Interview by Rachel Gottesman

Hey Sam, welcome to the Alumni Club! I fully expect you to pin the Alumni medal to your shirt every day.

Haha! Don't worry, you can be assured I will wear it with pride everywhere all the time, even when I am in the shower.



There has to be some kind of crazy story that inspired "Attack of the Mole People". Care to enlighten us?

Well mole people are already pretty awesome to begin with, so I didn't really need too much of a story... I dunno, I was originally going to do something completely different in a more cartoony style, like some miners in a cave being attacked by some mole people, but I got the Whack-a-Mole idea just before I started drawing the final version, and I'm sure glad I did!

So I noticed you just went on a trip to Turkey. How great was that? Do you think it inspired you at all in an artistic sense?

Turkey is a phenomenally beautiful country, and I am incredibly fortunate that I was able to go. Their culture is the most different and intriguing (compared to America) of any other I have experienced first-hand so far. There is so much to talk about: the food, the people, the city structure... I wrote over seven pages about it after I got back for my family, and I could have written so much more!



I got violently sick a couple days after I first arrived, but after
that the rest of the trip could not have gone better! I can't thank Erman enough, my Turkish friend I met here in Deutschland, for being my guide the whole time. As far as being artistically inspired from the trip, I will just have to wait and see; I haven't really gotten much of a chance to draw anything for awhile with all the traveling I've been doing!

I've only been to a foreign country twice in my life. Please tell me you're planning on becoming a great explorer. Maybe you can use your Threadless prize money and backpack across Europe or something?

Oh yes, I certainly hope so! I've already done some backpacking to several other countries, and I'm sure the prize money will definitely contribute to further trips. India is next on my list of places I REALLY want to visit. If you ever get the chance again to travel, don't hesitate for a second!



You have a wide range of styles in both your digital and hand drawn art. Is there any one style that you favor, or do you make stuff based on how you feel / what color socks you're wearing / what you ate that day?

I try to deliberately avoid only working in one "style" because I think it can kind of be restricting depending on what I feel like doing, but that's just me... There are some insanely talented people out there who primarily work in one style and that's partly what makes their stuff so original. I generally find myself doing clean, concept art related stuff most often, but I dunno.... I ultimately just love every kind of art, and I get inspired to work in different styles depending on what I find interesting at the moment.

So now that you're famous, do you have any big plans for the future? (By the way...can I have an autograph?)

I plan on using my fame to help me in my master plan of breeding an army of living lawn gnomes to do my bidding, like bringing me gelato ice cream whenever I please and knitting me my own personal customized socks and helping me fashionably style my beard. And I will also probably have to purchase a monocle, because I don't think they would obey me unless I was wearing a monocle.



If you would like an autograph, I suppose I could have one of the gnomes personally deliver it to you, performing a complimentary little jig upon delivery if you deem it so.

Thanks so much for chatting!

'Twas my pleasure! Thank you for interviewing me!

Interview by Rachel Gottesman

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