1

Hi Kevin, thank you for this interview and welcome to Digital Art Empire, please tell us about yourself, your background and your work.

My name is Kevin Roodhorst. I’m a 20 year old self taught graphic designer from Holland with 6 years of experience.
I’m following a graphic design education in Amsterdam, when I’ve finished that I want to work for an
advertising agency or putting more time into my one work as a freelancer.

I started to work with Adobe software when I was 15 years old. What I did most of the time was follow
tutorials on the Internet and check out other designers. I started with making some CD covers and posted
them online on some websites, where I received a lot of positive reactions. At the age of 17, I got
my first paying assignment, a poster for a kick-boxing competition.
Now I’m 20 years old and I’ve worked for 22 different nightclubs. Flyers, posters and banners etc.
I’m featured in four Design Magazines: Advanced Photoshop, Digital Arts, Publish and  Computer Arts Magazine.
I also took part in creating labels for tobacco and drink companies.

2

Digital art being a big part of your life, where do you find all this time and energy? How do you balance your family and work life?

Just like you said its a part of my life! it isn’t difficult for me to make some time for designing. Im always designing. offcourse at school and
at home freelance asignments.

3

What are your tools of the trade and which software do you use?

I use a wacom bamboo tablet and a fast computer. The software I use is the adobe CS5 master collection and cinema 4d for 3d objects etc.

4

What project are you currently working on? Which project have you found most enjoyable and why ? What would be your dream project?

currently I’m not working on a personal project. Right now I’m really busy with some school projects. My favorite project is called ‘History’.
Because in this project I worked with typography for the first time. I dont really have a dream project, maybe a dream client? discovery,
National geographic, clothing of car brands.

5

I know you have a lot of influences, which are the designers who have given you enthusiasm and which blogs spur you on the most?

These are 2 designers who have some great art works:
The Hejz

Shinary Binary

inspiring websiteS:

inspiration 1

inspiration 2

6

What are your favorite areas in graphic design? And what do you look forward to the most?

Digital art is my favorite type of graphic design because the ideas are endless. I like to combine photographed objects with 3d renders.

7

What do you believe are the most important skills an aspiring designer needs to have?

I think the most important things are: composition and use of color, light and shadow.

8

Are you a self taught designer or have you been to a design school?

I’m following a graphic design education right now, but you dont learn such things as digital arts etc.
so you can say I’m self taught. I’m following a graphic design education because that is the best thing
to do if you want to work for am advertising agency.

9

Kevin thank you for this interview with Digital Art Empire, have you got any advice for up and coming digital creatives?

Keep practicing a lot and stay motivated. Focus on what you want most ! Thank you very much for the opportunity, really appreciate it !

Kevin Roodhorst featured in

- Abduzeedo Wallpaper Of The Week #110
- Abduzeedo Wallpaper Of The Week #117
- TutorArt.com Beautiful Works By Kevin.Roodhorst
- IT Plus Magazine – A Collection of Beautiful Designs by Kevin Roodhorst
- Itsdesigned.com
- Onlycreative.com.au

- Fourfifthsdesign.com
- Psd.tutsplus.com Interview
- Abduzeedo.com Interview
- Dailyinspiration.nl
- Designmodo.com
- Topdesignmag.com
- Art-spire.com

- Computer Arts Magazine Issue 180
- Advanced Photoshop Magazine Nr.23
- Publish Magazine Nr.2
- Digital Arts Magazine August Issue 2010

Please also check out Kevin’s Folio Here

Blogging has its highlights, one of them being networking with some incredibly talented designers. Through blogging and social networking I had the chance to meet Chris Spooner of Blog Spoon Graphics and Line 25. Chris has the ability to create consistently appealing resources for designers and has created a very popular and friendly community at his blogs, I’m sure this is due to his nice, easy going attitude.

1 Hello and a warm welcome to Digital Art Empire, Chris thanks for this interview why don’t you tell us about yourself, your blog and background in design?

I’m Chris Spooner, a designer and blogger who runs Blog.SpoonGraphics and Line25. I write random design related articles for inspiration, as well as plenty of tutorials covering Illustrator, Photoshop and website design.

2 Your exposure and activity online is huge this is where a lot of designers aspire to be, how would you say you have reached this stage, was it your intention?

I started out blogging purely as an experiment and to check out the WordPress application in more depth. Since a couple of my posts gained some exposure I’ve simply continued churning out posts I hope people will find interesting. I guess the more you pump out design related content and links the more you become associated with that topic.

3 How do you stay on top of web design trends? Is client work enough to stay fresh or do you still follow tutorials, if so which ones?

