CARMINE MAGAZINE

Carmine Magazine: How would you define your style?
Brian Ewing: Beats me. “Failed comic book art?” Not something I ponder. I spend more time worrying about paying the rent.
As a kid I was heavily influenced by comic book art, heavy metal, skateboard graphics and movies. Add it all up and it’s a recipe for disaster.

CM: What things inspire and influence you and your artwork?
BE: My friends, music and other artists. Can’t forget self-loathing. It’s tough to pull an idea out of nowhere. I get my ideas from hanging out with friends talking about music, movies and other artists. I’m a book junkie, so I tend buy a lot of books with my spare cash. I was like any teenage kid. I loved the Misfits, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Fugazi, The Accused, Kyuss, Metallica and Slayer. As well as Jim Phillips, Pushead, XnO and Thrasher magazine. All of that shaped my desire to be an illustrator. On top of that would be comic books. Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Jeff Jones, Barry Windsor-Smith, Mike Mignola, Tim Bradstreet and Adam Hughes.

CM: Do you listen to music when you create? Describe your perfect creative work environment.
BE: Yeah when I’m not sleeping or watching a movie. I work with a lot of bands, some I had never heard until they contacted me. So I’m exposed to music I don’t normally seek out. If I’m doing work for a band, I sometimes can’t listen to their music. Not that they’re awful, it’s just that it might not put me in the right mood. I may need to be relaxed and focused during parts of the job and listening to fast and jarring music kills my concentration. I usually make a playlist for different parts of a project. I have a playlist for brainstorming and for inking. Sounds stupid but it helps me concentrate. When I’m doing coloring and finishing up I usually have a movie on with the director’s commentary or rock the viking metal.
I’m not sure what my perfect creative work environment would be. Right now, my assistant and I, are purging my studio. I work out of a spare room in my apartment. So for the past year, things have been piling up - books and cds everywhere. As well as stacks of original art and posters. It’s made me very scatter-brained and stressed.
Now it’s shaping up really fast. I’d like some wireless speakers and lots of light and more shelves. I’ve been taking photos of the progress, it’s like studio porn. I like looking at pics of other people’s studios.
If money weren’t an object then give me a warehouse space with lots of room where I can live and work out of with a post office and a bookstore nearby.

CM: What mediums do you work in the most? Why do you use them?
BE: Pencil, ink, bristol board, eraser and Illustrator cs3.
Most of my work starts out hand-drawn and is finished on the computer. I prefer working with my hands. The art (line work) is done by hand. I sketch it, scan it, place it in illustrator, set my type, print it to size, lightbox the sketch onto strathmore 400 cold press bristol board, redraw the sketch but make it all tight and sexy, ink it (with a brush), then scan it and do all my color in Illustrator. Then it’s either offset or screen printed by people who know what they’re doing. I’ve recently posted some tutorials on my site to show people the process.
Straight up computer art leaves me cold. It’s too perfect and has no soul. There’s a skill and respect to doing something by hand. At the end of the day I can sell a piece of original art. I can’t do that with a computer file.

CM: Name a few of your favorite artists.
BE: See #2

CM: If there was one style of art that you could take up what would it be?
BE: Secessionist or Art Nouveau. If we’re talking mediums then I’d like to disappear for a year and learn to paint better.

Find Brian’s work at these places on the web:
BrianEwing.com
ewingbrian on Livejournal
Flickr
brianewing on Blogspot

Some artwork from Brian Ewing: