Interview with the 1st place winner of Derby 58
BootsBoots is a fresh-from-the-interweebs genuine n00b who never even heard of Woot a couple weeks ago. And now she gets her first print on her second try! Here's a few more facts about her.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
57 (Dessert) / 0 / 1. I haven't bought any yet. I only discovered Woot about a week and a half ago. Does that make me a bad person? I'm just not hip to what's going on in the world, don't judge me. This is my first print, but I'm completely hooked on submitting designs now.
What are you tools of choice?
Corel Painter Essentials and
Paint Shop for the coloring, me own two hands for the sketching (arr!), and I just got a
Wacom Cintiq Tablet and I love it. I think I might marry it someday, if it will have me.
What is your typical process for going about a design?
I like challenges, so I love that Shirt.Woot has a new theme every week. For the designs I submitted there, I thought "How can I make this theme interesting?" Then I sketched out my design idea by hand, and inked and colored them digitally.
What design or art experience do you have outside the derby?
I have a worthless B.A. in studio art from Franklin and Marshall college. Additionally, I run an indie t-shirt company (
Medicated Clothing), but my real passion is children's book authoring and illustrating (although my work is as-of-yet unpublished).
Which artists or designers inspire you?
Mark Ryden, Marcel Duchamp (He's the one who, after being famous, tore down a urinal and submitted it to a gallery as a work of art... they hung it), and I'm always looking at other artists work getting inspired. I just recently came across Yuko Shimizu's illustrations and I love them. There are other's too.
Would you like to do art/design full-time? If so, what is your dream job?
Right now doing freelance design and illustration is my only source of income. It's not quite "full time" hours or pay though. I'm always looking for new projects if anyone's interested. Dream Job? I think I said before, and I'll say it again: children's book author and illustrator. Anyone out there work for Random House?
Any plans to ever sell your designs using a print-to-order shop like SpreadShirt or CafePress?
I think I'll sell my unsuccessful Shirt.Woot designs on Medicated Clothing eventually. It's a start up business, so I'll probably have to either reduce the colors or apply the designs using transfer paper on light shirts to make them affordable to produce in small quantity. Someday when Med Clo is ultra successful, expensive full-color designs wont be a problem. Ahhh... someday.
What advice do you have for new derby artists?
If you're wondering whether or not you should submit your stuff or not, just do it. I thought my design would never win since I was new and submitted it kind of late, but behold! Winning is possible under those circumstances. Good luck to you guys!
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