~pogothemunty

*Click*

Profile

Gallery

Prints

Faves

Journal

A2, Othercubed, ReSauce

Journal Entry: Fri May 1, 2009, 5:30 AM

Exams
My A2 Photography exam is OVER! Uploaded the final piece (RGB:smoke), and uploaded the original photographs to a new resources account ~ReSauce! Check it out for stock, brushes, tutorials and more!

Interview!
My first interview is here! Today I interviewed ~OtherCubed about his work, you should check it out, just below.

Self Promotion

True Rorschach

Frozen Smoke

Bowl of Chaos

Pink and Proud
-

INTERVIEW

~OtherCubed is a Graphic Designer and Photographer, his website (www.othercubed.com) houses his designs and interviews with other artists.

Hi, Othercubed! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview.
First thing's first, what software and equipment do you use?
I use mainly Photoshop and Lightroom on the computer to edit my work, as well as different open source editing programs when I find them. I’m pretty bad at sticking with one program though, once I’ve gotten used to most of them I start to get itchy to try something new – Photoshop being the exception. I think most programs haven’t had the time to evolve as Photoshop and the Adobe Suite products have – which can leave them with pretty odd design choices and strange UIs

In terms of hardware, I have a Sony A200k camera, with the stock lens (because I’m cool like that). I’m hoping to expand on my photographic gear once I have a bit more in the way of finances, but I have trouble deciding what I need. A lot of additional gear for equipment is very specific to one or two tasks, and at the moment I enjoy experimenting with different styles and methods too much to splash a large amount of cash on one niche. My computer isn’t a super rig either, but it works pretty well most of the time. I bought a gaming mouse a while back so I could have a sensitivity adjusting button, and that’s increased the speed I can do graphics work a bunch.

Your work includes both Graphic Design and Photography, which is your favourite and why?
I like both Graphic Design and Photography for different reasons, but I definitely enjoy graphics more. I enjoy the aspect of photography where you can take a photograph on the spot, or set up a shoot and know exactly what you want to shoot, and really capture the feeling of an emotion or scene. However, when you’re editing a graphic piece, you can have a picture in your mind and know that you have the power to lay down that exact image onto the (virtual) canvas. Sometimes I’m not happy with a piece, and I get a sudden feeling of clarity where I know exactly what I want to achieve, and I just don’t get that feeling as much with photography.

Are there any artists you could pick out that inspire you?
I spend most of my free time looking at different artists, and so it’s hard to pick out one in particular that I like. However, when I was starting out one of my favourite artists was (and still is) Alex Cherry. A lot of my artwork, especially my older stuff is obviously inspired by him. There’s a lot of work on sites like depthcore.com that is really inspirational as well, and I can spend hours just browsing the different galleries, and trying to figure out how different effects were achieved.

Do you sketch/plan your art or make it up as you go?
Most of the time I start off with a feeling and then expand it as I go. For example, with the piece ‘Get Out’ I knew I wanted a nautical theme, with someone ‘escaping’ to somewhere brighter. I experimented with lots of different images of ships and poses from different stock photos, until I decided to make the image horizontal. From there I went a more abstract route, choosing to change proportions, and put things on odd planes to enhance the feeling of confusion.
With other pieces, though, I have a definite idea of what I want to achieve before I start. With the piece ‘Injection’ I had a clear image in my head, and I simply played around with different ways to achieve it until I had a result I was happy with.

Do you try convey themes/ideas in your pieces?
I think everyone does. If you have a piece of artwork with no feeling behind it, it is hollow. I try to change the ways that I convey the ideas between pieces though, so I don’t stick too much to one style. It may not always be obvious, but different pieces are usually inspired by different periods in history, and different styles. I definitely like to mix Victorian styles with more modern textures and fashions, but I think everyone does at the moment. I’ve also been trying to move away from relying on brushes and stock images created by other people, so I can have far more influence over my work.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to follow your style?
I think the best advice to someone who is wanting to start creating their own designs is to avoid emulating anyone too exactly. I see a lot of artwork created by people, and it’s painfully obvious that they’ve followed a tutorial exactly, and just changed a few small details. If you want to really become better at anything, you have to push yourself and give yourself challenges. There’s no shame in using a tutorial to learn a piece of software, but you have to remember that a tutorial is to teach techniques, not the actual art and design process. If you copy someone else’s work, it isn’t yours no matter how much you tell people it is.

Could you pick one picture in your gallery that you would say is your favourite?
In terms of my own artwork, I think it’s hard to choose a piece I like best. Most of the stuff I make is relatable to different people depending on what mood they are in – there are a few pieces though that everyone seems to like. ‘Injection’ and ‘Rain’ are always the best sellers in terms of prints, and I think they’re probably my ‘best’ pieces, but I personally really like ‘Get out’ and ‘Swimming in Blue’. These two mean most to me in terms of how I feel they represent how I was feeling at the time of making them, and they feel more individual and special to me than most of my work.

Any last words?
I’m not very good at last words, so if this was real life I’d probably scuff my heels and then get on a bus. But seeing as this is the internet, imagine me punching you in the face and driving off into the sunset on a flaming motorbike. And then email me and buy some prints.

Thanks to ~OtherCubed for taking the time for this interview, you can find his website at [link]