Interview with the 1st place winner of Derby 168
ChumpMagic has been at Woot for 6 months and is already on his 2nd print (I somehow missed interviewing him the first time). Here's more about him.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
141 (Classic Comic Style) / 3 / 2. My first derby entry was called
"Attack of the Sea Monkeys".
I've bought only three so far. PatricksPens's "Flower Carrier," Drakxxx and CD's "I Bet It Is Better There," and my "Oh Shiny."
Besides this Halloween design, I got second place in the Cryptozoology derby with my piece
"Oh Shiny".
What are your tools of choice?
Black Pen and white paper have been my weapon of choice for most my life. Now it's black pen, white paper, and
Photoshop. I normally ink traditionally and do colors and clean up in Photoshop. Also, I definitely use a tablet. I have an old, beat up
Wacom tablet.
What is your typical process for going about a design?
Usually ideas just hit me, so often I don't fuss over concept... they will just arrive when needed. It makes sense too; I have been a freestyle artist for most my life and thoughts just pop up as a I work.
When a concept hits me, I normally start with pencil. Once I have the sketch in, I trace over it with a nice, fancy pen. Then I scan the image to my computer. I plop the scanned image into
Illustrator and do a live trace (this is so I get only my pen work, removing the pencil markings and white of the paper). After that, I drop it in Photoshop and go to town. Sometime I pre-pick my color palette, and sometimes I pick colors when I feel it necessary.
What design or art experience do you have outside the derby?
I have always drawn and painted, but for the most part, I was just a hobbyist. When I graduated from College, I started taking it more seriously.
For the last year or so, I have been a freelance artist, basically doing anything anyone throws my way: T-shirt designs, oil or acrylic paintings, CD covers, posters/ flyers, logos, video game art, etc. I work mainly with local musicians since I have a huge passion for music. However, I do branch out; one of my current jobs is doing art for a Facebook game. My last company job was at Cryptic Studios in Los Gatos.
Which artists or designers inspire you?
My art was raised off comic books and Nintendo Power magazines. I kept getting all these magazines and never reading a single word, thumbing through them to find and study all the cool images and characters. That stuff probably inspired me the most since it got me when I was young and developing.
Would you like to do art/design full-time? If so, what is your dream job?
Yes. In a sense, I do that now; however, more time than I wish to spend is on emails, bill collecting, buying materials and supplies, making portfolios that appeal to a specific clients, self promoting, documentation for taxes and whatnot, etc. Every job has a job within a job (if that make sense), but I wish I could stay in one room and just create art and not worry about all the other stuff.
Also, I would like to start designing skateboard decks. I am not sure if that is an ideal job, but something I have wanted to do for awhile.
Any plans to ever sell your designs using a print-to-order shop like SpreadShirt or CafePress?
Yes. Many people loved my
"hippie shower" design, and I want to get it to them (still in the 60 day holding period though). I also want to put some other designs that are just collecting dust and cobwebs to use too.
I uploaded a design to Redbubble and MySoti to do a test print and check out their quality. I am still waiting on MySoti; the order has yet to arrive.
What advice do you have for new derby artists?
I don't know if I have universal, sound advice since there seems to be many variables in these derbies. However, here is what I did when I was fresh. It maybe be helpful (shrug??). For my first couple entries, I didn't go for gold; I didn't do it and expect to win. I did it to get a feel for the competition, and analyzes what design were doing well, seeing what kind of art made this community tick. I also look at how people approached the no gradient and 6 color rule (these two things are unique to screening so if you haven't designed for it, it is tricky at first). I guess what I am saying is to just dive in, using it as a learning experience at first... but to also have fun!
Do you have a website or portfolio you'd like people to see?
ColeLemke.com
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