What Smells in the Studio? with RoByn Thompson

I wanted to find more mix media artists and on my hunt I found RoByn! She does some beautiful photography of body painting. She has answered some questions for me! It’s inspiring to learn about her work as well as our similar like for Tom Robbins. Thank you for the interview RoByn!

Please find her tumblr, portfolio, and site.

This is my studio. The turquoise locker is in the kitchenette (i.e. the source of the Tater Tots.!). You can see my black seamless paper to the right of the image and my lighting is to the left. The table holds my makeup when I’m painting models.

Q. How did you get started? Any experience or story?

I started as a face painter but soon wanted bigger canvasses. I then started body painting but worked with professional photographers. While working with the photographers, I began laying out the shots. I got a photographer to mentor me in exchange for body painting lessons so now we both can paint and shoot our own work.  A back injury kept me from body painting for several year, during that time I began to experiment with mixed media.

Q. How do you want people to react to your work? Who’s your audience?

I want people to be intrigued by what I do. I want them to feel that they haven’t seen this before. My audience defines itself as anybody who sees and responds to my work.

What is your experience with working with models? 

I meet some really great and interesting people by painting them. Because the body painting process takes several hours, we have plenty of time to talk. I form relationships with some models and work with them again and again. I like the challenge of working with all different body types and ages of models and seek out non-traditional ones. It’s important that the model is comfortable because if they aren’t it will show in the image.

Q. How have you handled the business aspect of being an artist? 

I am frankly still struggling with the business aspects. Currently my focus is on my online presence. I’m doing all the social media stuff that you are supposed to do. I’m a bit disenchanted with the gallery system and the fees for submissions.

What’s your favorite book?

I don’t have a favorite book, but my favorite writer is Tom Robbins.

What’s the best music to listen to while working? 

I’m partial to Bob Marley. I get to listen to my choice of music while I’m doing the body painting and the model gets music of their choice while they pose and I photograph them.

What smells in your studio? 

Tonight, it’s Tater Tots. The area where I paint and shoot is right off of the kitchenette. Cartoonist James Fry and I share a loft in a live/work artist’s building in Paterson NJ. Our building, the Phoenix Mill, is a former cotton and silk mill that dates back to 1813.

What Smells in the Studio? with Zach Collins

I’ve been a fan of Zach’s collage work for a while and finally got an interview! This is also really exciting because I will also be doing a collaborative piece with him!

This is his studio:

Q. Where are you from?

I grew up in Iowa right outside a little town
called Chelsea in Iowa. I now live in Minneapolis, MN.

Q. How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create?

Well I don’t believe a it is possible to no longer create. Creating can
and will be altered by unknown factors, but feel there is always a way
to create.

Q. How have you handled the business aspect of being an artist?

I really haven’t had to deal with much besides applying and shipping my work to shows at this moment in my life. Even thou I have been creating for a number of years it was just recently that I made it a point to apply
to shows and started using social media to get my work out there for
others to see.

Q. How do you keep motivated when things in the studio get rough?

One thing I do quite often when I am struggling with a collage is to put it to
the side. The next day I will take a look with fresh eyes. This seems to
help me as I sometimes looking at my work so long I tend to overlook
the obvious.

Q. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

My dream would be to make a living off of my artwork. I think this goes for most artists, but I am not counting on it. If it works out-Great! If not I will still be doing what I love-creating and doing collaborative works with other artists. Bottom line happiness means more to me than money.

Q. How did you get started? Any experience or story?

I have always been in and around the Arts looking for where I fit. I have taken drawing, painting, photograpy, ceramics, digital photograpy, foil imaging, graphic design, web design, art history classes ect, ect…along with two internships (with a potter and graphic design) looking for where
I fit. I started making traditional cut and paste collages in September
2011. Working in this way was influenced by my decision to revisit
my involvement in a horrific car accident as a child, which put me in
recovery for months. A year later I am convinced I have found the
medium for me! I wake up everyday thinking collage!

Q. How do you want people to react to your work? Who’s your audience?

When it is hanging on the wall I don’t want people to walk by without
a double take. Meaning I want a reaction good or bad. I think my
audience has a wide range from young to old.

Q. What’s the best music to listen to while working?

I have a ridiculous amount of music on my Ipod and usually just put on shuffle, but sometimes it depends on the mood I am in.

Q. What smells in your studio?

My studio smells of old magazines and ink.

Thank you for sharing your story with me! Check out his tumblr for more awesome artwork.