Being active in the blogosphere helps keep you on top of the latest changes. If there’s a certain topic I find interesting, I’ll take the time to follow tutorials to learn more about the subject. The most recent example is probably a bunch of HTML5 tutorials I followed to get to grips with the new features. Client work on the other hand helps you stay fresh in other areas, usually the topics you wouldn’t choose to follow otherwise, which makes it great to broaden your knowledge outside of your comfort zone.

4 What are your favourite areas in graphic design? Who and what keeps you inspired?

I enjoy a wide range of design related subjects and I’m always keen on trying out new things. There are many designers out there who I’m inspired by, I basically keep myself inspired by browsing what others are doing. This always motivates me to put in more practice and experiment with new techniques.

5 Please tell us about how you landed the work with Fall Out Boy, were you headhunted or this something you planned for?

I never expected to land such a job. This was another great example of how blogging can raise your profile. A few days before I’d taken the time to write a tutorial based on skateboard deck design – Which wasn’t really a popular type of client work beforehand, it was just something I developed an interest in. One day one of the guys from the merchandising company who were dealing with the Fall Out Boy merch spotted my tutorial, liked what he saw and got in touch. I helped out design a skateboard deck, couple of T-shirts and a hoodie.

6 What are the core things that you think made you successful blogging wise and freelance wise?

For blogging I think that taking the time to develop in-depth tutorials and articles that will help people out has definitely helped out. There are lots of quick and basic tutorials out there, but only a few gems that can really help you master a topic. I also think concentrating on Illustrator tutorials helped out, as these were very rare at the time. With freelancing I guess a similar mindset also helps out; I’ll always aim to fulfill the project requirements and come up with a good solution to the client’s problems.

7 Blog Spoon Graphics is a one-man show how do you juggle work commitments with what can easily be a full time occupation & would you hire more writers and expand; what are your plans for the future?

Simply managing my time is all it takes. In the past I always used to make sure I took the time to write blog content, as this was what brought in the client work in the first place. Nowadays I’ve cut back on client work to concentrate more on writing blog content. I’ve always stuck to writing every post myself on Blog.SpoonGraphics, but I’m thinking about opening up Lien25 to more guest authors.

8 What’s you typical routine for coming up with ideas, writing and then publishing them?

Whenever an idea springs to mind, I’ll either jot it down or take a photo to keep a record. When I have some time to schedule up content I’ll pick out some topics I’d like to focus on then spend a day or two creating the post. Posts are often scheduled up a week or two in advance, which often helps relieve any pressure of deadlines.

9 Finally thanks for this interview with Digital Art Empire do you have any advice for our readers?

Thanks for the opportunity! I always advise anyone with an interest in design to keep practicing, experimenting and trying out new techniques. Follow your inspirations and just do what you enjoy!

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Hello and welcome to Digital Art Empire, Gordon thanks for the interview. Why don’t you tell us about yourself, your blog and background in design?

Hi my name is Gordon Reid I front Middle Boop which is a moniker I use for design and illustrate and also the name I have given for the blog I run which reviews the best music and showcases the talents of amazing designers and artists from all over the world.

The blog started off as a way to promote my own work and talk about the bands I was into but after gaining international recognition it has become a really popular blog for music and design where I now have a team of six writers and designers who work really hard in creating stunning reviews and interviews with amazing bands and designers/illustrators. We now get over 300 hits a day and are pretty overloaded with the amount of music and artwork sent to us which is fantastic really.

I remember the day I knew design was the route I wanted to go down, I was at my friends house who was doing a design degree whilst I was still at school, I saw the sort of work he was producing and just thought ‘this is what I want to do.’ I studied Graphic Image Making at Solent uni (a course which no longer exists) it incorporated animation, illustration, graphic design, 3-d, music production and web.

It was great to learn so many aspects of the industry and meant I could really experiment with lots of different techniques and processes and explore avenues I would not have considered if I was just doing a design course, I did a lot of animation at uni and was commended for one of my shorts at the BFI Cobra Beer awards. I haven’t created an animation for ages, it’s certainly something I would like to continue experimenting with.

The main thing I really learned from my time at uni was a  DIY ethic, after a fair few disagreements with lecturers about my work I knew I had to push myself as much as possible to make sure my work got seen and appreciated.

Your latest Digital Arts Cover is an eye catching retro piece – what was thinking behind this and what’s your process from concept to print?

Well I had a fantastic brief to work with which allowed me a lot of space for creative freedom, as Digital Arts have just had a re design I knew this had to look really special I was asked to create a piece that really blended the 60’s styling’s with modern approaches and techniques, I was given the main image of the computer and two images of the woman to work with and from there built up an illustration deriving from bright geometric shapes, adding lots of texture and using a number of techniques to add depth to it.

