Interview with Mike Hoffman [mikehoffman] on Whohub

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Your mind is your work tool. How do you take care of it?

Maintain brain chemistry through fish oil, clay, exercise, diet, yoga.

How do you avoid repeating yourself, or falling into formula? How do you stay fresh?

By inventing variations on traditional approaches.

Do you have a ritual like retiring to a lonely place from time to time to cleanse your mind?

Yes, one is actually in my mind, the other is a stream.

What cultural sources do you draw from the most?

Pop culture films, books and comics.

Who have your teachers been?

Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Julian Ritter.

When you accept a job, how much value do you place on each of the following? Money, creative liberty, visibility, and to work with the best.

If I did freelance, it would be freedom.

Have you ever had a job that was so stimulating that you could not get your mind off of it?

All my personal projects are like this.

It is possible to fall in love with a bad idea simply because it is yours. How do you avoid this?

Ideas are like children, they are not bad--the parents are. And children are artists, parents are not. Bad ideas only come from people who pretend to be artists.

Must someone be the leader or boss in order for a creative team to function well?

Probably, otherwise you get Indie Rock.

The armchair psychologist: Is creativity an act of rebellion for you?

I don't create to destroy.

What is the best advertisement you've seen recently?

A 1960s commercial for hair dye.

Do you work well under pressure?

I've never known anything else.

What city in the world currently attracts you due to its creative environment?

What do you feel when, after two or three years, you see an idea of yours again?

Sometimes pleased, sometimes embarrassed.

Ideas can come simultaneously to different people in different places with no connection to one another. How do you explain this phenomenon?

There's nothing new under the sun.

You are as good as your last idea. Wouldn't you like to have a more secure type of work?

All the time--and it ain't going to happen.

What is your specialty in illustration?

What are your regular clients like? What do they expect from you?

I haven't met many of them, we only pass notes under the door. They typically expect nude women from the front.

Is there a web address where we can see some of your work?

Have you completed formal art studies, or are you self-taught?

How did you get your first full assignment? What did it involve?

A freelance drawing a comic book story in 1982

What past or present day illustrators do you admire most?

Syd Mead, Mitchell Hooks, Robert Bonfils, Russell Patterson.

How similar are your current drawings to those you did as a child?

What was your favorite comic book as a child?

Do you have a particular style, or does it vary a lot?

I have a lot of different styles.

What is hardest to draw?

What type of music do you listen to while you work?

Myself--and Arturo Bastard.

Do you have a favorite work of art?

What do you do when a client simply says "I don't like it"?

I don't have clients.

What new techniques have you been experimenting with lately?

What part of your work do you do on paper and what part digitally?

It's all traditional except scanning and slight color and contrast modification.

What research do you do for your illustrations?

As little as possible, I try and carry it all in my head.

Do you have colleagues with whom you share techniques, tricks, ideas, etc.?

Do you have any specific goals as an illustrator?

I may try and do more commercial work some day, I'm not ruling it out.

What are you working on now?

My own books, magazines and comics.

What advice do you have for someone who likes to draw and would like to make a living from it?

Resist the temptation to draw only in currently fashionable styles. When they go out of fashion, you'll be stranded. Get a strong foundation in the basics--learn the skeleton, then the muscles.

What do you do? How do you define yourself as an artist?

I draw and paint, but also write comics and prose, make videos, publish books and write and record songs. I think my work has artistic merit, but I approach it all as a craftsman.

What is your message?

I don't usually have any conscious message in my graphic art, outside of a general celebration of life and the human figure. I have no control over my audience's interpretations, anyway.

Your biography in four lines.

I've moved extensively and lived in England and all over the U.S.
I am completely self-taught as an artist.
I began self-publishing solely around 1998 and have not worked for anyone since.
I've had health problems from years of overwork.

Do you upload your work to the web? If so, where could we see it?

I have several websites, the two most popular being http://www.mikehoffman.com and http://hoffmanmuse.blogspot.com

How is an idea born? For you, what is inspiration?

I don't know where they come from, they usually appear from nowhere, though often as a reflection from something else, a word, a picture, an idea. Because I have to earn a living with Art, I've learned to generate ideas even if I'm not "inspired" on any given day.

What role does technology play in your creative process?

Mainly, it allows me to reach a larger audience. Although I have seen digital art I like, I feel it largely has an inhuman and mathematical quality. I also feel that as a tool it can too easily become a crutch.

