Interview with:Christopher Bonnette of www.macula.tv [macula]
ILLUSTRATION
 | What is your specialty in illustration? Character Design |
| Have you completed formal art studies, or are you self-taught? BFA in Illustration at Otis College of Art and Design 1998.
I am still learning new things everyday. |
| What past or present day illustrators do you admire most? Charles Addams tone and mood
Bill Waterson line quality and humor
Chuck Jones character design
Hayao Miyazaki character design and story telling
Glenn Barr color and mood
Alex Toth character design
Sid Mead criticalness and color
Tim Burton mood and story telling
Mary Blair cuteness
Alphonse Mucha color and line quality |
| How similar are your current drawings to those you did as a child? There are some similarities in my drawings from when I was a child and now. Mostly themes robots, rabbits, chickens, and creatures that look worried usually show up somewhere in my doodles. |
| What was your favorite comic book as a child? Batman |
| Do you have a particular style, or does it vary a lot? Most of my illustrations stay pretty consistent. |
| Do you have colleagues with whom you share techniques, tricks, ideas, etc.? Yes |
ART
| What do you do? How do you define yourself as an artist? Character designer for toys, apparel, and books. I also do package design and product design for licensed and non-licensed products.
I am a illustrator as well as a graphic designer and a fine artist as well as a commercial artist. |
| What is your message? I have 3 messages:
1) Have fun
2) Keeping the tales of the past known so they are not forgotten by bringing the creatures of legend to life through my own illustrative interpretations.
3) Creepy can be cute. |
| Your biography in four lines. My illustrations are a combination of whimsy & cute, with a bit of creepy. I have an interest for the macabre and the seedy underbelly of society. |
| Do you upload your work to the web? If so, where could we see it? My site: http://macula.tv/main.htm
My Blog: http://macula-art.blogspot.com/
Prints for sale: http://macula.imagekind.com/
My Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/macula1/
Myspace: http://myspace.com/macula_tv
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=761384231
My work info: http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=tab_pro |
| How is an idea born? For you, what is inspiration? Most of my ideas are born through sketching and doodling.
Many, many things inspire me as an artist. A large focus of inspiration comes from old fantasy and sci-fi movie posters, B-movies, American 1950's & 60's ads, tattoos, mythology, cartoons, and toys. Japanese anime and big monster kaiju are also a very big influence. I really like the seedy underbelly of society and things that have a kind of shady feel. |
| What role does technology play in your creative process? Paper and pencil work best. For my final designs I tend to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. |
| What is art? Anything that you can appreciate and bring you joy. |
| When do you get your best ideas? Late at night or in my dreams. |
| How do you evaluate whether an idea is good or not? Trail and Error. I also ask my friends to critic it. |
| Three creative ideas that you would have liked to have created? Electricity
Wacom Tablet
Calvin and Hobbes |
| Must an artist reinvent him/herself everyday? You don't always have to reinvent yourself but you do have to keep your ideas fresh. |
| Which artists do you admire and how do they influence your work? Wallace Kandinsky looseness and color
Bill Waterson line quality and humor
Chuck Jones character design
Hayao Miyazaki character design and story telling
Glenn Barr color and mood
Alex Toth character design
Sid Mead criticalness and color
Tim Burton mood and story telling
Mary Blair cuteness
Alphonse Mucha color and line quality |
| Is art necessary? Yes |
| Does it pain you to let go of a piece you have sold? No. It makes me very happy. It lets you know that others appreciate what you do. |
| Is a work of art purchased, or is it better said, that it is the artist who is bought? Art is purchased. |
| In art, there is no guide. How do you know what the next step is? Trial and Error. |
| What types of jobs do you usually do? Product and Package design.
Character and Toy design.
Acrylic paintings of mythological creatures. |
| Which of your jobs or tasks do you most enjoy? First and foremost the initial sketching and idea generating.
Also making paper toys and creating mythological paintings. |
| Do you personally collect any items? Yes. Lots of art books.
Here are just a few of the books I collect.
http://www.shelfari.com/macula/shelf |
| Which websites do you frequently visit? http://www.facebook.com
http://www.cfz.org.uk/
http://www.paperforest.blogspot.com/
http://www.obakemono.com/ |
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1278 visits Whohub
Christopher Bonnette of www.macula.tv
California U.S.A.
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