I wanted to really experiment with an abstract colour palette that made sure the mag would stand out over the others on the racks but also drew in reference from 60’s and Swiss style graphics. I kept developing the design further and whenever I got to a point where I was happy with it, I took a breather away from the screen and made sure that when I came back to it I had even more ideas to develop it further. The turnaround was really fast and before I knew it the mag was on the shelves along with my recent Computer Arts tutorial. January was a good month.

How have you found it creating an online presence?  Is this where many of your clients come from or do you do focus on offline promotion?

It’s always tough creating a presence on or offline, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to make sure that your work stands out from the rest. Getting your work on the many different portfolio sites such as Behance and Final Crit is only really the start as you compete with so many other design hopefuls and although it takes time and money to set these things up having a website is truly vital, I really started to notice the difference in interest pretty much from the day my site went online, having something that’s easy to use where people can just go and reference your work is a crucial tool in gaining a fanbase and getting noticed.

My clients range from online and offline promotion, a lot of  clients when I first started out came from the connections I had made on the blog, record companies and bands etc, I gained a lot of recognition over the summer with a range of digital prints I created for bands and people started to recognize my work on the gig circuit which was great but I guess the bigger commissions have been coming from people seeing my work online.

What are your tools of the trade and which software do you use? I’ve seen some people learn a new program each month, would you say knowing a single application is more helpful?

My tools of the trade would certainly be my Canon 4400F scanner and Powershot Sx200 camera, on top of that I mainly use Photoshop and Illustrator but have been known to sneak a little Cinema 4-d into my work as well as using In Design to layout pages for the Middle Boop zine and various other projects.

At uni we had a pretty intensive run through a wide variety of different programs and that has certainly been more of a help than a hindrance as it allows you a lot more creative freedom with the packages although there are always packages you just don’t get on with. I think it’s really a matter of exploring lots of different options, finding the ones that work best for you and then concentrate on really getting to know those particular packages, finding out shortcuts and all the little ins and outs that can speed up a job.

Where do you look for inspiration? What are a favourite handful of blogs you regularly visit?

I am inspired by tons of different things, people that really push boundaries Paul Rand, Lester Beall, movements as Bauhaus and Dada. Not to mention today’s geniuses such as Siggi Eggertsson, these guys all create amazing work. I regularly check sites like Yay Everyday! And Dirty Mouse for great inspiration I also find that once you are involved with a particular project chilling out and taking time away from the screen to let things all wash over you is a great way for new ideas to hit you when you least expect it.

The newest image for Computer Arts has a fairly retro look to it too can you go into the process for this design after the initial concept ?

This was another great brief as I was allowed to do whatever I wanted as long as the type was clear. I think due to the retro aspects of my work people are starting to notice a trend developing and a lot of clients have requested a certain ‘retro’ theme which was picked up by Computer Arts, for this image I found the image of the oil refinery and thought that would be the perfect image to act as a focal point for the piece, from there I built the illustration up using found layers and then using some tricks of the trade created vector shapes and colour. I used a very different colour palette and used the brighter colours a lot more sparingly, I wanted to experiment with the background texture a lot and added very subtle use of colour which you can just about make out I wanted to create an illustration with a lot of detail which would draw the viewer in.

Gordon you have had a fair amount of exposure in magazines to say the least. This must be greatly encouraging.  Would you say you have been headhunted? What kind of plan have you had, if any, to get this kind of attention?

Yeah it’s been great I mean really fantastic, ever since I knew what design was I’ve been reading these magazines never actually thinking I would be in them so to come from that to walking into Smith’s and seeing my name on covers and read all these nice things people have been saying is the best feeling, it’s great to get so much recognition for my work and has certainly opened doors.

I wouldn’t say I’ve been headhunted by anyone but there certainly seems to be a lot of attention on retro design at the moment, something a lot of people are tipping to be big this year so people have been coming to me a lot but there’s never really been a plan to get this sort of exposure, maybe it’s been right place right time or something like that, I just always make sure I push myself and my work, especially in self initiated projects where you have creative freedom and make sure that the right people know about what I’m doing I also want to make sure that my work stays ahead of the game and I don’t just get stuck in one trend.

Pretty Much Amazing is one of my favourites. Compared with Deerhunter it seems effortless and almost easy.  Are there any specific techniques you use when designing that you would suggest to designers in the same field as you?

Pretty Much Amazing

Deerhunter

Thanks. Well I am a big fan of the blend technique in Illustrator, it has amazing potential and you can do so much with it. For Pretty Much Amazing I used that technique a fair bit in various ways, usually I use it a lot more subtly but for this piece I wanted the bright orange lines to stand out. I also used a lot of shading techniques and filters to bring out the characters and some lighting techniques to add depth, the brief was to have dark ‘erotic’ tinged imagery hence the particular use of stock imagery which isn’t usual for my style of work. To add a more dingy effect I added a noise to the stock images which when used in the right hands can also be effective.

