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Interview with Steve Thomas
Featured Artist for January 2004
Interviewed by Patrick Keith
Tell us about yourself, where you're from, and your background?
Well, I grew up in Windsor, Ontario (across the river from Detroit, MI). My uncle and one of my cousins are artists, which is probably where my interest in art originated. I went to school at Ohio University on a partial swimming scholarship. I graduated in 1998 with a degree in visual communications, focusing on informational graphics and page design. From there I was fortunate enough to get a job as an editorial artist at the newspaper I'm still with. Most of my day is spent doing maps and charts, but the stuff I enjoy doing is the explanatory graphics (cutaways, how something happened, how something works, etc.). Once in a while I get to do illustrations, which don't come my way very often because we have four resident illustrators at the paper. All of who are excellent at what they do. It's a great environment in which to learn. The newspaper is in Pittsburgh, but I now live in Minneapolis with my wife. I work from home (it's great) and send files back and forth to Pittsburgh via the Internet. Within the last few years I've really buckled down and tried to hone my illustration skills so that I could get freelance work doing sci-fi and fantasy illustrations. It's starting to pay off as I have been lucky enough to do some work for a couple of collectible card game companies.
Tell us about some of your favorite artists and influences.
Wow, where should I start with this one? There is so many artists' work I enjoy viewing. I'll just go ahead and list them: Roger Dean (Views and Magnetic Storm are excellent books), Brom (who doesn't like his art?), Jon Foster (just awesome, love his oils), Justin Sweet (beautiful style), Todd Lockwood (a master at what he does), Jeffery Jones, Simon Bisely, John Singer Sargent, Mark Zug, Carl Critchlow, James Ryan, Hudson River Art, Don Seegmiller, etc. I could go on and on. I frequently lurk at a few art forums to check out what and who is new. With so many influences I'm having trouble finding my own style, one that I like.
Other things that influence me are movies I've seen, books I've read, even commercials can give me the urge to create. My first finished acrylic painting was of a 2 second shot of an old launch pad in the movie Armageddon (I think it's in my gallery, if not it's definitely on my website. A lot of the time I'll see a photo in a magazine and notice how the colors go together and either make a mental note of it or rip the page out and file it away for later.
What do you like about working in your particular medium and what are your favorites?
I mostly work in digital, with a Wacom tablet. I like the flexibility of it (undo's, paintovers, color adjustments, etc.). I sometimes find myself wanting to do a Ctrl+Z when I'm drawing in my sketchbook. I also like to paint with acrylics. There is a tactile nature to it that you just can't get with a computer. Plus, I find painting on a canvas very relaxing, almost therapeutic (corny, I know). I will, one day, learn to paint with oils. I really like the way they look.
Can you describe your creative process - how you come up with ideas for a new drawing and how you take those ideas and create a finished piece of art? Describe your working method and technique for creating your pieces.
I come up with ideas usually from a challenge. Whether it be from an art contest on some website or an assignment for a job. But other times it can be an image from a dream, or even a daydream. Something that gets stuck in my head that I'll have to sketch so I won't lose it. I have plenty of quick drawings that I look back on now and have no idea what it is of. I didn't develop them enough in the original sketch-- too bad, really. I just don't have the time to take everything to its end.
From an idea I'll so some initial sketches to decide upon a body position or layout that I like. From there I'll try to find references for parts of the image. Mostly I'm looking for a close match of body position. I scan magazines, books and the Internet. If I don't find anything I like, I set up my digital camera (just a cheap one) and snap off a couple of shots of myself. You can see me in "Protect from Darkness" and "Chopper".
From those images I'll make some final sketches (drawings) of the different elements separately, scan them in and put them together in Photoshop. If it's for an acrylic painting I'll do a quick color study and print it out. Sometimes I'll project it onto the canvas to get the body proportions correct. If I'm doing it on the computer I'll put the finished sketch on a top layer and set it to multiply. Then I'll paint under and over it on as many layers as it takes me. Voila.
Has any of your art been published yet? If so, where can we see it?
Besides what goes into the newspaper I work for daily, I've done some illustrations for collectible card games. I did two cards for AEG's Legend of the Five Rings and 10 cards for Fantasy Flight Games. My short-term goal is to do some cards for Wizard's Magic game line.
What advice would you give to new artists who are just beginning to developtheir talents?
First off, I'd like to say that I'm also just beginning to develop my talents. Don't give up. If you enjoy doing it, study art, take some classes, and comb the Internet for artists you like. I think you can learn a lot from looking closely at illustrations that strike you visually. If you don't know where to start, pick an image you like, tape it up and try to recreate it. This can teach you volumes.
What do you think the most important thing is for an artist to learn, technically speaking?
You've heard/read it before and it's as important as others have stressed. Know your anatomy. Know your anatomy. I don't, yet. I feel like I'm faking it sometimes. I see sketches from other artists and can just tell that they've got it. I don't have it. I may never have it. That's why I rely on references (as I'm sure they do), but hopefully after a while I'll begin to understand the relationship between body parts and the proportion of facial features, shadows, highlights, etc.
What formal art education have you had, and what role did it play in your artistic development?
I don't have much formal art training. I had a couple of classes in University on my way to my VisCom degree. Just introductory drawing classes, some figure drawing and a 3D sculpture class. They didn't really gear me towards illustration so they didn't play much of a role in my development. I taught myself how to paint with acrylics (very rewarding). I plan to take some more figure drawing classes and some oil painting classes.
What do you do when you're not working on art? Got any interesting hobbies?
Actually, I like to write. I wrote a novel and sent it out, but no one was interested in publishing it (and rightfully so, it needs work). I pulled a chapter out of it and made it into a short story that was selected for the first issue of the Epilogue magazine. Unfortunately, that didn't come about (no hard feelings, I understand it wasn't meant to be). I also submitted a proposal to Wizards when they had their "Maiden of Pain" novel writing contest. That fell through as well. Apparently I didn't know enough about the Forgotten Realms world. I plan to keep on writing.
If you could work with absolutely anyone (artists, companies, writers--anyone at all) on a project, who would it be?
I'd like to work with Wizards of the Coast on their Magic CCG line. I'd also like to do a magazine cover for them. I've got a little more work to do before I try that route yet. It's sounds strange, but I'd like to work with any one of the artists mentioned above as an apprentice for a year. I think it would be a tremendous learning experience.
Got anything else you're dying to say to the good folks at Epilogue, which wasn't covered by any of the above questions?
Thank you for selecting me as a featured artist. And thank you for providing such an amazing website for artists around the world to showcase their work. It's a great place to inspire and get inspired.
And, it wouldnąt be an Epilogue interview if we didnąt ask, what cartoons did you watch as a kid?
Voltron, HeMan, Scooby Doo (the ones without Scrappy, he's no good), Battletech, Looney tunes.
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