Interview with the 2nd place winner of Derby 150
ThatRobert (me) has been participating in the derbies since the very first one. When I started doing interviews on BestLosers, I only interviewed the derby artist that came in first. Later -- as I started running out of new artists to interview -- I started interviewing anyone out of the three printed artists that I hadn't interviewed before. Because my previous derby wins were so long ago and I've never come in first, I've never had the opportunity to interview myself -- until now.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
1 (One) / 40-50 / 5. Don't make me count all my shirts! Most have been for myself but this includes all the ones I've bought as gifts and for my kids.
What are your tools of choice?
Illustrator almost exclusively. I use
Photoshop just to create my shirt display and thumbnail. I'm embarrassed to admit I bought a very nice
Wacom Tablet and never could get used to it. I'll try again someday -- I hear it's easier in Photoshop than Illustrator so I'll have to try that. If you had trouble getting used to your tablet, I'd love to hear any tips.
What is your typical process for going about a design?
Typically I brainstorm all Thursday and then give up or run out of time (I don't enter as much as I'd like to). When I DO enter, my brainstorming is followed by jumping straight into Illustrator and staying up late trying to create something I'm happy with. I almost never sketch anything first. I have an unusual technique where I build most of my shirt designs based on simple shapes (circles and squares and such) and slice and dice those until I get something that doesn't look like origami. My process probably isn't that weird for a logo designer (I do that too) but pretty unusual for a t-shirt guy.
What design or art experience do you have outside the derby?
Nothing formal. I was a rabid artist as a kid (I had huge calluses on my drawing hand). In college, I majored in Computer Science and almost ended up minoring in Art since I took a bunch of art classes and enjoyed them so much. But after 6 years in school, I had to get out some time.
Which artists or designers inspire you?
I'm not going to pretend I'm inspired by a lot of classical artists or even modern artists as much as I am by specific works. I'm always fascinated by what's new and different so my inspirations come from very varied and unusual sources.
Would you like to do art/design full-time? If so, what is your dream job?
My day job is as a Software Developer but I'd love to switch to something more artistic if I could find a way to make it pay the bills. My dream job would probably be some combination of freelance designer while having my own online t-shirt shop.
Any plans to ever sell your designs using a print-to-order shop like SpreadShirt or CafePress?
I already do but the stuff is horribly old. I'm working on a programmer-themed SpreadShirt shop that I'll hopefully get going this year.
What advice do you have for new derby artists?
Keep plugging away. Since I watch, blog, and interview more than I participate, I can truly say that it's effort more than skill that gets you printed. I've watched artists (or rank amateurs) start very shaky and develop a style, a following, and some skills and eventually get printed. It has way more to do with participating every week, learning something new constantly, and stretching yourself. If you want it -- you WILL get printed!
Do you have a website or portfolio you'd like people to see?
Actually I do -- here's where I post any and all shirts I design for Woot or other sites plus occasional half-hearted attempts to keep up with my Make Something Cool Every Day pledge:
ThatRobert
Comments
ressamac
YAY!! An interview from ThatRobert himself. I was hoping you would do this. Interesting technique! My tip for getting used to your Wacom tablet (this is weird): I used it to play Spider Solitaire one whole evening until it started feeling very comfortable.
ThatRobert
Using games to learn your tablet is a great idea! I'll have to try that.