Gordon it’s great to see new fresh designs especially with such an original style. Finally thanks for this interview with Digital Art Empire do you have any advice for our readers?

Thank you very much, one piece of advice I would give, especially in these tough times would be to allocate time to self initiated work, it may not give you any instant gratification but you never know who will see the piece, with the economy the way it is and so many designers vying for attention thinking outside of the box is more important now than ever before, you have to have that DIY attitude towards your work and career because no one else is going to do it for you, this is one thing I learned very early on. If you want it you have to work for it and also believe in yourself and your ideas, I know too many designers and illustrators who far too self conscious about their own work, having a good idea is only one part of it, it’s having the confidence to make sure that people know it’s a good idea is when you will start to get noticed.

Introduction:

Having recently graduated from the University College London with a Masters in Physics, Franz maintains the design resource site FudgeGraphics which is described as an ‘inspiration of design lovers’.

1 Hello and a warm welcome to Digital Art Empire, Franz thanks for this interview why don’t you tell us about yourself, your blog and background in design?

Hello. First of all I would like to thank you for this opportunity. So my name is Franz Jeitz, I was born in October 85 (which makes me 23 at the time of this interview) and I come from Luxembourg. 4 years ago I moved to London for university where I just completed a Masters in Physics. As a kid I did not draw on everything and apart from school assignments art and design was not on my regular schedule.

It all changed when I formed a band with friends and took on the job as designer. Slowly, but gradually I learned how to use Photoshop and Illustrator and discovered that I rather enjoyed it. After the band split I did not stop indulging in design. I followed many blogs and at some point decided it was time to give back to the community. That’s how Fudgegraphics came to life. Not only allowed it me to grow as a designer and to further develop my web development skills, but it also meant that I’d be an active member of the design community.

2 In terms of your designing careers where would you like to be in 5 years? Would you to prefer to work for a design agency or freelance?

In 5 years I would like to have built a solid client base whom I truly enjoy working for while still having the time (and financial security) to invest in the blog. I think working freelance and working for a design agency both have their perks. At the moment I see myself more as a freelancer since it gives me the liberty to grow and evolve. Even if I were to have job in a company I would always work freelance on the side.

3 You are currently studying a masters in physics which seems totally unrelated to graphic design, are they compatible?,do you draw inspiration from one to the other ?

As a matter of fact I’ve just graduated. You’re right design and physics are totally unrelated at first look. However I do not regret finishing my studies, before taking the plunge to go freelance full-time. On the one hand there is the security that a degree gives you and on the other hand the last 4 years helped me to grow (up). It was a great experience. Furthermore I think that the mathematical aspect of physics transcends into my design such as geometric forms which I use extensively.

4 How did you get into design /digital art  Who and or what initially made you want to pursue this field?

As mentioned before it all started with the designs I did for my band at the time. it was however the design community which made me want to pursue this field. I can’t emphasize enough how great the community is. Only 2 months after launching the blog I already felt part of it due to the incredible friendly and helpful members. This gave me the strength and motivation to fully invest myself in it. There’s always the jealousy aspect which comes into play. Browsing through other designer’s portfolio and thinking “Wow! I wish I could create something like that” is a great motivation.

5 Running Fudge Graphics have you found this blog a good way to find clients ?What’s the best thing about maintaining a design site?

The blog helped me to find some of my clients, but most of them I get through referrals from other clients. The greatest benefit of having a design blog is being able to be involved in the design community and learning something new each day. With every article, tutorial and freebie I try to challenge myself. The same goes with the calendar wallpaper series where I try out new techniques every month.

6 How much does the design community play a part in how you run fudge graphics and what content you publish?

Strangely enough the design community plays a major role in terms of what content not to publish. It is important to stay up to date of current articles so that you don’t copy someone’s idea, which most of the time is involuntary. That is probably the hardest part of running a blog. Coming up with new ideas is very challenging. Studying the design community and other design blogs gives you a good insight into what the readers want whether it’s a certain type of inspirational article, tutorial or which Photoshop brushes are most popular. The market is evolving fast and it’s important to stay on top of it.

7 What do you plan on doing when you graduate from University College London?

Now that I’ve graduated I will focus all my energy on the freelance career and blog. I want to broaden my design skills and maybe some day sell apparel and posters of my designs.

8 What are your tools of the trade and which software do you use?

I couldn’t live without Photoshop and Illustrator. I use them daily. At the same time I’m a big fan of traditional media such as paper, pencil and watercolors. They’re a great asset when giving your digital work a more organic feel. I can’t work without music, so iTunes is another program I use daily.

9 Finally thanks for this interview with Digital Art Empire do you have any advice for our readers?

Thanks for having me. As a final word I would like to say that if you’re really passionate about design then go for it. The only person standing in your way is yourself. There will always be designers who are better than you, but that shouldn’t discourage you. It should be a motivation to improve your skills and evolve as a designer.

Find Fudge Graphics here.

Fudgegraphics was born in April 2008. With exams coming up I thought it would be a perfect time to start my own blog. Fudgegraphics can be described as a design inspirational blog. It is a source of freebies such as photoshop brushes, textures and vectors. I aim to make the quality the highest possible. With a design community so giving and helpful and nice it is my pleasure to provide free resources for like-minded people. Furthermore fudegraphics hosts my personal portfolio.

Robert Palmer a web & graphic designer based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Started designing and drawing from a young age and most of his design skills and knowledge are self taught.

Rob moved in to digital media while doing my Multimedia Design Course at Newcastle College. On the course he learnt a range of skills and software including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, QuarkXPress, Cinema 4D, Flash, typography, future trends, new media and advertising.

1

Hello and a warm welcome to Digital Art Empire, Robert thanks for this interview why don’t you tell us about yourself, your blog and background in design?

Hi guys! Firstly thank you for inviting me to participate in this interview.

Well were do I start!? I am 26 (Soon to be 27!) I live with my wife and dog in Newcastle upon Tyne. I started out designing from quite a young age, I think I was in senior school when I really realised my passion for drawing and designing.

I spent most of my time after school up in the art department or over in the design lab either painting, drawing or building some sort of model in design and technology. These things ranged from a full sized version of a heron welded from metal, to a bespoke home workstation for my bedroom which included a spinning island for shelves and a base for my rather large aquarium!

So yeah I guess I was always kind of in the right environment to progress down the art and design route. It helped that my senior school was awesome and housed a ton of resources for these departments. It was also set in beautiful grounds over looking the river so we where never really stuck for inspiration.

I didn’t really get into the IT side of design until later on, in fact it was after my A levels and finishing senior school before I really got into computing. I took a computing course at my local college and then advanced to my Multimedia design course in Newcastle.

This course really spread the scope for me to more or less choose which profession I took as it was multimedia we covered a wide range of skills such as 3D modelling, Flash, Graphic Design, New media trends, Web design with a dabble of development and PHP basics, and a large proportion of it was about Accessibility in web design.

After graduating from my course I went solo for a while creating some small web projects to build up my portfolio. I was then given an opportunity to work as a Graphic and Web designer for a Printers in my neighbouring town of Sunderland. This really opened up the door for me as when I joined there was not really any form of Web department, so I was tasked to build the foundations of the web and digital side of the business. This grew quite nicely and we were tasked with quite a few nice web projects.

After a couple of years I felt it was my time to move on and expand my skills, so I was colored by my current agency Guerrilla. They have some great clients and an already solid and grounded digital team so I was buzzing to get my teeth in to some bigger projects and work with a team of developers and designers.

It was around this time (July 2008) That Branded07 really took off. I started running Branded07 as a portfolio site for m all my web projects but it has kind of developed into a variation of a work portfolio / blog / tutorial / design showcase kind of website, which is cool as it adds a nice variety of content on the site rather than just a portfolio site, and I have had some amazing feedback from visitirs of Branded07.

And that pretty much my journey so far!

2

Branded 07 is a one man show how do you juggle work commitments with what can easily be a full time occupation?

Well, it is proving manageable, but sometimes quite tricky. Basically my full time profession at Guerrilla sometimes means that I have to stay back and work late certain nights, so it is quite hard to manage my freelance projects.

It does involve an air of dedication to come back from work and then do another 4-5 hours of work, but I love my job so much the time just flies and I haven’t as of yet felt the burn out of doing two jobs! The only real sacrifice is I don’t see my wife half as much as I should, but I am dedicating a full Sunday off from work now so I can have a little more family time in my life!

Holidays and time off is also a pain as I have no cover to take on projects while I am away it it means pretty much closing shop for a week, but I find as long as my clients are aware of this early on it does seem to work out pretty well.

3

How did you get into design /digital art who and or what initially made you want to pursue this field?

Well to be honest I actually originally wanted to get into Architecture. My first course at uni for a year was Architectual Technology. I got half way through and found I really was not enjoying it, there was far to much maths and science involved and not enough design for my liking. But one thing I did pick up on the course was the use of computers in design.

I was also very into my computer games and the graphical side of games always impressed me.

I don’t think I recall ever a specific time when I thought “that’s what I want to do” I guess I have always kind of thought it would be the path I would take, especially with technology and the digital era evolving as it has, it was just the logical thing to do to move from traditional design styles to digital media. It was either that or classical art but I was always more technically focused so this may have been the wrong direction for me.

4

Please explain to us how and why you chose the name Branded07 ?

