiful visual storytelling and provide a platform for incredible content — we know a lot of great talent who aren’t necessarily part of the current cliques commissioned and published again and again, and we want to provide a fresh perspective. We especially want to meet people, collaborators, and form a community, as well as grow and improve in our own work. We are also preparing a print version of the magazine and live events for later this year, so stay tuned!
In Shades welcomes submissions for both short fiction and illustrations. You can submit your work here.
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Thank you In Shades magazine for sharing your story with us and showing us once again what’s possible with Semplice. Also big thank you to Lizzy Spano & Lu Yu for putting this interview together.
