Below is a journal reproduced from his DA account, here. He is an epic artist. :]
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I hope that your New Year's was good and satisfying for yourself. With the holiday season over and done with, let us move back into our familiar routines (or new ones) and resolve to have a great year.

A while go, I had posted a journal about 100 questions for the artist that was more laborious and involved more questions about lifestyle and what-not. Well, I would like to revisit/revamp that idea into a more streamlined 10 questions that deal directly with the creative process. So, here are 10 Questions for the Artist....

1. What are your "tools of the trade"?
I use a wide variety of tools and materials in my works, as it all depends on what I'm making. I'm going to get very specific and name damn-near everything that I have, as I feel some people would have a keen interest in what I have. (Right Jackie?) Here goes the list:
-Prismacolor set of 48 markers plus assorted gray tones
-Prismacolor set of 48 color pencils plus colorless blender
-Prismacolor set of 12 watercolor pencils
-Prismacolor set of fine line markers (005-08)
-Prismacolor non-photo blue pencil
-Derwent set of 24 studio color pencils
-Staedtler Mars Lumograph set of 12 Sketching/Drawing pencils (8B-2H)
-Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3 mm pens
-Staedtler Mars techinco graphite holder with HB leads
-Staedtler Mars plastic eraser
-Staedtler Plot Ink 748 plf
-Staedtler M2 Profilm drawing ink
-Sakura Pigma Micron pens (005-3)
-Sakura Pigma Sensei pens (03-10)
-Faber-Castell PITT brush pens (black and grey)
-Speedball India Ink
-Speedball HUNT 102 and 107 crow quill nibs
-Prang watercolor set
-Dr. Martin Watercolor dyes set A
-Winsor & Newton set of 8 inks
-Winsor & Newton Cotman brush #1 and #8
-Winsor & Newton Cirrus Round brush #0 and #2
-Winsor & Newton Series 7 brush #000, #00, and #1
-Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold II flat brush #12
-Loew-Cornell Stippler brush #1/4
-Liquid frisket
-Acetate
-Masking tape
-16" x 18" light box
-French curves
-Templates (circle, squares, and misc. shapes)
-18" x 24" cutting mat
-X-Acto knifes
-Golden Acrylic paints
-Iwata Smart-Jet airbrush compressor and Eclipse HB-CS airbrush
-T-Squares and straight-edges
-Ott-Lite TrueColor drawing lamp
-Design Kneaded Eraser
-24" x 36" drawing table
I think I'll stop with that. Now, these are items that I've accumulated over the years and have other crap that didn't make the list like manikins and solvents. Will having all these things make you a better artist? No, these are the materials that I like to use. I would love to have Copics or Photoshop but they're expensive and for the time I'm getting by pretty good with what I own. Another question is does it matter what brand/company you use? Yes and no. If all you can muster is Crayolas, then by golly that's all you can do and they work just as well. I have found that the higher quality material is more expensive but has a longer duration then the cheap stuff. Boil it all down, so long as you get the job done, that's what matters.

2. Do you have a favorite technique or method that you like to use?
I'm pretty fond of crosshatching and layering markers with other media like color pencils and grease crayons. I also like to use cell-shading with markers. When I can, I like to employ some drybrushing or splattering in my work.

3. What area(s) of art do you feel most comfortable or strongest in?
Content-wise, I feel most comfortable drawing anything "ugly" and full of textures- monsters, creatures, zombies, skulls- you name it. In addition, I feel pretty relaxed drawing cartoons or anything with curvilinear movement. Technique/method wise, I feel I'm strongest in crosshatching, graphite rendering, and inking.

4. What area(s) of art do you feel least comfortable or weakest at?
Three things come to mind: anatomy, backgrounds, and mechanical/man-made objects. Also, perspective can get quite tricky for me as well. Reasons being that I don't practice enough, have little interest in, or generally don't plan enough of my work out and I'm stuck with various issues that I should of worked out before but didn't.

5. What is your philosophy regarding your sketchbook?
I view my sketchbook as a vehicle for idea generation and as a means of exploring various issues. I don't see it as "I have to have fully-rendered perfect drawings in here". It's mainly for me and to be seen by me, so I don't have to impress myself with perfectly crafted drawings page after page. My sketchbook is chock-full of doodles, improvised sketches, incoherent scribbles, and poorly written notes for myself. The seeds of many works have been planted on a page and started off as a mess of a collection of lines or one drawing that sits and waits to be explored in the future. Sure, there are times where a drawing is more completed then others, but I use my sketchbook to commit ideas to paper and to keep warmed up. In some ways, my sketchbook is like a demo tape- a collection of drawings that will get refined into a finished work.

6. How well do you handle critique?
That all depends on the situation. In general, I'm naturally a slight bit defensive but open to suggestions. I'll listen to what's being said and will mull it over and access its validity. Most times it's right on the money. But sometimes when someone tears the work apart, offers little or no suggestions for improvement, and is not on the same level of ability- it burns my ass. A critique is NOT a means of accessing skill. A true critique is examining the work on what it is, what it's attempting to convey, and how successful it is on conveying that message. Yes skill is important, but sometimes that's a secondary concern over what the message is. Critique is a very tricky area to handle, and you need to know what you're addressing and why.

7. How is your studio atmosphere when you work?
I usually work in my "studio" (backroom) and work with music playing. I generally like to work alone and with little distractions, but I can adjust. If I'm working at school, I like to work with my iPod playing and walk around and see what my fellow classmates are doing.

8. Is there any particular method or process you use when you create a work?
There's a general process that I use. The majority of work start off as sketches and evolve as the time suits it. That time period can be as little as a few minutes or as much as a month. The problem is with sorting out ideas. I can get so caught up with trying different ideas that the process drags on and on with no end in sight. I usually reach and exhaustion level and see what works best with what I'm trying to do or what I feel most comfortable with. In this phase, I usually do a bit of research to acquire a better sense of what I'm doing and may do a study or two. Once I'm happy with my composition, I get to work on the final work. I start by laying out the bigger shapes and gradually focus on smaller details. After that is finished, I render it and voila- you guys see the final product. There are some variations, like if I use a light box or acetate- but it's a general process.

9. How do you feel about the evolution of your work?
On the whole, I like where my ideas and work are going. I like the fact that I can work in a variety of media and explore a host of ideas while maintaining an identity. There are times where I feel my skills have atrophied and I feel that I should be performing at a higher level. I looked at my gallery and sketchbooks not so long ago and saw this range of work and subject matter and impressed myself. And I appreciate all of you for accepting my work and not pinning down as a particular type of artist.

10. Where do you find inspiration?
All over, but to be succinct- in music, poems, other artwork, personal observations and feelings, society, and movies.

Damn, that's a long read. If you've managed to finish this, pat yourself on the back. Feel free to answer and spread this around. I'm gunna nap now.


~Nick~