Branded07 actually came about because I “needed” a name for my site. I wanted originally to call my site “Branded”, but this domain was obviously unavailable! And the year I bought the name was 2007. I know, pretty un inspiring huh!? Well I am in the process of re branding my site any way and I have come up with quite a few new names which I am going to run through a questionnaire for the nice people who have signed up on my site to be involved in the sneak peeks throughout my re-design. So I guess, watch this space!

5

Running branded 07, have you found this blog a good way to find clients?whats the best thing about maintaining a design site?

Definitely, I have had all my clients come through my site rather than traditional means. I have also not paid a penny of advertising. I was lucky enough to be featured on quite a few different design galleries, and it was from here that I received the majority of my interest.

The best thing about maintaining my site is when I have a new project to present! I love hosting my new work and receiving comments (Good or Bad) about what I put up. Although I only like the bad if it is constructive!

I just get a buzz about hearing what others have to say about my work.

6.

What are your favorite areas in graphic design? And what do you look forward to the most?

Obviously web design has a range of milestones throughout the process and I guess most web designers have specific process they look forward to and ones that they really don’t. My favourite time is actually the PSD layout stage. Turning wireframes into a full colour visual is just great as it is at this stage where I can really bring the ideas to life.

7

What do you believe are the most important skills an aspiring designer needs to have?

Dedication and a will to learn. That’s all. If you read, carry out tutorials, practice and dedicate as much time as possibly to improving your skills then anything is possible.

Every day I find different inspiration and learn new skills. Also get out of the office a bit! Find inspiration from every day natural things. There is nothing more inspiring than going for a walk around town with your dog and taking some photos of different objects. You can use them for textures, colours combinations, backgrounds you name it! Any they are all royalty free!!

8

What are your tools of the trade and which software do you use?

I am an Adobe fan, at the moment I work with CS4 Dreamweaver, Illustrator and Photoshop.

9

Finally thanks for this interview with Digital Art Empire do you have any advice for our readers?

Finally thanks for this interview with Digital Art Empire do you have any advice for our readers?

Only to keep working at what you do and put the time in, you will see the benefits and when you finally do, it is a great feeling! I am hopefully still at the beginning of my journey, and even though I have been doing this for 5 years, I am not even slightly bored and every new project is a new challenge! If you can get your foot in and get a portfolio built up, it is an amazing industry to be apart of!

Find Branded 07 here with an awe and inspiring portfolio you should definitely check out.

If you loved this insightful interview as much as we did  please let us and Rob know your thoughts cheers.

Johnson Koh is a graphic and web designer from Singapore. 10Steps.SG was created with the purpose to share his experiments with Adobe Photoshop and interesting news he come across in the design world.

1.   Hello and a warm welcome to Digital Art Empire, Johnson thanks for this interview. Why don’t you tell us about yourself, your blog and background in design?

Hi everyone. Thanks for asking me to do this interview. I’m feeling flattered. I come from a Multimedia Media background where I learnt the basics of Adobe and Macromedia applications. I used to be a heavy Flash user, where most of my portfolio works are developed with it. I started blogging only in the mid of last year. It is a whole new experience for me and I am totally addicted to it now. WordPress is just too fun and easy to use.

2.  What are your tools of the trade and which software do you use?

I am more frequent with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash.

3.  10Steps.SG is an interesting name. What is the philosophy and thinking behind it?

Photoshop is an amazing tool where effects can be created in many different ways. My initial thought is to make some cool works in Photoshop within 10 steps. Then put these experiments down in tutorials for those fresh designers as a head start to using the tool. However as time passes by, our regular readers’ knowledge have grown so fast. This is when I did not try to keep the initial plan and go on with writing tutorials focusing on more details and advanced techniques. Although, the blog name is still kept as it is J

4.  What are your plans for your design career over the next couple of years? How do you see 10Steps.SG growing and in which direction?

10Steps.SG is constantly improving itself with new features and better layouts. Many kind souls have been helping me to grow the site by sharing my posts on social networks. Hereby, I will take this chance to thank every single one of them. Although tutorials will still be the key focus on the site, I will also be doing up more freebies for my readers’ to download. So stay tuned!

5.  How much does the design community play a part in how you run 10Steps.SG?

Design community definitely plays a big part. A simple digg or retweet from them can make a difference to my articles. Without their support and constructive feedbacks, 10Steps.SG will not be what it is today.

6.  What content you publish and motivating you to succeed?

Designing is my personal interest and motivation. Anything that associates with graphic design will excite me and I want to share them with others who are having the same interest as me.

7.   Who are the top 3 artists you look up to and draw inspiration from?

They have to be Fabio Sasso (Abduzeedo), Georgio Xanthos (WeirdInk) and Masaki Hoshino (Hybridworks)

8.    Are you a self taught designer or have you been to a design school?

Mine is not really a design school. Apart from playing around with some Graphic Design tools, I also learnt Visual Basic and C++ programming, though I did not score well for the later.

