1. When did you first begin producing art? What was your first paid work?
I’ve been producing art since I was strong enough to hold a pen (or crayon,) essentially. My first “serious” venture into art was a somewhat unusual one, actually. When I was about 10 or so, I began to paint war-gaming miniatures. I became extremely passionate about the hobby, and I began spending countless hours towards improving upon it. Although the art form may be amongst the lesser respected, I learned an incredible amount on the fundamentals of artwork through the practice. I suppose, to an extent, that my first paid work was also in this vein, as I sold a few of my miniatures (when I was perhaps 12 or 13.)
After painting miniatures I transitioned into painting murals with an airbrush. I never had much success with the “commercial” aspects of the art form, but I did a few jobs. My transition to music-related artwork came about later and began with creating artwork for local bands when I was 15 or so.
2. Are you involved in other visual art, such as film, or non-visual art such as music or text?
Playing music is another great passion of mine. I play bass mostly (fretless, specifically, for any fellow musicians reading this,) but also keyboards, vocals (both distorted and melodic,) guitar, and recently I’ve begun learning to play drums. I play various positions in a few bands and I write some material for those projects as well as for my own personal fulfillment. Aside from playing music, I very much enjoy writing. I spend a lot of my free time writing reviews about music. I also write poetry, though the majority of that practice is applied to my musical ventures.
Furthermore, in high school I was a part of a film program so I had a brief venture into documentary filmmaking. Aside from the work produced within that program, however, I haven’t done much in the vein of film. If I had the proper equipment (though that’s not really a valid excuse, nowadays,) I’d love to produce a series of dark and surrealistic short films.
3. You work in many different visual media, from pen & ink, to airbrush, to digital manipulation, to paint. It seems that a majority of artists engaged in similar themes to your work concentrate solely on one or two techniques, yet you’re continually experimenting. Is there a medium you prefer over the others, and what is it that drives you to work with so many different methods?
I switch over to other mediums simply because I enjoy working in a variety of mediums. Each has their own unique properties that can be utilized for different effects, etc. I don’t really understand artists that only work in a single medium, because switching mediums doesn’t really slow down the process for me, nor does it create much fluctuation in quality. Besides, I believe that it makes my portfolio appear more diverse. I am the same way with music; I’d like to be able to play essentially every instrument because each has something unique to offer.
4. Since much of your work tends to be music related, this suggests that you find inspiration outside of the solely visual. What have you found particularly influential in your development, whether it may be music, art, film, books, philosophy, computer games, comics, etc.
Music is probably the greatest influence upon my artwork, regardless of the fact that it is non-visual. I also take influence from my dreams (especially those that are lucid and/or exceptionally vivid,) transcendental practices (meditation), philosophical and religious texts, my life experiences, and, most importantly, my emotions. Anything that can create some kind of emotional response within my mind can contribute to my artwork. My artwork is only a means of conjuring my emotions and manifesting them in a way that can be experienced by other people.
Furthermore, I, of course, take inspiration from other visual artists, as well as film, conceptual designs for video games (though I’m not so fond of actually playing them,) etc. When I was younger, the contribution of these visual sources was much more opaque, though nowadays it is more of a stylistic thing, or more from a compositional standpoint, etc. There is always something that can be learned from something visual, even if it’s something to remember not to do.
Nowadays, I gravitate more towards textures. I love complex textures in wood, paper, dirt, and the like, and I try to apply these textures within my artwork.
5. Have you received professional training and/or gone to art school? Do you think it’s important? What are the advantages/disadvantages of such?
Other than the art classes I took while I was in high school, I have never received any professional training in visual art. I have attended art workshops, namely those presented by ConceptArt.Org/Massive Black, that were absolutely amazing, and very worthwhile. I am about to (finally) begin attending art school which I am very much looking forward to.
Honestly, if you can afford to go to art school, then by all means do. I don’t know anyone that considers art school a waste of time or anything of the sort. There are, however, certainly methods of learning visual art that are much less expensive. For example, there is an unbelievably thorough amount of knowledge available for free on the Internet. There are also online art schools, apprenticeship situations, ateliers, etc. Unless you intend to teach, a degree is not that valuable in the art world, and I know of plenty of exceptionally successful artists that never went to art school.
6. Compared to a regular nine-to-five job, how feasible is it to make your living as a visual artist? Compared to the time you spend on it, what do you make on average per hour (if you don’t mind me asking)? Do you make a full living from it or do you also have a side job(s)? Would you like to do it full time, or would that sap your energy for it?
It’s entirely feasible to make a living as an artist. There are some areas of artwork that are more economically viable, however, such as entertainment/conceptual design (the entertainment business being one of the largest in the world at the moment,) commercial package design, etc. It’s rather difficult to make a living as a fine artist (an artist that creates artwork based only upon their own criteria and makes money by selling the original artworks) although I know a few who are rather successful. For artists such as me, who create artwork for music packaging, logos, etc, it’s not the easiest way to make a living due to the fact (and I am somewhat joking) that most musicians don’t have a great deal of money... There are plenty of successful music-based artists, however, and one shouldn’t be discouraged from attempting to make a living in this way.
In a way art is my “day job” because at the moment I do not have a “regular” nine-to-five job. Other than commissioned artwork, I make some money utilizing my Photoshop skills, selling records and other music items, and teaching art and music to a few people. My income through my artwork fluctuates wildly, due to the fact that there are often large periods with very little work rather than a steady stream of work. From an hourly perspective, it also fluctuates. I can make as low as $10 an hour, or as high as $100 an hour depending on the specific job.