What Smells in the Studio! with Jared K. Nickerson

At a Behance Meet-Up last month, I got the chance to meet Seattle-base artist Jared K. Nickerson. He presented his artist and life philosophy along with his awesome illustrations. I sent him some questions for What Smells and he included them in his official FAQ sheet! Here are a few to start :)

When did you first become interested in graphic design & illustration?
I was always into art & my dad made sure we always had a computer in the house while I was growing up. It was a natural transition after playing with MSPaint & Corel Draw all those years. I don’t think there was a specific time I became interested, it just developed over time. I had been working for an online broadcasting company in Vancouver, BC & found myself with a chunk of extra time while traveling for them & decided to pick up a copy of Adobe Illustrator, & the rest developed from there.

Did you go through any hardships or negative situations to get to the position you are at? If so, did it influence you into becoming a better artist?
I was kicked out of my parents house when I was 16 & had to support myself completely while finishing the last 3 years of high school. Obviously, I didn’t have money for college, & I worked more than a few dead-end jobs. Once I moved to Vancouver, I ended up working for a company that paid well & gave me plenty of time to do freelance design work. Once I realized I was spending more time & making more money at freelance, I made the switch permanently. I definitely think this made me a better artist because I learned everything
myself & my art was never tainted by a professor’s opinion.

What or whom influences you?
I take most of my inspiration from every day life & music. I notice advertising campaigns more than the company/product advertised. I find myself looking at logos/packaging of products all the time. I take photos with my iPhone constantly to remind me of things that inspire me. I’m always taking voice notes with my phone whether it be design ideas or lyrics/vocals for a song
I’m working on.

How do you want people to react to your work?
I want people to escape into it to some extent. Be it the message or the story it tells. Or even just the humour.

Who’s your audience?
I think anyone & everyone is in my audience. I don’t think I have an overall specific group. Anyone from children to senior citizens can enjoy my work. With that being said, I find the more humour-based designs I do appeal to mostly teens & young adults.

Could you tell us what your typical work-day looks like?
Really depends on what sort of client work I am juggling both that day & the night before. Since I deal with clients anywhere from Germany to China to the US, I find my schedule is constantly in a state of flux. When I first get up I normally do the regular email checks, social media checks, etc. & during the coffee & oatmeal phase I start up a video game to ease into things… I don’t suggest this process to anyone, & it could explain why things are always left to last minute. You can’t force inspiration I guess, you have to work with it when it comes, whether that be 4am or 4pm.

How have you handled the business aspect of being an artist?
It depends on which business aspect you’re talking about. I hired an account manager to handle the email inquiries, invoicing, bookkeeping, etc. so that I could focus on the art/art direction. I find that this enables us to answer more emails, complete more interviews, & communicate with clients more efficiently.

Favourite drink?
Beverage: Zevia Cola
Beer: Stella Artois
Cocktail: Soho & 7

What smells in your studio?
The delicious lunch my wife made me: Chicken strawberry salad, a bowl of fresh mandarins & blueberries, & a strawberry-banana smoothie.

Thanks Jared!

Take a look at his portfolio here and his awesome wallpapers :)

What Smells in the Studio! with Nikolaus Gruenwald

I had the pleasure of asking Nikolaus a few question about his beautiful photography! I’m sure you’ve seen it around, from surreal landscapes to fashion photography.

Thanks for sharing such an inspirational story Nikolaus!

Find his work on Behance and on his site.

Q. Where are you from?

 I am from Stuttgart, Germany, which is not too well known all over the world, but which is one of the larger metropolis regions in Germany with approximately 3,5 mio. people in the greater environment, being home to global companies as Daimler, Porsche and Bosch.

Q. How did you get started? Any experience or story?

I am actually 100 % self-taught. When I had finished high-school, I actually had been in contact with photography, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life back then, so I decided to follow my grandfather and my uncle and went to law-school. Seven years later (which must sound ridiculously long for Americans but is the scheduled time-span for German law students) I miraculously made the bar exam and then finally figured out that there was a reason why I had never been able to motivate myself to learn as much as you better should learn in order to become a good lawyer: I was really not at all interested in the whole subject of law. I started jobbing, earned some money, invested it in a good camera system and did what I should have done some ten year earlier: make my hobby my profession and turn pro…

 The first two years were hard, since I was still far from the skill level that I have today, and you don´t usually start with millions of clients anyway. But I fought my way into the business, tried (and still try) to learn as much as possible, and by today, I feel pretty confident about what I have accomplished and what I can do with the camera now…

