By Jason Thibault

Odds are if you’re wearing a t-shirt with an image created by Drew Millward you’re going to turn some heads. Same goes if you happen to have one of those same images on your wall in the form of a print. Drew draws some of the most original and unique images in the poster and design realm and will only continue to gain more fans and accolades in the future.

What inspired you to first start drawing? Did you struggle in your formative years or did it come easy to you?

Hmmm, I guess I drew quite a lot when I was young, so I suppose there was some sort of natural aptitude for it, but realistically I didn’t draw anything particularly seriously until I started doing posters for shows we used to put on in Leeds. That was around 2004 or so. We needed to advertise the gigs we were booking, so we made posters. After that I just started drawing which created more work for me….

First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.

I honestly can’t remember. I think it was for a poster for a show in London. Probably something Miles of Smiles were putting on. I think they had seen some of my work and just got in touch. I think I got paid about £20 or something, but it did give me a bit of encouragement to try and take it a little more seriously.

Were you self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)

I did have formal training in art. I studied art at GCSE, A-Level and Degree level, but I didn’t really draw at any point. In fact I recall being told that I couldn’t draw when I went for my interview at Leeds Met. In fairness I think they had a point. It was only after degree that I actually started drawing.

Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?

Rotring Isograph Pens
Rotring Technical Pencil
Pentel Pocket Brush
Photoshop
… That is about it. Obviously I occasionally use paints and such, but on a day to day basis that is pretty much my arsenal of weaponry.

How has your toolbox evolved compared to when you first started out?

Quite a lot. I’m still very much drawn towards traditional methods of drawing, so I still use ink and pencils, but simply testing out different pens and finding instruments that make the marks I want has lead me to working with the stuff I use now. I think for quite some time I worked on cartridge paper with a whole bunch of fine liners. After a while I realized that I could get a much more solid line and a purer black by using ink on velum, so that is pretty much now how I work. It allows me to separate images for screen printing in a much more organic way, and gives me the quality of line that I want.

Favorite brand of ink:

Rotring.

Type of paper:

Any tracing paper above about 90gsm.

Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?

It’s tricky to answer to be honest. I think when I started out I was always impressed by a lot of the ‘low-brow’ scene, people like Coop, Robert Williams and a lot of stuff that was from the underground comic scene or hot rod stuff. The quality of the work and the subject matter seemed to appeal to me a lot. I think the idea of the ‘pop surrealism’ is something that has somewhat stuck with me.
I guess now I’m simply drawn to stuff that has an element of craft to it. An awful lot of contemporary illustration strives to get away from the actual craft of drawing. The past few years have seen a back lash against heavily computer generated or manipulated imagery, and people seem to have assumed that drawing like a child is some how the antithesis of that. I like things that can be created by hand, but I also like things to have an element of skill to what is created. People like Jay Ryan and Dan Grzeca who create incredible images that by pass the computer all together.
In short, I’m struggling to name only a few names….

Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job? Could you give us a quick overview of your process?

Doodle. Sometimes an idea can just simply arrive, others it can take a long time sitting about and hoping something turns up.
I will usually start out with a very vague doodle. Something that wouldn’t make any sense to anyone but me. From there I will usually over lay with tracing paper and redraw it until I get an image I’m happy with. Eventually it will be inked, scanned separated, and more often than not, end up being screen printed in some way.

What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?

P.O.S. – Never Better
Nick Cave – (any album really)
Simon and Garfunkel – The Collection
Wolves in the Throne Room – Black Cascade / Two Hunters
Trap Them – Seizures in Barren Praise
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Beware
Mission of Burma – Forget
Sunn 0))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein
Scrotum Grinder – The Greatest Sonic Abomination Ever
Grails – Doomsdayer’s Holiday

What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?

We have just moved house, and for the first time ever I actually have some of my own work up on the walls. I put up my Mogwai poster that is signed by the band…. More a momento than a sign of a narcissistic personality.
I think possibly my favorite piece of art I own is Aaron Horkey’s Converge Japan poster. In terms of contemporary illustrators he is pretty much untouchable.

What’s the last novel you read and last movie that you saw that you’d recommend? Which movies and books do you always return to?

In truth, I am not a big reader. I think the last novel I read was ‘Everything in Illuminated’ which I ended up reading twice while in Holland. Other than that I am working my way through the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft, again. Both certainly worth a look at.
I’m actually not that well up on Films either at present. I pretty much hate going to the cinema since I usually get irritated by at least one person in the screening and can’t enjoy the film. However, I did watch ‘The Hangover’ a few weeks back. It was really quite enjoyable. I think the only thing aside from that that I have seen this year at the cinema is ‘Watchmen’, which I personally thought was awesome. But I’m a bit of a fan boy. I also recently bought a massive Alfred Hitchcock box set, so going back watching a lot of that stuff has been great.

Current and upcoming projects?

More of the same. More prints, more posters, more clothing… same ol’ same ol’. There are other things that I’m not allowed to talk about too, but they should see the light of day before the end of the year.

What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?

As someone who is still waiting the break through the next level, I will let them know if it happens, and how it was done.

For more info on Drew Millward go to his webpage, MySpace page and his Gig Posters page.

By Richard Serrao

I’ve been a fan of  Michael Lark’s work ever since i saw his work on Batman Nine Lives and Gotham Central. He is a rarity in the comics community as he continues to improve and grow as an artist, while remaining humble and willing to talk to others about how he works and give helpful tips. A gentleman and a pro.

First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.

I did a comic called AIRWAVES that was published by Caliber Press. I think it was in 1991 sometime. It was the first comic I’d drawn – I drew it while I was working an absolutely loathsome job in advertising art. I was kinda full of myself at the time, so I shopped it around to everyone. The editor at Piranha Press (sub-imprint of DC) sent me one of the most ridiculously critical and discouraging replies I’ve ever seen! (The book was awful, and I probably deserved it! But I’m surprised that anyone had that much time and energy just to rip me a new one!) Thankfully, I ran into Gary Reed from Caliber at a local convention and he decided to publish it on the spot.

Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)

I went to art school, but studied design, not illustration. So most of my drawing is self-taught. Anything that’s not self-taught was learned by studying and asking a lot of questions of the many talented (much more talented than me!) artists I’ve met in the last 20 years.

Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?

I am constantly experimenting with tools. But my brushes have been pretty consistent the past several years: I like the Pentel Color Brushes, with the replaceable ink cartridge. I like the ink in them, I like the brush tips, and I especially like the lack of cleanup. I use three different sizes, and I keep two of each size going at any time – one that is fully loaded with ink and very wet for filling in larger black areas and creating smooth, thick lines, and another that is a little more dry for finer detail work and also for drybrush effects.

I also use a variety of pens for detail work and for ruling. My favorite is the Pentel Fountain Pentel (I think they’ve recently changed the name). I’ve also recently started trying out the Pilot Fineliner for the same purposes. I also use Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pens with brush nibs for some stuff.

For special purposes I use litho crayons, white china markers, and generic Office Depot white-out pens.

And in the last few years I’ve started doing some digital stuff. I create all my backgrounds digitally, and those replace the pencils. Sometimes I ink them, but often I just manipulate the digital images to match up with my inks, and just combine the digital backgrounds with my inked foregrounds in the finished art.

Type of paper?

I use Strathmore 70 lb. drawing paper (it comes in 50 sheet pads). I like the tooth on that paper better than any illustration or bristol board I’ve ever found. I like a little tooth for when I’m working with drybrush or litho crayon. For a while I used Canson watercolor paper – the 90 lb. student quality, which has a fairly fine tooth for watercolor paper. But it was making things a bit TOO rough for me, so I switched. For penciling, I just use plain ol’ 11 x 17 copy paper, then lightbox when I ink. (I hate working over my own pencils!)

Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?

There are way too many to count, and they vary depending on what I’m working on. I tend to lean towards illustrators more than comics artists. Robert Fawcett is my favorite. Also Austin Briggs, Robert McGinnis and Noel Sickles. As far as comics artists go, I always have my collection of Jorge Zaffino near my drawing table. Alex Toth, Alex Raymond, David Mazzucchelli, and Milton Caniff. As far as current artists go, I’m a big fan of John Paul Leon, Tommy Edwards, Sean Phillips, Duncan Fegredo, and David Aja. I also really like Stuart Immonen, though his current work on Ultimate Spider-Man is more of an influence on my storytelling and composition than it is on my inking.

Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. A quick overview of your process.

Since I pretty much only draw comics, I’ll describe this with that in mind.

I start off with a script, of course. The first step is to visualize the action of the story. I try not to think in terms of individual images, even though many writers tend to write in those terms. I try to picture the flow of the narrative, then pick out the individual images based on that and on the needs of the page. That means I end up changing the imagery a bit from the script, sometimes, but not always. I experiment with different ways of laying out the page, different combinations of long, medium, and close shots, until I’ve settled on something that seems to work.

