Interview with the 2nd place winner of Derby 117
Walmazan is a long-time Threadless artist who has now started participating in Woot for the last handful of derbies. He's had some wonderful entries along the way and now has his first derby print. Here's more about him.
Shirt.Woot Stats? (first derby / shirts bought / shirts printed)
112 (Japan) / 11 / 3. Besides my derby win, I've had two dailies printed:
The New Guy and
PAINata.
What are your tools of choice?
I work on a Mac (of course!), and I use
Illustrator,
Photoshop, a
Wacom tablet, paper, pencils, and micron pen.
What is your typical process for going about a design?
First I think about the theme, then have some coffee, then I get an idea, and sketch it out on paper. After that I do it over in ink, scan the design (sometimes I convert it to vector, sometimes pixels, sometimes both), I color it in, create a placement for it, and voila! It’s Walma-rific!
What design or art experience do you have outside the derby?
Well, I have been a graphic designer for about 15 years, and ever since I can remember, I have loved doodling and sketching. About two years ago I submitted my first t-shirt design to
Threadless, and ever since then competitive t-shirt design has been an addiction. I’m thinking about seeking help.
Which artists or designers inspire you?
Fernando Botero, Jose Guadalupe Posada, and my friends!
Would you like to do art/design full-time? If so, what is your dream job?
I do! I'm a freelance graphic/web designer, and in my free time I love to do character illustrations, so I feel like I’m living my dream. Sometimes I wish I could do less web and editorial design work and spend more hours of the day doing illustrations… I think I'm a workalcoholic…
Any plans to ever sell your designs using a print-to-order shop like SpreadShirt or CafePress?
Not right now! But I would love to. I think I’m pretty good at doing illustrations, but I'm not so good at business.
What advice do you have for new derby artists?
Keep drawing. It's a marathon, not a race. Oh! And eat guacamole with chips; maybe it doesn’t help you too much with the competition, but it’s so yummy!
Do you have a website or portfolio you'd like people to see?
Sure! Check this action out:
