Interview by Rachel Gottesman

Hello Ray! If I could shake your hand I would, but I can't so I will have to e-congratulate you on your second Threadless print! Usually designers will have a submission printed first and -then- get to do a select, but you did it all backwards because damn the man! Am I right?

Much like the rest of my topsy-turvy, helter-skelter, Harold-Maude existence, I tend to operate in a decidedly dyslexic fashion! I have only Upso to thank for the oddly inverse way in which I've gone about things.

That being said, any opportunity to take credit for sticking something to the man, real or perceived sticking even, is one I can't pass up.

So, sure. I stuck it to the man. REAL GOOD LIKE. With a shiv.



Recently you've become pretty well-known on the net for your unique style and technique involving Manga Studio. Since then I've seem some pretty cheap imitators, but they don't know all of your drawing secrets. Why don't we help them out a little? Tell me about your process.

This is an interestingly timed question. I've recently abandoned much of my digital process for a traditional one. So, really, things are in flux. Were I to describe my process in a quick way, I would say that it closely mimics the workflow of comic art creation. There are pencils, inks, and coloring as three distinct stages.

The advent of a more traditional process for the former two aspects of the art (the pencils and the inks) leaves me with mostly the coloring done on a computer. I'm calling my new process tradigital. A bit analog. A bit digital. Still the same end result.



Now, when people ask what brush settings I use, I can reply, "An actual, bonafied, real brush!" I'm lucky in that the digital art I created previously trained me perfectly for actual brush usage. I see hardly any variance between the end result of the two methods of creation. Confident strokes are translatable to either medium, thank goodness. Up next is tinkering with traditional methods of coloring, or even painting.

Regarding the style adopters, I guess I was asking for it. I gave away lots of my old, digital process on my blog in the form of videos and annotated progress shots. So, if you want to see how I used to do things, head over there. It does a much better job of answering than I could here. And, well, my new answer is, "I use a brush!" anyway. It isn't much help, haha.

What's your favorite medium to illustrate/design for? I know you've done shirts, wallets, albums, books, skate decks...Etc... You don't -have- to say tees, but you know we'll all be very flattered if you do.

Not to suck up, but, I do like designing for tees an awful lot. Tee graphics account for, say, 60% of my business. I've been working as a full time freelancer for a while now, and things are going swell.



Between the constant flow of reliable tee work and the intermittent bouts of animation, editorial, snow/skate deck, and branding work, I'm humbled by the amount of client interest. My bills are paid and I get to draw gender-confused dinosaurs battling cybernetic potentates. I mean, really, does it get better? I'm not sure it does.

What's your favorite subject material? I bet it's zombies... Or something slimy at least.

Despite commercial success with the more macabre side of things, and a general interest in all things monstery, I do like to work on sci-fi, pop culture, and pulp crime inspired art too.

Recently, I had the opportunity to be in the I AM 8-Bit art show. It was awesome to focus a couple of pieces on Earthworm Jim, a favorite video game character of mine. I used to work, albeit relatively briefly, as an art director in the games industry, so a little known fact is that game related pieces are high on my list of favorite subjects.



Name a few of your favorite artists that the Threadless community might not be too familiar with.

There's a swell fellow named Ptoing who does wonderful things with the barest of all elements of digital art: pixels. He has a keen eye for limited color art and his full color pieces are just as swell. Definitely someone to look up.

I run an art collective named Stylus and there are a heap of great people over there. Bencoservato (Emma), Kevin Tong, Kiel Westival, Jed McGowan, Teemu, Evanimal, Eric Carl, Retoid, Reilly - yeesh! So many great artists. I could go on all day.



Being a moustache connoisseur (correct me if I'm wrong about that), tell me: who has the best moustache in the world and why is it so tear-jerkingly beautiful?

Well, another name that easily could be added to the list of great artists I know also qualifies here. I think Dwayne Clare has a wonderful, bushy, black, raccoon tail of a mustache. It may not have fancy curls at the ends, but it makes up for such frivolity with sheer volume. The thing is huge. I'm surprised that a dastardly poacher hasn't scalped it from his upper lip. It would make a hell of a coat.

Any shout outs or final thoughts you'd like to share with your fans?

For sure. The Threadless community, bloggers especially, facilitated the creation of my winning submission. Without them, it simply wouldn't have been made. Offering their likenesses, knowing full well I intended to zombify and mutilate them, took some moxie. I just want to thank them for that selfless gesture. It was an awesome project to work on and I hope to submit something new soon as soon as things slow down a bit!

Interview by Rachel Gottesman

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