9. Finally thanks for this interview with Digital Art Empire do you have any advice for our readers?

Be passionate and focused on everything you do. Wish all the best for everyone here.

Find 10Steps .SG over here http://10steps.sg/about/

And Johnson‘s portfolio here http://www.evographik.com/

If you haven’t heard of My Ink Blog we highly recommend you check out this interview. It’s full of well written articles about web design, from landing clients and typography to development resources such as j query and JavaScript.

Intro

Andrew Houle a self taught graphic designer who aims to give back what he learnt from the web has established a prominent and knowledgeable design blog.

1. Hello and a warm welcome to Digital Art Empire, Andrew thanks for this interview why don’t you tell us about yourself, your blog and background in design?

First off, thanks for the opportunity to do this interview! My name is Andrew Houle, and I’m the creator and primary contributor of MyInkBlog.I sort of stumbled into the design field when I landed a job at an art gallery and was asked to produce the company’s graphics and website.

I loved all the design work, but I really developed a passion for web design. Since then, I’ve continued to develop my skills. I’ve learned so much along the way from all the awesome design blogs and resources out there. I eventually began MyInkBlog as a way of giving back to the design community for all it had given to me.

2. MyInkBlog is a one-man show how do you juggle work commitments with what can easily be a full time occupation?

Well, it’s not entirely a one-man show. I’ve had numerous guest writers offer some awesome contributions, most notable, Angie & Rob Bowen, Tim Smith, and Guilio Bai. Even with the great help, it’s a lot of work to balance a full-time job, family time, and freelance projects.

I actually just wrote an article entitled, Managing Your Time: A Design Community Discussion where I talk about how I’ve tried to improve my work-flow and gain some perspective from some other well-respected members of the design community. In short, I think the best way to improve your time management is with prioritization and scheduling.

3. What’s you typical routine for coming up with ideas, writing and then publishing them?

My ideas for posts generally come from my everyday design experiences, or from inspiration on other design blogs. Developing a routine or schedule is definitely something that I could improve on. I find it so important to write things down so I don’t forget them. Sometimes I use pen and paper, but lately I’ve been using Evernote. It’s a cool and simple app that allows me to store all my notes in electronic form, and I can view them wherever I have an internet connection.

4. Please explain to us how and why you chose the name MyInkBlog?

My wife, Grace, helped me create that name when I first told her about my idea to start a design blog. We were brain storming all kinds of different ideas when she came up with a play on words for inkblot. It ended up being the one that stuck, and since inkblog.com was already taken, we settled on MyInkBlog.

5. I know you have a lot of influences, which are the designers who have given you enthusiasm and which blogs spur you on the most?

I have far too many blogs in my RSS feed; it takes me forever to browse through them all. There are so many good ones, and so many designers that inspire me. I find Adelle Charles of the Fuel Brand Network to be very inspiring. She’s taken 1 blog and turned it into an awesome array of 12 sites and counting. My list of other blogs that inspire me could be rather long, but here are 5 of my favorites right off the top of my head: CSS Tricks, Soh Tanaka, Build Internet, Spoon Graphics and Kyle Steed.

6. What are your favorite areas in graphic design? And what do you look forward to the most?

I love initial design process. It’s the point were ideas are flowing and you are just beginning to sketch. I look forward to any upcoming technology improvements in web design. In particular right now I’m quite excited about the CSS 3 and HTML 5 developments. The Typekit project also has me quite intrigued.

7. What do you believe are the most important skills an aspiring designer needs to have?

You don’t necessarily need to be the most naturally gifted designer to be good and to succeed, but you do need to have a passion and a drive to improve yourself. I think this is true in every walk of life.

8. What are your tools of the trade and which software do you use?

I use Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver CS4 all the time. I find firebug to be an invaluable debugging tool. Some other programs/apps I use daily are: Tweetie, VMware Fusion, MAMP, Skype, Evernote and svnX.

9. Finally thanks for this interview with Digital Art Empire do you have any advice for our readers?

Thanks again, for this opportunity. My advice would be to have a passion for what you do, but make sure to keep balance in your life.

Find MyInkBlog Here

MyInkBlog is the creation of Andrew Houle and is designed to be a resource for web and graphic designers alike Most of us in this industry are self-taught; and would not have the knowledge we’ve accumulated if it weren’t for many kind and intelligent people who have helped us along the way.

Digital Art Empire Interviews  Kyle Lambert Photo Realist

Digital Art Empire tracked down Kyle Lambert to ask about his phenomenal illustrations.

Photo realistic painting is a skill that requires patience and a knowledge that is truly awe inspiring. Having won the UK storyboard competition for the film Watchmen Lambert is a digital artist that deserves attention.

