The following is the featured artist of the month interveiw
with Larry Carlson reprinted from PixArt magazine:
Pixart: So Larry, what applications do you use for your
art? I noticed that a lot of the images are manipulated
photos...are these photos that you've taken or ones from
CD-ROMS, or are you like me...always grabbing the free
stuff off the web??
Larry: I work on a PowerMac 7600,with both a mouse and
the Wacom tablet simultaneously with both hands.The main
software that I use is PhotoShop 4.I also use Kai's Power
Tools,Bryce2,Painter,and Texturescape. I get my images
from anywhere I see them,advertisements in magazines,comic
books,paintings,stock photo
CD-ROMs,even scraps of trash I find in the street.Sometimes
I take photos
myself,and now I am having professional photographers take
photos of
subjects I want to use. I sample a lot of stuff off the
web- it is a vast source of
free and sometimes very weird images.
Pixart:When looking through your art the same Question
kept coming
up..."How did he ever get these ideas?". Truthfully
I'm an artist but struggle to
be as creative as you. Are these ideas that pop into your
head or are they
just the products of playing around on the computer and
getting lucky? What
steps do you take when creating these pieces, is it methodic
or spontaneous?
Larry: Ideas for my art come from dreams,hallucinations,looking
at other
artist's work and a strong need to make something new that
has never been
seen before. I work on my digital art every day for at
least five or six hours.
My style is both methodic and spontaneous. Sometimes I
see a clear vision in
my mind's eye of the image I want to make and then I set
out and find the
images and computer effects to make it happen.Most of the
time I just
experiment and have fun with combinations of filters,layers,and
3-D
rendering. I usually have about forty to fifty unfinished
works on my hard
drive that I work on for a while and then put away until
the inspiration hits me
to work on it again. So most of my finished pieces are
the result of months of on and off work.
Pixart:What is your background in art...did you draw a
lot as a kid, or is
computer art your first attempt at portraying your ideas
with a medium??
Larry: When I was a kid I was always scribbling stuff.Since
I was about
thirteen I have seriously studied drawing,painting,sculpture
and art history. I
graduated from Cooper Union School of Art in New York City
about three years ago, but it was not until my third year
at art school that I fell
in love with computer art.
Pixart: As a child, what type of roll did others play in
the development of
your art, in senses of encouragement etc
Larry: My mother has always been very supportive and encouraging
in all my
artistic adventures.
Pixart: What artist would you say is your favorite or most
respected?
Larry: It's hard to pick one artist as my favorite,different
artists turn me on in
different ways.Right now I am getting a lot of inspiration
from the collage
paintings of Romare Bearden. I am also really into the
portraits of Picasso.And
the colors and style of the rock poster art of the sixties
influence me in a big way.
Pixart: With all the tools that people can buy now it seems
that we're making
it easier for the "non-artist" to make money
in your industry, what are your
thoughts on this and what do you think sets us apart from
them?
Larry: I think its very obvious when you see digital images
by people who
only do computer effects and don't pay attention to
composition,color,content,lighting,etc.- the web is full
of that junk. The artist
who uses the hardware and software to make something new
and innovative-
that's rare and always stands out from the rest. Any one
can buy a paintbrush
but it doesn't mean you can paint like Van Gogh -that takes
practice and
vision,something you can't buy.
Pixart: What are your thoughts about the importance of
artists in the business
industry and where that relationship will be going in e
future with the
development of the web and it's future?
Larry: As bigger and better forms of technology develop,as
virtual reality and
3-D environments become more common place on the web and
in everyday
life- it is the talented,visionary artists who will give
it shape and who will
transform all these circuits and numbers into real feelings
and ideas humans
can interact with.Left only in the hands
of business types and without artists, cyberspace would
be a very
boring,lifeless place.
Pixart: As a web designer I often tell people that I just
play on the internet
and draw pictures all day, what is your explanation of
your job/hobby when others inquire?
Larry:My basic job description is digital artist -I follow
my own vision and
try to make new creations everyday.
Pixart: Recently I have had the opportunity to do graphics
on a PC which I've
never done before...I've learned that they're pretty much
the same, but I tend
to still like my Mac even with it's multithreaded shortcomings,
what are
your thoughts about your computer and the future of your
relationship withApple.
Larry: I love the Apple computer, I turn it on in the morning
and usually
work on it all day. It has become an extension of my mind.-I've
never had any
problems with it and I look forward to the future when
we will have
unlimited RAM,a zillion megs and the computer will keep
evolving into the
enlightened brain that it really is.
Check out more great art in Gallery1,Gallery2 and Gallery3,
Have a close encounter with Larry's portraits in WonderWomen,
chill out in Larry's Links,or go back Home