An expression of some aspect of the Human experience created at a high level of expertise.

When do you get your best ideas?

Upon waking or on long walks.

How do you evaluate whether an idea is good or not?

I think ideas are like children, and even the most deformed or retarded have a right to live in some capacity. I think almost all ideas are good, though some are better than others. The best ideas would seem to be the most unique.

Three creative ideas that you would have liked to have created?

The Nude, Dayglo paint, Futurism.

When and how did you begin to see yourself as an artist?

My earliest memory of Art is non-verbal and had something to do with Drawing, I saw it on TV back in the early 1960s, possibly on Captain Kangaroo. That experience activated an artistic area in my brain.

Why do so many artists and creators have such volatile personalities?

Possibly because we're in a minority, and because we create it can lead to a god complex.

Do you consider yourself postmodern?

In some of my work, yes. Other work is strictly traditional.

How should a work of art be evaluated?

Can a small detail be changed without affecting the whole? If yes, then the piece is flawed.
Can its technique be easily replicated in variations by many other artists? If yes, then there is no mastery.

Must an artist reinvent him/herself everyday?

Perhaps not every day, but sometimes andf often it is essential, otherwise you are merely imitating yourself.

"Everyday" is not the same as "every day". You may have common everyday experiences that come from things you do every day.

Which artists do you admire and how do they influence your work?

Usually, because they can do something I can't and I want to learn how. Because methods go back to earlier artists ad infinitum, I don't think in terms of names but techniques.

What do you think about public funding for the arts?

It is a good idea to free the best artists from the constraints of having to earn a living. I don't apply this the type who breathe into jars and call it "Art".

To some, no. To everyone else, it seems an absolute necessity.

Does it pain you to let go of a piece you have sold?

I don't sell the work I made before I became "professional" and began making money. Now everything I do sells and I don't miss any of it because I am always on to the next job. If I want to reminisce, I can see the old work in the books I've published.

Is a work of art purchased, or is it better said, that it is the artist who is bought?

I think the artist is bought if he blatantly panders or accepts commissions.

In art, there is no guide. How do you know what the next step is?

How do you know how to keep walking? You take a step in any direction you like.

How do you feel about the fact that the pieces exhibited in contemporary art museums are often of artists already deceased?

I'm happy with it--History has judged them to be giants. Also, as the level of craft continues to diminish it's understandable. Today we have dwarves who may grow into giants.

What role have the figures of art dealer, gallery owners, representatives, and intermediaries in general played in your career?

None, I deal directly with my audience.

What types of jobs do you usually do?

Which of your jobs or tasks do you most enjoy?

The very last stroke.

Do you personally collect any items?

Things that inspire me, mainly old books and magazines.

Which websites do you frequently visit?

What advice would you give to those just beginning?

Put in enough time to learn your craft and resist the urge to exhibit yourself before then.

What do you currently have in your MP3 player?

What books are you currently reading?

The Brain, The Mind, Country Sayings, Island of Dr. Moreau, James Thurber.

Places in the world that you have visited recently.

Wales, Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Belgium.

What is that special film you never tire of watching?

Creation of the Humanoids.

What do you use: Mac or PC and why?

Both--PC for Internet and Mac for audio recording.

What is to come after consumist society?

Anti-technology Eloi lifestyles.

Do you find the saturation of advertising in the media excessive?

I don't mind the form, it's the content and direction.

Do you believe there is excessive sex and violence in the media?

If it's neccesary to tell an artistic story I don't mind, but News coverage is becoming ghoulish.

What were your favourite subjects when you were in primary/secondary school?

Do you think video games, chat rooms, etc. have a dangerous addictive effect on teenagers?

Yes, it becomes an extension of their central nervous system, and they are cyborgs.

Has there been a personal-growth book that has transformed your life?

No one, single book.

Have you ever bought works of art? What type of art? What compels you to purchase art?

A Julian Ritter clown paining--the owner didn't know hat it was.

Do you defend urban graffiti?

There are two sides to the argument--that they are only doing what billboards are, and that it's criminal defacement of property. Both sides are true. Most of it is inartistic to me.

What magazines do you frequently read?

Ones form the late 1960s-- Look, McCall's, New Yorker.

Piracy continues to grow: What will happen to the music and film industries and culture in general?

Artists will starve and copyrights will become meaningless. People will stop making Art that's free.

What sports do you play and how often?

How do you explain the rise in "fame" culture?

The natural human urge toward spectacle and gossip.

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