Once that’s done, I shoot photo reference using myself or one of the models I hire on a case-by-case basis. I also get to work building the 3D models of the sets in Google Sketchup. I have a great assistant that does most of this work for me, based on my direction. She also digitally lays out the panels and rough lettering for me. I always begin my page layouts with the lettering, to make sure that there’s plenty of room for the balloons and that the page flows smoothly.

I then place jpegs of the of the 3D background models into the layouts and rough in all the figures. If I’m penciling, I do the figures in pencil, drop them into the layouts in front of the backgrounds, and send the digital file to my inker, Stefano Gaudiano, to finish. If I’m inking it myself, I print it out and lightbox it onto the board in ink. I generally just pull out my brush and go – do the fine details in each panel first, then work out to the broader shapes and large areas of black. I try to improvise as much as possible at this stage, to keep it fresh and spontaneous.

What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?

I’m currently on a Tom Petty kick. Don’t ask me why. I also play West African drums, and listen to a lot of that. I’m sure it annoys my neighbors.

What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?

I just moved, so there’s nothing on my walls, yet. But I have a few pieces of art that I keep nearby – a Robert Fawcett original, an Austin Briggs original, a Toth, a Sickles “Scorchy Smith” strip from 1935, and a big ol’ Frank Robbins “Johnny Hazzard” Sunday from the early 1970′s.

Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend)?

Currently re-reading the “Illuminatus!” trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea – not “light” reading! Last book was “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher“, a Victorian-era true crime book. Good stuff! Also recently read a book on the murder of J. D. Tippitt, the police officer that Lee Harvey Oswald killed about an hour after assassinating JFK. I’m a Dallas resident, and was into the local history parts of the book. As far as fiction, I also just re-read “Riding the Rap” by Elmore Leonard, and “The Thin Man” by Dashiell Hammett. Those two are probably my two favorite authors in the world. Clearly, I like to read about crime. I wonder what that says about me…?

Current and upcoming projects?

I’m not allowed to say anything about any of my upcoming projects, yet. I’m currently doing something written by Brian Bendis, and after that I’m going to be doing a run on one of my all-time favorite Marvel characters, so I’m pretty excited!

What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?

The thing to remember about drawing is that it’s a verb, not a noun. The ONLY reason to be doing it is because you like the verb. If you want to have done a drawing, then you’re doing it for the wrong reason. And if you’re doing it only to get paid, then you’re doing it for the wrong reason. The process is all that matters, and you’re going to be spending all your time doing the verb, so you better enjoy that part of it!

If you’re aspiring to do this for a living, you need to be prepared to start working at the minor league level. If you think you’re going to go straight to inking or doing art for Marvel and DC, I’m afraid that’s not how it usually works, at least in my experience. It takes a while to develop your own style and to cultivate the discipline to work at their level. So, self-publish, work for small publishers, and get as much experience as you can – it will pay off in a longer and more satisfying career in the end. Those who go straight from obscurity to stardom rarely have much longevity, which is too bad. Were they given more time to develop, that probably wouldn’t happen.

I think the other important part is to discover how YOU draw – I see way too many young artists who are just trying to draw like they’ve always seen in comics. Stop looking at comics, and start looking at real life. Then translate what you see into black and white lines and shapes. It takes lots and lots of practice, and most of us will never get it “right” 100% of the time. Shoot, I’m lucky if I come close 20% of the time. The constant trying and pushing forward and learning and growing is what matters.

Find out more about Michael Lark at his MySpace Page and check out more of his original art at Splash Page Art.

By Jason Thibault

Tim Lane blew me away earlier in the year with his hardcover collection of stories, Abandoned Cars which was published by Fantagraphics. His intricate linework married to gritty stories of loners, criminals and doomed lovers is a match made in heaven for those of us that like our tales to be a little harder. On top of that he uses his incredible draftsmanship for illustration work as well.

I was excited to land an interview with him for our Masters of Ink series. He was extremely helpful in getting me some new artwork and comic pages to present to you.

What inspired you to first start drawing? Did you struggle in your formative years or did it come easy to you?

It’s hard to say what first inspired me to draw. It was a long time ago. I suppose it was a kid’s desire to make something relatively real out of the internal, private world of the imagination.

First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.

