Tilteed

Artist Interview: theJCW

Curator’s Statement:

I know… you were expecting heart, or roses, or declarations of love. Well, we love you, here at Tilteed, which explains why instead of a romantic tee, you can pick up the_JCW’s newest design Platypus Blues for the next 3 days. Tell us how much you love the tee, and the platy will sing just for you. Say it really nicely and maybe JCW will sing for you instead.

AHHHH!!! It’s the_JCW!!!! LIVE!!! And in the… pixels. Okay, so we can’t meet you in real life, but that certainly didn’t stop you from breathing some life into this design. HEY! I remember this! Haven’t I seen this somewhere before?

Some of you may have seen this character way back in 2009, when I was ambitiously trying to draw a new character every weekday on the bus to work, only to realize, like many other ambitions, that I would trip near the finish line.

The 97 sketches that I did do have been great starting points for future projects… just like this one. An interesting fact about this particular shirt is that the great Jaden Kale took notice of the sketch and eventually we made a deal that I would someday turn it into a shirt, so I guess I better thank her for giving me a push to actually do it.

I’m quite proud of myself, because we got this tee slated for National Singles Day… And for you people who don’t recognize National Singles Day, It’s obvious the start date for this tee is Valentine’s Day. That being stated, your print this time is a platypus singing the blues. What do you think his woes are on this lovey-dovey of holidays?

The poor guy’s a Monotreme, he looks like a duck, but cant fly and he smells like a rat. I sort of always assumed a that all Platypus are unhappy, like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Plus a platypus only mates once a year so it would only seem natural that there would be a lot of unlucky Platypus dudes playing the Blues on Valentine’s Day.

I heard you’ve been busy creating artwork aplenty! We’ve just finished the first month of 2011, what have you in store for the early part of this year?

Most of the crazy “creating” you heard about was at the end of 2010 for a 3-man show here in Chicago at the OhNo!Doom gallery.

Anything tee related has been put on the back burner while my day job takes up the biggest piece of the delicious “time-pie”. This month I just finished another painting for OhNoDoom as part of a larger group show this February. Then this March I’ll be sending some artwork to the UrbanLightStudios in Seattle for another group show.

I’ll continue doing a shirt design here and there but when I do get some time I’m probably going to be focused on some toy customs and more traditional work.

Surely something feeds the flames of inspiration. Tell us, what stokes your fire of creativity?

Mostly other artists, I’m a big fan of watching what other people are doing. I’m also becoming quite a vinyl toy junkie. Next on the list are artist movies and video games, (one of my favorite movies is Tekkon Kinkreet). I also love to travel and I don’t think I could substitute the inspiration and mind-opening feeling that came from some of the destinations.

Yeah, yeah… I was able to slip in one more V-Day related question: Your fans spoke up and want to lavish you with candy treats. What will it be?

It’s funny that the design comes up Valentine’s Day because I’ve never been a big fan of the holiday, being single was never fun, and being taken just means that there’s always the pressure to do something. Do we really need it stamped on everyone’s calendars that this is the day we must celebrate love or else.

As far as the candy goes, I’m not much for the V-day candies…except maybe the chocolates… The kind with as many layers and kinds of chocolate as possible, or better yet… bacon-chocolate.

OR a moneybin full of sour patch kids that I could just swim through chewing.

Websites! We need websites! We must support the man behind the iMoto!

Ugggghhhhhh, websites….yeah, I’ve been meaning to get one of those…. It’s been in the works for more than a year now (more like on hold) BUT I am around the web

Mainly “like” me on facebook

And others:

Behance
the_JCW Blogspot
the_JCW Twitter (note the underscore… some other “theJCW” lurks out there)
the_JCW Zazzle only a few products so far, but you can get many more Imoto things here.

AND if you really want to support the great Imoto I’m sure he would love it if all of you joined the great Mugo page on facebook and let them know you want to see him as an officially produced MP3 player! (comment people, comment and “LIKE” it)

Imoto Mugo MP3 Player

That can be your Valentine’s Day gift to the loveable Imoto!

Since you’re now one of the elite to grace a Tilteed pin, do you have anything memorable to tell the fans that don your little helicopter while promoting the Tilteed name?

Mainly thanks for supporting Tilteed: an awesome owner, curator and crowd. Keep supporting them because they bring my artwork to life, along with a ton of other really amazing artists work that wouldn’t necessarily get to see the light of day in this pop-culture fueled world we live in.