Nighttime in Wonderland
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Oftentimes when artwork is transformed into 3D, certain elements are lost.
How were your experiences with this?
)
Unfortunately,
I wasn't around during the phase when my concept art was made into 3D.
As a result, there were many, many revisions that had to be made when
I finally came in and saw the models. That said, the people who did the
modeling, etc., are really talented and the final product looks great.
If you work at Pixar it's easy to do "inspirational" designs
because there's some amazing model-maker waiting in the other room to
do his take on your drawing. Outside of that ideal environment though,
I think as a designer you're best off incorporating as much of the form
and dimensionality of a design into your drawing as possible.
Was there a distinct moment in your life when you said to yourself, “This is what I want to do, I want to share my art with the world”?
)
Not
really. Art still feels like a hobby to me -- like a way to express feelings
or afterthoughts from "real life" even though most of my real
life is doing art nowadays. I do remember being pretty shocked when someone
paid me to draw for the first time though.
Getting commissioned work is a clear indication of talent. What happened there?
Well, actually my first job was in school -- I worked part time at a now-defunct videogame company in Irvine. Fortunately, the bosses there were Justin Sweet and Vance Kovacs. So I got a tremendous education from my very first internship onward.
Tell us about your Alice in Wonderland adaptation.)
It's a sort of a Brazil/City of Lost Children/Metropolis smorgasbord of a story that I came up with as an adaptation to the original story. I've written 40 pages of the story and done lots of art and eventually I'd like to turn it into a graphic novel or a children's book.
Seems a little dark for a children's book. Then again, the original was rather twisted.
)
The
visuals are definitely dark, but my interpretation of
the story is more old-fashioned and comedic. Children
have a capacity to handle much "darker" stuff than we give them
credit for -- as long as the underlying tone of the story is honest and
hopeful.
You've said you prefer drawing children. Why?
Yeah, children seem to express their bodies in a way
that's less guarded and limited than adults. So often kids strike a pose
or a make a face that is the pure visual embodiment of a particular emotion.
That's so fun to draw!