He enjoys painting characters from his favorite films that are often difficult to tell apart from a real photograph. Currently completing a degree in illustration and animation, he is specializing in areas that consist of photorealistic painting, digital illustration, 3d modeling/ Animation, motion graphics and web design.

1. Hi Kyle, thank you for this interview and welcome to Digital Art Empire, please tell us about yourself, your background and your work.

First off let me thank you guys at Digital Art Empire for expressing interest in my work.

As you said my name is Kyle and I live in the UK working as a freelance artist. I have just graduated from University where I studied Illustration with Animation.

My work is a blend of traditional painting and contemporary illustration. I have a background in fine art, painting using oil and watercolor and now use these techniques on a digital platform.

2. You originally began your career as an oil and water color painter, How did you cross over from oil painting to the digital art field? Why did you choose to go digital?

Well I have always been excited about the blend between art and technology.

In secondary school I did a work experience at a graphic design studio where I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop. I colored in a couple of Simpsons characters that I had drawn and became curious about what was possible.

It was almost 3 years later when I had my first serious play with a graphics tablet that I saw the real possibilities of using the computer to produce artwork. After 4 hours of messing around I produced a portrait of Jessica Alba that was as good as what I could do with pencil.

This changed everything for me. Once I got used to mixing color on a screen instead of a wooden pallet I was away.

3. Already being highly skilled in your digital art, what has university brought out in your work, and how did you combining this with your university curriculum?

Doing art at university is very different from at college or school level because the emphasis is no longer on whether you can draw, it is more about developing your own visual language and then discovering an area of interest that you enjoy working with.

I realized quite quickly that I could adapt my style well into narrative based projects and started illustrating short stories.

In doing this I delved into the world of storyboarding where I plan out how each scene of the story will be visualized. This helped me consider more experimental compositions and seek interesting camera angles for my work.

4. Winning the story board competition for Watchmen must have been a highlight for you and a massive boost in motivation. Where do you find inspiration in this specialized field and who do you look up to?

Because I was working on a number of storyboards for my own projects at the time this competition seemed like a prefect opportunity for me. Only thing was I knew nothing about Watchmen and only had a week to complete the storyboard. So I researched the original comic book and read over the script provided and began to gradually get an idea for how I wanted it to look. Ambitiously I then decided it would be more fun to produce an animatic to help visualize the action.

I worked flat out on it, submitted it on the Wednesday and was told that I had won on the Friday. I then found myself talking with Zack Snyder and watching the Watchmen World Premier on the Monday.

In terms of inspiration, I get it from all kinds of sources. I have a fascination with detail and was inspired to paint photo realistically when I saw the early work of portrait painter Chuck Close. I love the style of the comic book artist Alex Ross who again places a lot of emphasis on detail.

I am also a big fan of 3D art and draw inspiration from the photorealistic CGI work seen in movies such as Transformers.

But one of my biggest inspirations is the amazing catalog of work by Pixar. Their movies represent everything I want my work to be, great story, brilliant characters and outstanding visuals. I would love one day to be involved with one of their projects.

5. Digital art being a big part of your life, where do you find all this time and energy? How do you balance your family and work life?

I consider myself very lucky because I thoroughly enjoy what I do. I put in long hours on my work, but believe I have a good balance between work and everything else.

I find it important to stay active by playing football twice per week and running and cycling regularly.

6. What are your tools of the trade and which software do you use?

I do believe that it doesn’t matter what tools you use.

I often begin in a sketchbook with a black pen and scribble everything down. I also now use my iPhone for sketching using the Brushes app.

For my main work I use a Mac Pro running good old OS X and a Wacom Cimtiq 21UX. I paint in Adobe Photoshop.

7. What project are you currently working on? Which project have you found most enjoyable and why ? What would be your dream project?

I am currently in the early stages of storyboarding  a story that I have written which I can’t really talk about too much just yet.

My last project was called Short Story and was really fun to do. Again it was a story that I wrote for the purpose of producing illustrations.

The reason I enjoyed it so much was that it felt like I was producing a movie. I found actors to pose for the scenes, designed costumes and props, and at the end of it did a 3D animation to go with it. I was really happy with the dark visual style and learned a great deal in the process.My dream project would be working on a large scale movie production producing storyboards and concept images.

8. Kyle, thank you for this interview with Digital Art Empire, have you got any advice for up and coming digital creatives?

Yeh, I would say that it is important to get the basics right first. Color mixing, tone, perspective etc.. The rest will all come naturally. Most of all just be passionate about what you do and it should shine through.

Thank you

View the artwork and find out more about Kyle Lambert here:

Folio: http://www.kylelambert.co.uk/ Blog :  http://kyle-lambert.blogspot.com/

DeviantArt : http://kyle-lambert.deviantart.com Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/kylelambert

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