Being a freelance artist is certainly one of the few jobs in the world where you can work entirely based on your own rules (like to sleep until 4 and then work in your pajamas until whatever time you wish!) It allows you to be your own boss, which is awesome, though some don’t know how to handle that freedom (and I am certainly less organized than I should be for the position...)
7. When you begin work on a commissioned project for a band, what is the process? What dictates the shape of the work (other than specific instructions from the artist)?
Well, obviously, I try to base the artwork as close to the briefing as possible. The majority of the time, however, I have quite a large amount of freedom with the design, due to the fact that logos and covers are often rather abstract and difficult to dictate. This can be very frustrating at times. If the client doesn’t know what they want, it’s very difficult for me to give them a finished work that is close to their original vision.
The first thing I always do to gather inspiration is listen to music by the band that I am creating artwork for, or at least music I know is in the emotional/atmospheric range I’m aiming towards. It’s my artistic duty to listen to the music and to translate whatever emotions and imagery is conveyed aurally through a visual representation.
If the music could not fully stimulate creative flow, I’ll look through my art-books, collected artworks, surf the web, etc. I try not to rip-off other artists, but their inspiration certainly shines through in certain areas of my artwork, if you know where to look.
Furthermore, occasionally I will already have an idea fleshed in my sketchbook, and I will use elements of that image, or work entirely from that image, for the final artwork.
8. Do you find it’s difficult to get paid from people who’ve commissioned your work? What do you do to ensure payment?!
I’m fortunate to never have been ripped-off by a client. That is, no client has ever used (or printed) one of my images without me first receiving payment. In order to ensure this, I never give the client the full resolution files until I have been paid in full.
I have been fully ignored by clients, however. What I mean is that there have been instances in which I have received no response from a client after sending them a preview image of an (finished) artwork. In such cases they ignore all communication. It is very discouraging and horrendously unprofessional for the client to do this. I encourage criticism from the client if they are not satisfied with the finished image, due to the fact that it can improve the image and lead to greater happiness for both me and the client.
I believe that a small down payment would discourage clients from avoiding communication, and I am going to make it part of my policy in the future.
9. These days most people ‘consume’ culture through a screen. What are the net effects of this? What is the importance of artifacts? I can hook my Macbook up to my HDTV and see your art in high-res; it’s just the same as a print, right? I can download albums and play them on my fancy headphones through my iPod and it’s no different to putting on a vinyl record at home, yeah?
Well, I’m not one to go around annihilating iPods or anything, (and if you get that reference, I salute you,) but I am not in support of the digitization of media. I have a rather substantial collection of vinyl records, CDs, and cassettes. For me, it has a lot to do with the sentimental value of the objects. I love and cherish my records. I love everything about them, from their storage, which serves as my personal altar and monument to music, to how they must be carefully handled when placed onto the turntable. In my own way it feels as if it takes more devotion to the music or something of that sort. Also, each listening experience from an analog format is unique. You can’t download the “sound” of a vinyl record, but you can certainly download something that is at least CD quality. I also belong to the school of pretentious music fans that believe that vinyl presents the best audio quality, though that statement is usually rather ironic.
For visual art, it is the same way. No matter how high of a resolution the image is, you cannot exactly replicate the appearance of a physical artwork. Galleries and museums would not exist if digital representations were fully adequate; the difference is, in actuality, immense. There is weight, texture, and lighting involved that allows your eyes to compute the physical artwork in a way that is three dimensional. I have observed many cases in which the printed artwork looks infinitely better than the digitalized copy of the image (and this is true even for digital artworks.)
The emotional and sentimental aspect of artifacts applies to artworks as well. Owning a physical copy of an artwork can create a more resounding emotional impact. For example, when I went to see a showing of Rodger Dean’s artwork at a local gallery about a year ago, I struck up a conversation with an older man about the significance of album covers. “Back in the seventies,” the man said, “we used to generate incredibly vibrant worlds to fit the music that the artwork represented. We used to spend hours and hours staring at the album covers and dissecting every detail of the artwork. Every time we’d listen to the record, the album cover would be displayed on top of the turntable and it would create a bond in which you can’t hear the music without seeing that imagery in your head.”
That “holy bond” between music and artwork is practically non-existent within the majority of the music culture of today. Most kids buy (or pirate) their music online where the artwork is displayed as, if at all, a thumbnail sized image that is barely visible. It makes me sad to see this, and one thing I would like to do, and have had the privilege to do in the past, is to create artwork that inspires people to buy a physical copy of the music. There are some companies doing amazing things in music packaging at the moment, as if in defense of this threat towards album artwork.
10. Your Void of Emptiness blog is an interesting (and utterly audacious!) project, detailing a deep passion and fascination in music. Personally it’s the only thing that makes sense to me in the world. When did your interest in music begin? What is it that makes it so important to you?
Music has been my greatest passion for the majority of my existence. It is one of the things that most thoroughly motivates me to live. Like you said, it is really the only thing that makes sense to me in the world (though, unfortunately, the more you study music, the less sense it makes!) Music allows one to experience something that feels so incredibly intimate and emotionally connected, that it is almost “beyond” the norm. I’d rather “use” music than psychoactive drugs, to be honest.
I’ve always been attached to music. I grew up in a household were music was being constantly played. My parents, especially my father, were (and are) huge fans of music and they were taking me to rock concerts since I was a toddler. My real passion for music didn’t fully blossom until I was a little bit older. I believe it really took off when I received AC/DC’s Back in Black as a Christmas gift when I was 10! Since then I’ve grown truly obsessed with music, and I am constantly searching for new music.
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