Interview with:Richie Pope [richiepope]
ILLUSTRATION
 | What is your specialty in illustration? I'm primarily focused on editorial illustration, but I am also interested in comic book/graphic novel work and little exhibitions here and there. |
| Is there a web address where we can see some of your work? |
| Have you completed formal art studies, or are you self-taught? I am actually about to recieve a BA in Communication Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Before that, other than my AMAZING high school art teacher, Brian Kershasky, I never had any formal art-training. I just drew what I liked...and liked what I drew. |
| What past or present day illustrators do you admire most? Sterling Hundley and Tin Salamunic, two of my former instructors and mentors, are both huge inspirations to me. Jim Mahfood, aka Food One, has a really amazing improvised street sensibility in his work that I like. Frank Stockton and Tomer Hanuka have a really clean digital flat coloring to their pieces. Gustav Klimit and Egon Schiele are both masters at distortion and composing things into interesting shapes. All of these illustrators, including so many more that would take too much time to name, I admire a lot. |
| How similar are your current drawings to those you did as a child? I'd have to say that technically they're much better from when I was a kid. I will say that the same energy and sense of fun in my linework is still there and will hopefully stay that way for a long time. |
| What was your favorite comic book as a child? Batman. Batman. Batman. Batman and Batman. I still love it to this day. I could sit down and have a philosphical discussion about him any day. |
| What type of music do you listen to while you work? I listen to everything from rock, to pop, to hip hop, to folk. I may switch from Kanye West to Animal Collective to Radiohead in one sitting. I love all good music. |
| What new techniques have you been experimenting with lately? I've been really interested in adding collage elemtents to my work. Cutting up my drawings, painting shapes of color over them, then adding more cut-ups on top has really been fun and I think I'll continue doing it. |
| What part of your work do you do on paper and what part digitally? For most of my past work, I do an ink drawing on board, sketchbook or regular xerox paper. I then scan that in, with whatever other texture I'll use for it, then do most of the coloring digitally. |
| What research do you do for your illustrations? I do all kinds of research. I look online. I look at books. I look at old artists. I look at new artists. I even listen to music or watch a movie. Anything can be inspiration really. |
| Do you have any specific goals as an illustrator? One of my goals is to get pieces into every major illustration competition in America. Winning a medal or two would also be pretty amazing. My second goal is to have my illustrations in magazines all across the world, maybe even the internet if that's where editorial illustration spreads to. My real ultimate goal is just to be happy, making a living doing what I love to do, and that is to illustrate. |
| What advice do you have for someone who likes to draw and would like to make a living from it? Keep drawing. Draw everything. Draw everyday. If you love to draw, don't let anyboy tell you not to. If somebody tells you that you won't make it, show them you will. If somebody tells you that you can't draw, show them you can. If you want to get better, just keep drawing and learning. Look up different artists. Inform yourself with art history and contemporary art. Whatever you do, just don't give up. As long as you work hard and believe in your work, you'll get somewhere. |
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701 visits Whohub
Richie Pope
Richmond, Virginia
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![[richiepope] Richie Pope](http://www.whohub.com/_pics/12882.jpg?1337673145)
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