Can you share as much as possible about the piece and how you conceived of it?
It’s difficult to pin point exactly what’s going on in my head when I come up with an idea as it tends to be a mixture of things that I’ve seen years ago with things I’ve seen the past few days. In this particular instance I was just about to go to sleep and I can’t imagine what + what = a geisha stabbing an apple with her tongue out, but it popped into my head nonetheless.
Most of my personal work attempts to involve the female form with some kind of sexual prowess, playing with hints of fantasy, abstract overlays of color and textures. Ultimately, I’d like to form a super hybrid of James Jean, Jeff Simpson, Adam Hughes and Francis Bacon.
After gathering reference (which usually involves using myself as a puppet) I firstly load Corel Painter for the Geisha, as I have a lot more fun when it comes to blending and using textured brushes. After this I load up Photoshop and start playing around with scale, colour and adding abstract elements, filters and effects that I want the final image to portray.
Once I’m happy with the final I upload it to my online sketchbook and take on board any critique that peers/fellow artists suggest, making further changes and tweaking until I’m satisfied. Then I start uploading it to my website, Deviant Art, ConceptArt.org, and in this case Infectious, in an attempt to get my work seen by the masses.
Would you share three unique things in your workspace that inspire you?
In an OCD Tetris style precision the wall behind my desk is covered with prints, postcards and posters from my favourite artists, films and games.
My army of Little Big Planet’s Sack Boys that remind me to be creative.
A pick ‘n’ mix of beautifully shot films to watch in the background while I’m painting.
What’s the best compliment/most extreme reaction you’ve ever received in response to your work?
Receiving the news that I’d won the August Free4All, it has genuinely been the biggest compliment as it is the first competition I have ever won for a design.
The “I don’t want to look at her,” response I got for the ‘Polluted Woman’ concept I created whilst studying Game Art & Design has been the most extreme reaction. He really didn’t like the way she looked at him.
What would be on your quintessential mixtape?
Jimi Hendrix, All Along The Watchtower
Pink Floyd, Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Incubus, Wish You Were Here
Placebo, Pure Morning
Björk, Army of Me
Aimee Mann, Save Me
Air, Sexy Boy
Radiohead, My Iron Lung
The White Stripes, The Hardest Button to Button
65 Days of Static, Dance Parties [Mechanised]
Fever Ray, Stranger than Kindness
Others would include Sigur Rós, Nirvana, Lady Gaga, Tenacious D, Wolfmother, The Black Keys and so many more that I will leave out or else you will lose interest.
If your art was music, what would it sound like?
Definitely synthetic / electronic / post-rock at heart but each painting would have it’s own Faithless remix.
What do you have as your desktop wallpaper?
On my MacBook I have a fan-made Portal background depicting the ‘Hazard man’ getting knocked down by a cake to the face.
On my iMac I have a pattern designed by Mike Mitchell to what, to the best of my abilities, I can only describe as floating balloon head people.
What are your vices/guilty pleasures?
Watching bad films / TV just to revel in their awfulness, as a result making me feel a bit better about myself and my creativity.
Sometimes if I’m working from home I believe that I’m helping the environment by staying in my pyjamas and not wasting a clean set of clothes.
Believing that things that are considered guilty pleasures to some people are a perfectly healthy way of life for me.
What’s the first picture you can remember drawing as a child?
In Primary school we were presented with the simple task of creating a short story. I gave them a picture book spin-off version of Tomb Raider except instead of dinosaurs there were dragons.
If you were a dinosaur, what kind would you be and why?
I would be whichever gave me the most screen time with Stephen Spielberg so I could tell him that E.T. gave me nightmares and cry dinosaur tears into his loving arms.
What was your last memorable dream?
Last night I had a dream that I was at Miami Ink and was getting the whole of my torso tattooed with roses, zombies and crucifixes. But I was worried that it might be a bit too much for my first tattoo.
If you had to change careers, what would be next?
My Plan B would be to change my name and try again, but if I really had to then Property Developing. Because spending my childhood on The Sims has somehow nested in my brain and I now know how to make rooms look good with limited furnishing options.
What’s your motto?
I’ve never thought of a motto, but something inspirational from an Arnold Schwarzenegger speech would suffice to sum up my beliefs. For the sake of answering the question properly I’d say that when I come to making hard choices I just think, “Come on woman, get on with it.”
