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When did you 1st notice you had a passion for art and wanted to be an artist?
I'm not exactly sure when I first noticed I had a passion for art and wanted to be an artist. I've been drawing for basically as long as I can remember thanks to my Grandmother passing along her interest in art and as a way to keep me busy when I was young. For sure when I was in Kindergarten I was known as "the kid who draws" and even at that time I was imagining being a comic strip illustrator or maybe an animator.
What was the 1st project you started that made you go hmm, I can do this as a professional if I wanted?
Probably the first project I ever did that made me go "hmmm, I can do this as a professional if I wanted" was when I tried to do a mock submission to Marvel Comics back in 2005. It was terrible and I obviously didn't get any work from it but I was naive enough (and somehow confident enough lol) to think that I could eventually make it.
With social media playing a big part in society, do you think it’s the best place to get your work out without putting on a showcase of sorts?
I definitely do think that social media, specifically Instagram (at least right now) is the best place to get my work out to be seen. I don't have a major following as of yet but it's definitely the place where I get the most interactions and it's the best way to get my work to a larger audience.
Do you mainly focus on character art and or do you keep the more abstract pieces personal?
Generally, I like to focus on characters since that's where my passion lies. However, I certainly do other things like environments and when it comes to personal work I sometimes will be a little looser in my work and experiment. This particularly happens when I'm digitally painting in Photoshop for myself and just having fun.
With your Power Ranger character pieces being controversial for being so different, do you think it can help or hurt your artistic freedom in the PR fandom as an artist?
Overall I feel that I've had a ton of positive responses to my Power Ranger Redesigns. There has been some controversy when it's come to them with the main issue being that some fans don't like all the armor ... and then, of course, there was the "skirt" debacle that some fans had an issue with LOL! I can't say that it really has hurt my artistic freedom per se when doing Power Rangers Fan Art, although it might if I let it. Ultimately, I think fans have to understand that the perfect designs have already been made - they're the original designs! I'm not trying to make a better design just a different design. One that hopefully brings nostalgia to the past while being relevant to the present. I wanted to create something that would be suitable for a major video game or film. The truth is that we are never going to see the original designs in a major motion picture or AAA video game. So my goal was just to create something that felt like it could make sense in those spaces. You can't beat the perfection of the originals so whether it's me or someone else, we're all just going to make something that is second best - if we're lucky.
How does it feel to put your art out into the world and have it critiqued and pulled apart by the general public on social media, and does it make you 2nd guess your ideas?
Overall I generally don't mind putting my art out there and it being critiqued. It's certainly a normal part of my life whenever I've worked professionally on a video game or illustrations and I have art directors critiquing my work. There are a lot of people that like to just spout off and say they don't like my designs and that's totally fine! They have a right to their opinions. However, with the issues that some people voiced over the "skirts" for the Pink and Yellow Rangers, I did think that it made sense to give them a variant without it. It was a relatively easy fix and I didn't want such a minor detail get in the way of them enjoying the designs. Now when it comes to some of the complaints with their helmet designs - that I won't change. Like I mentioned before - perfection is found in the original designs. I'm a designer so I like to take chances. Some people will like them and some won't. I can't please everyone and if you try and design for everyone out there you'll just get boring designs that everyone will hate. It's better to have 70% love the designs and 30% hate them than to just have watered down designs that over half the fans aren't satisfied with. In the end, I made these pieces for me. They're my love letter to the original series. If people don't like it that's their right and they can just go design what they think would be better but good luck trying to beat the original TV show designs!
With your social media fame growing, what do you hope to gain (opportunities) from your growing stardom?
In terms of my social media fame growing, the biggest things I hope to gain would be more opportunities to work with video game companies as a concept artist. I'd also like the opportunity to work on film or television as a concept artist as well - a Power Rangers reboot being a real dream job! However, I'm not sure if I'm at the point yet, in terms of followers, where I'll be able to garner enough attention. Time will tell though so fingers crossed!
Do you find digital art the future as the old school (pen & paper) style dies out, or is there still a place for it?
I do think that there will always be a place for traditional art, though probably far less when it comes to video games and film. Digital Art is not only the future but it's the present and truthfully has been the standard for quite some time in those industries.Â
Out of the many talented artists (past or present), who inspires you?
The artists that really inspire me the most are broken down into 2D and 3D. On the 2D side, I'm most inspired by Marko Djurdjevic, Dave Rapoza, J. Scott Campbell, Sean Gordon Murphy, and Phil Bourassa. When it comes to 3D my biggest inspirations are Jerad Marantz, Ian Joyner, Justin Fields, Raf Grassetti, Eric Sosa, and Joe Menna.
Which of your pieces has been the most challenging to put to paper from your mind?
Truthfully the Power Rangers Redesigns were the most challenging to create. I wanted to do them justice and at the same time, I couldn't help but consider how the fans would react. I wanted to make the fans happy as well as make something that I felt was quality work. It became such a daunting task that I put the idea on hold for seven years. Finally this year I just accepted the fact that it would never be perfect and some people would dislike it. I took solace in the artist Jake Parker's motto "Finished Not Perfect" and decided to make a go of it.
What is it that drives you to keep pushing on when you hit so many obstacles when creating your art?
Even though there are plenty of obstacles that come about when creating art, more than anything I'm driven to keep pushing simply because "of the fact that" I love creating. It's an integral part of who I am and even if I'm not getting paid to make art, I'm going to make it because I just can't help it. It's who I am and what I do.
What is your major dream/goal to have fulfilled being an artist?
I suppose my major dream/goal as an artist is to one day publish my own comic book. I have at least one story I'd like to tell which would hopefully one day become either a movie or a limited Netflix series.
If all of your art deleted from the world and you could only save one piece, which will it be?
Boy, that's a tough question. If I could only save one piece out of all my art it would likely be my Batman The Animated Series collage. I painted all of the characters in my own style and while there are certainly a lot of issues with it now (five years after I painted it) it's still a special piece to me and something I have fond memories with producing.
What is one major art/film studio you would want to work with?
One major art/film studio that I would love to work with would be Warner Brothers, specifically working on one of their DC movies. I'm a major DC fanboy and I'd love to have the chance to play in that cinematic universe.
When you leave this world (morbid I know lol), what is the one thing you want to be remembered for?
When I leave this world, honestly I would like to be remembered as someone that loved his family and brought quality to their lives.
