Introduction
I’ve been creating artwork for advertising, packaging, and marketing collateral, as well as editorial and educational publishing for over 15 years as a commercial illustrator. In 2006 I began bridging my talents into the fine art realm, producing original works for sale and gallery appearances.

In 2004, the Society of Illustrators’ awarded me an honorable mention in their annual competition, presenting his art in the Illustrator’s Annual and the Museum of American Illustration in New York. In 2002, American Showcase selected me to illustrate the cover of their illustration directory, which exhibits the nation’s finest commercial illustrators.

The reason I became an illustrator is that I really enjoy rendering only what can be imagined. Sure, lots of times I get to do realistic work or work from models or still life reference, but my favorite is taking what’s in my head and making it visibly tangible.

Computer
My first computer was a Mac IIci and my first drawing program was Aldus Freehand, mostly working to see what I could make it do artistically. I soon was introduced to Photoshop and faster Macs and that allowed me to essentially work with no limitations in style and subject. I currently use a Mac G5 Dual 2.0 Ghz with 2 GB of RAM and use Photoshop CS3 and Illustrator CS3 (although, I admit, I go old school and still use Macromedia Freehand sometimes too).

Software
My primary program is Photoshop and I use Illustrator to assist and create special masks or sketch layouts. One method of creating art I really enjoyed in art school was the airbrush method. You know, laying frisket on artboard, cutting masks and creating smooth gradients with the airbrush. That’s my main process in Photoshop, but the artboard is the canvas, the masks are selections created by the pen tool, and the airbrush is well…the airbrush.

Most Common Problems
I guess technically speaking, the most common problem I face in the illustration process is the tedium of creating hundreds of masks per illustration. That’s where traditional painting techniques really shine over airbrush method (even on the computer). When you paint a brush stroke, you have  a fully filled shape that has creates it’s own boundaries. When you airbrush, you have to define those boundaries first before you fill it with color.

There are many ways to attack the tedium of creating all these shapes as software provides many tools. We have the pen tool, the selection tool, painting an alpha channel, and among others, bring in Bezier shapes from vector programs. The key is being as efficient as possible, so say you want to create a harlequin wall paper pattern in photoshop; you could use the pen tool and create one diamond and define as a pattern and fill an alpha with that pattern to make the mask you need. However, the better way to go is to create the diamond in Illustrator, blend as a pattern and bring that in as vector smart object that can be scaled as needed and load that layer as a selection. It’s all about doing what gives you a quick solution and provides the maximum flexibility.

I do have to say though, that these days, software is so proficient and computers are so fast, that the technical aspects provide few issues for the illustration process for me. The biggest challenge I face with each project is usually at the concept level. Like, what visual imagery can best convey a certain idea in a compelling way. That’s the eternal challenge of illustration, and it’s nice that the computer doesn’t hinder or facilitate that process for me. Digital artists can do whatever they want to do with all the flexibility hardware and software provide today.

Traditional Art
 I didn’t start using computers until 1992; after I had finished art school. Up to that point, I used acrylics, oil, gouache, and watercolor for painting. I’m glad I did, because I use those same techniques, references, and approaches for creating art on the computer.

Sketches are integral for the illustration process. I can do and have done them on the computer, but lately I’ve been going back to paper, just to mix it up. It feels good to get a pencil and be free on a piece of paper and get the hand off the mouse for a while. For any project, I’ll sketch thumbnails at first to brainstorm compositions or basic subject ideas, then I’ll move to half page sketches of an idea I like. I don’t get too detailed, my main goal is to figure out what goes where and the basics of how it would look. Once I get that, I’ll scan it in and put it on the top layer of my Photoshop document to serve as a guideline for the final art.

How to be Good
Well my advice is always the same on how be a good digital artist. First study and learn traditional media (drawing, painting, etc.). Get comfortable with the techniques and learn how to get what you want on paper and canvas. Second, learn the software; I would suggest Painter, Photoshop, and Illustrator. This is purely technical learning—go through the tutorials, get to know them and see which facilitates your intended art style the most efficiently with the highest quality. You don’t want technical limitations to prohibit your creativity, so it’s best to learn the software and let it become second nature. Finally, it’s time to start really producing great art. Push it; see what you can do.

Inspiration
I keep a scrapbook for inspiration. It’s a huge sketchbook I write, draw and put things in that I think are awesome. If I see a great illustration or photo in a magazine, I’ll cut it out and put it in there. I can go back any time and look through my scrapbooks and see what I really like and reflect on what motivates me. Motivation is so key in this business, and that’s how I do it. Also, surrounding yourself with other artists is a great way to keep motivated. When you have friends constantly churning out new works and showing them to you, it makes you want to do the same.

Creating a style
Style is tricky. I used to do a broad range of styles and finally had an epiphany at one point of what I wanted to do. First, were the visual aesthetics of course—it had to represent my aesthetics of what is good and unique to me. But then there’s the longevity of it. If you settle on abstract pen and ink, is that going to get boring quickly, would you miss painting? If you settle on realism, is that too confining? So the second part was choosing a style would be very challenging for me to pull off, so I wouldn’t get bored with it and could even grow. That’s how I arrived at it; took years for that.

Trends
I think illustration will continue to get more diverse and edgy as the lines between fine art and commercial illustration continue to blur.  More art directors are choosing illustration to really create visionary marketing and advertising pieces that standout in a very photo heavy marketplace. Even in animation, 3D photorealistic style is growing stale, and studios are looking to artists with unique style to make their animations differentiate themselves from the competition. This is great time for illustration and great art is going to keep dazzling our eyes in the years ahead.