Q. How do you want people to react to your work? Who’s your audience?

 When it comes to paid work, I am primarily focused on what the clients demands are, so if they come up and tell me that I perfectly understood what they were looking for I´m happy :-)

With my private works it´s a little more demanding, I try to create an aesthetic basis that by the general mood might look a lot nicer than I actually think it is. I have also a tendency to use a strict order in the arrangement of single pieces of the image, and the arrangement of the lines within the picture is also strict. i think i try to create a climate of harmony and/or romance to disguise the issues that I find truly interesting in the image. To me, this kind of paradox prevents images to become one-dimensional and boring. Therefore, I like my landscapes, but not all of the pictures really match my criterias for a really good picture, even though they reach a broad audience. So my audience needs to have the will to dig a little bit beneath the surface and face unpopular, often sad themes also…

Q. What do you enjoy photographing best? Why?

This is a though one… I am a natural landscape and cityscape photographer. I´m very quick when it comes to shooting architecture. But I also invest a whole lot of time into fashion photography, I have a lot of fun working with a team, I have to stories that I can´t show yet since they are waiting for publication, and both are an important part of my development and another step up. And, I will also invest a lot of time in commercially oriented projects in the upcoming months. So I guess, since I have turned my hobby my profession, I am just happy to be a photographer and passionate about everything I do.

Q. Favorite drink?

Apfelsaftschorle :-) That is a local drink, containing one half apple juice and the other half is sparkling water. Great sports drink!

Q. What smells in your studio?

 Well, of course the paint of the background sweep :-) And the trash where all the make-up utensils end up :-)

Q. Share a pic?

Well, the attached pic is made in my studio, showing me in a pretty silly styling :-)

What Smells in the Studio? a new mini-interview series with Andrey Ivanov

I’ve been featuring the work Andrey Ivanov for sometime now, he does some beautiful fashion photography! They are sublime, fashionable, and mystical compositions that are refined to an eye catching photograph. He did a little interview for us:

Q. Where are you from?
A. I’m from a small city in the South of Ukraine. Nobody knows where it is so… It’s crap!

Q. What or Who inspires you?
A. People I’m working with always inspire me and of course the other photographers, such as Paolo Roversi,
Steven Klein or Mert and Marcus.

Q. How did you get started? Any experience or story?
A. It was kinda accidental. Three years ago photography became my hobby and two years ago it became my job. Nothing interesting, actually It’s a boring story I’ve told a thousand times before…
For me it is much more important what’s next - only this matters :)

Q. Any advice for aspiring photographers? Something you wished you knew?
A. I’m not so good to give any advice! I’m an aspiring photographer too and I hope I’ll be learning all my life, ‘cause if you think you’re already perfect - you loose! There is no limit to perfection

Q. Who’s your favourite historical figure?
A. Alexander the Great and Bogdan Khmelnitsky.

Q. What smells in your studio?
A. Smells nothing - conditioner is always turned on. May be sometimes it smells cigarettes and perfumes :)

Thank you for interview Andrey! 

I will feature some of his work today, plus be sure to check his site on Behance & follow on Tumblr.

What Smells in the Studio? a new mini-interview series with Tony Gaglio

I’ve recently encounter the digital work by Tony Gaglio. His work is a mixture of landscape and outer space. When I first had a glance at his work I was reminded of album cover art, something psychedelic and surreal that made you feel lost and oddly creative. For me the work was reminiscent of Marti Klarwein’s album covers. His work was primarily paintings and are recognized to be part of the 1960s psychedelic art movement.

It was interesting to note the connection that album art and Tony have! 

Tony mentions Leif Podhajsky, as an influence! Leif Podhajsky is a an artist that also focuses on the nature of psychedelic imagery. His work has been featured in several album covers as noted by thisiscolossal, here.

This is what he says smells in the studio:

Q. Where are you from?

A. I am from sunny southwest Florida.

Q. What are your favorite things to do?

A. I enjoy making art, going to the beach, trying new things and being by the water.

Q. What are your influences?

A. I am influenced by many different sources, but to be specific the work of the artist Leif Podhajsky really is what encouraged me to get into art creation.

Q. How would you like people to react to your work?

A. I would like people to react to my work similar to how one would react from tasting bad food. Yuck!

Check out more of his work at his tumblr, astralperception & via Facebook