jek2004

Description

\FAQ: How long have you been an artist? I have been getting paid for doing artwork off and on for about 20 years or so. I have been an artist as long as I can remember. When did you first realize you wanted a career in the art field? I always wanted to do something with my art talent but, being such a wide field, it took a long time to find something I was happy with. What drew you into the fantasy and Sci/Fi genre? I believe it is the truest type of art. Instead of mimicking or reinterpreting reality you get to create a completely new reality as well as creating a piece of art. Even while doing the most mundane commercial work I always enjoyed making pictures of spaceships and monsters and of course strong women in skimpy outfits. It was only a few years ago that I found out there was a market for this kind of work. Is there a difference for you in doing the fantasy compared to the Sci/Fi work? I guess there is a different type of motivation between them. The Sci/Fi work has to be much more physically accurate which is closer to my illustrative background where the fantasy work is much more focused on the emotion of the piece. How do you think these genres fit together? I feel the amount of variation in both these genres allows them to interlace and merge quite well together. What is your start to finish process of creating a new painting? The seed for a new painting usually comes to me while I ’m working on a current painting. It comes as an idea that begins to flesh out in my mind. I usually sketch out quick ideas to refer to later. When the idea works itself into a state where I ’m happy with it and I think I ’ll have time to do it then I start mentally pumping myself up for it. Then I give myself the assignment. And I really do treat it just like any other project given to me by an art director. I start with the first rough sketches and begin to refine them. Once the main objects are where I want them I do value sketches and then start thinking about colors. I also do lots of research for my paintings. Now after all that I ’m totally pumped up and ready to jump on this new creation of mine when BAM! the phone rings and I have to put the whole thing on a back burner to do a “paying job ” for McGraw Hill or something. After that is done, finally, work can begin. If there is a figure in the picture I usually start with that then working from background to foreground I start blocking in color and value working it to a higher and higher level of detail. While detailing, I often step back to see it in context of the whole painting. It ’s very easy to get locked into the detail and lose sight of the whole. This basically goes on until I reach that point in my mind where it ’s finished. At this point I usually have it pier reviewed by some friends then, after all the last minute tweaking is done, I send it to the printer. Is there a difference in how you feel doing a painting in traditional media as compared to digital? The difference for me is exactly like the difference between doing pencils and Oils. I use the same part of my brain and my same hands. Only the tools are different.

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