Tilteed

Artist Interview: zackOlantern

Curator’s Statement:

The oven is green. The light is on. My face is running on two feet.

That’s about as far as I got with interpreting this piece. I clearly need to put in a few more hours.

Can you tell us how The Twilight Rider came into existence?

I wish I had some amazing, grandiose explanation about eating mushrooms in the woods at midnight and having this vision of a figure with hole in its face riding atop a melting carpet amidst floating mountains with eyes, but it truthfully started out as a crummy little doodle on an index card, which I made only slightly better in Illustrator.

No, no, no, that’s no good. You know what? Let’s just go with the hallucination story.

When did you get your start in t-shirt design? Do you work on other mediums as well?

About two years ago. A friend of mine suggested I check out Threadless and submit some drawings I had done. I’d never designed anything or even considered t-shirt design before so my earliest designs were pretty rough and uninteresting. It wasn’t until I acquired a drawing tablet that I began to experiment with digital media and figure out what would and wouldn’t work on a shirt. While it’s only a hobby to me, designing shirts has really helped me grow as an illustrator and it has introduced me to some incredible work by artists I never knew existed. As for other mediums, I really enjoy painting with gouache and acrylic paint. I’ve tried oil and watercolors before, but I’m still very much a greenhorn with them. As nice as digital work can be, there’s something exciting about having an actual painting to hang on your wall instead of looking at it through the computer screen.

What’s a day in the life of Zack-O-Lantern like?

Well, I like to sleep in so my day generally doesn’t start until about noon. After I’ve regained consciousness and basic motor functions I usually take my road bike down to the beach and ride around for a couple of hours. Then I come home, have something to eat and then sit down at my computer for several hours looking at design/art blogs or if I’m feeling particularly jaunty I’ll doodle in my sketch book or work on illustrations for my portfolio. Then, at around 3am I’ll go to sleep. Sounds exciting right? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

Are there any bands/musicians that you particularly enjoy listening to while you illustrate? Does this music have any influence on your artwork?

Oooh, that’s a tough one. Music is a huge inspiration for me, so I always have something playing while I draw/paint. I’d say my artwork is pretty schizophrenic so what I’m listening to at a particular moment can have a large effect on how I draw something. For instance, if I’m listening to Grizzly Bear or Ratatat or even older stuff like Cream or Zeppelin, that’s when I make my crazier designs. If I feel like drawing something in a more retro style, I’ll put on 60’s lounge music. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of classical music. Something about harpsichords and mandolins really relaxes me.

If you were somehow magically turned into a t-shirt, what would you look like?

Hmm, if I were a shirt…I’d definitely be minty green or purple because those are my favorite colors to design on. Let’s see what else? I really like psychedelic art posters so I’d probably have some retina burning colors in there as well. Throw in some ambiguous imagery coupled with a multi-interpretational concept and you’ve got me in t-shirt form. I think.

Where can we go to see more of your amazing artwork?

Someday I plan on making a snazzy website, but until I stop being lazy you can check out my flickr or better yet visit my society6 page where you can purchase art prints of some of my designs *wink wink, nudge nudge*

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zackolantern/
http://www.society6.com/zackolantern

Anything else that you’d like to share?

Thanks for having me over, you guys sure are swell! :D