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You recently attended the San Diego Comic-Con -- any highlights you’d like to share?

Comic-Con is a fantastic event operating on many different levels. The first level is the fans in costumes and the comic buffs. Then come the artists themselves and their publishers and distributors, who try to promote their books. The next layer are the talent agents who scout the place for the next big thing they can sell to Hollywood and on top of that pyramid are the directors and executive producers who promote their upcoming feature films.

My personal highlight occurred while signing Entropia books for the Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya. I heard the voice of a man standing in front of me saying, “I really like your book.” I looked up and saw that it was Moebius. I almost fell out of my chair!

[Laughs.] Do you ever think about returning to comics?

I’m interested in making a new book, but it will be in a style similar to the mixed media style of Entropia. But I’m also interested in collaborating with renowned writers in the world of graphic novels.

I’m also curious about the digital art tutorials you authored for the Gnomon Workshop. What techniques and topics do you cover?

My Gnomon DVDs mostly explain basic Photoshop techniques, but they also go far into visual storytelling and a creation method I call “combinatory play.”

Combinatory play?

I’m a strong believer in the idea of combinatory play. According to Einstein, combinatory play is essentially sifting through data, perceptions, and materials to come up with new and useful combinations. Applying this method, I try to combine intellectual and visual concepts until their combination results in a new intellectual concept or visual language.

I checked out the Gnomon website and previewed one of your cityscape painting tutorials. Your cityscapes are so inspiring -- I get lost in them. How long does it take to paint one?

Hong Kong, for instance, took about three days.

Are you a city person?

I don’t necessarily prefer to live in cities. I was very happy living in Hawaii. I do, however, love the cultural events and diversity of a city like Los Angeles, where I am currently living. I like to visit cities -- I had a great time working in Tokyo.

In the past, Guu explored the idea of organic futurism, or a vision of the future where nature and technology coexist harmoniously. What are your thoughts on organic futurism?

I love the graphism and the concept of the Io book and believe it’s one of the best collections out there. Organic futurism reminds me of Giger’s biomechanics. I believe that nature and technology will be combined in the future through nanotechnology or biochips, but I’m not sure if the results will truly benefit humanity.

 

Guu Magazine at GuuPress.com

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Related Links:
> Christian Lorenz Scheurer’s website
> Radio Entropia
> The Gnomon Workshop
> Spore
> Roger Ebert on video games and art

 

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