Although I make my living as an illustrator, I have rarely worked professionally on any comics that weren’t my own. Of the few I have done, my first was for Bob Callahan Studios in San Francisco. One of the first things in my adult life that re-attracted my attention to the power of comics was the graphic adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass, published by Neon Lit. Callahan Studios was involved in that project, so I contacted him. I worked on the graphic adaptation of a short story by Zora Neale Hurston for a book of graphic short stories Callahan was putting together. I’ve never seen that book in print, but I got paid for it. I think I was twenty-four at the time.

Were you self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)

I guess you could say that I was both self-taught and formally educated. I didn’t go to college with the idea of becoming a comic artist, so most of my formal education wasn’t focused on the comics medium. I did, however, study fine arts and illustration, and plenty of that training crossed over into the work I do in comics. Most of what I know about comics is self-taught, though, and I’ve found that most of that education has come through studying the work of other comic artists. It seems the more diversity, the better – there is always something to learn from other comic artists, no matter how different their styles might be. As for mentors: I’d say that there have always been instructors who have made the educational process rewarding. I think the most critical and instrumental part of my formal art education could be tapered down to my first two years at Pratt Institute, which were concentrated very heavily on formal, traditional artistic practices: life drawing, anatomy; light, color and design, etc. Pratt was a great school for that, and the foundation instructors were exceptional. The experience left an indelible mark on me. But, speaking specifically in terms of mentors in the comics idiom, Glenn Head, the editor of Hotwire, has been an great influence and friend: He is a fountainhead of information. There’s never been a question I’ve had about anything pertaining to comics that he couldn’t answer. I’m very indebted to him for his interest in my work and his willingness to play an active roll in the evolution of my comic work.

Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?

My tools are Micron pens, old-fashioned nibs, any kind of brushes, and acrylic white. I use 2B pencils and kneaded erasers. I also use whiteout, but try to stay away from it because I think you can always tell when it’s been used, especially with detailed work – the flow and flair of the line differs depending on your surface, and that always bugs me.

How has your toolbox evolved compared to when you first started out?

It hasn’t changed all that much. I’ve messed around with different types of paper, but not much else.

Favorite brand of ink:

Any ink, as long as it’s black.

Type of paper:

I have a weird relationship with paper. I’m really particular about what I want, and I’ve yet to find the perfect paper. I like an extremely smooth surface, but don’t like my finished work to be on Vellum. The best I’ve found for my needs is Strathmore smooth. But it seems like I cross my fingers with each new sheet – it’s never exactly the same as the last.

Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?

I’ll limit my answer to comic artists for the sake of brevity. As I mentioned, I try to take all that I can from all the comics I get my hands on, but, if there is one comic artist I continually return to for inspiration, it’s Will Eisner, specifically the Spirit, and even more specifically the work he did on the Spirit in the late 1940’s. I constantly find renewed influence in his work. Other artists include the work Jack Cole produced for True Crime comics; all of the EC artists, but especially Johnny Craig and Al Feldstein. I’m very influenced by comics of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s – both in tone and look. I’m also very attracted to artists who I think of as extraordinary cartoonists, but whose styles are based less in realism, but have a strange energy about it. I’m thinking of Chester Gould and Fletcher Hanks. I often find myself pouring over their stuff again and again. I find Dick Tracy from its inception in the early 1930’s through the 1950’s especially enigmatic and imaginative. It goes off the deep end for me in the 60’s – I’m not so much into the space adventures. But those early villains and their appeal remain with me like few other comic characters do.

More current influences include Charles Burns, who I think is one of the great stylists of all time; Daniel Clowes, who I think is an incredible writer; Kim Deitch, Spain Rodriquez, The Hernandez brothers, Adriane Tomine…the usual suspects, you might say.

Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?

Again, the only freelance work I do is as an illustrator. Personally, I can’t imagine making a living out of putting the time and energy it takes to produce comics into work that isn’t my own. I’ve done it, but have never really liked it much. Nothing against artists who do: A lot of that work I admire – I loved David Mazzuchelli’s work on Batman with Frank Miller, for example; and I’m knocked out by Lee Bermejo’s work on Batman, as well. I can also understand the attraction to working on a pre-established character and developing it into something new or even personal. Actually, I’ll contradict myself here: Come to think of it, I illustrated a Bizarro World story about the Justice League for DC once, and thought it was great fun drawing famous characters like Batman and Superman – these iconic heroes that had been around since the beginning of the superhero comic. But I couldn’t do that on a regular basis.

As for illustration jobs, my process is pretty standard: Once a client contacts me, I work out a series of concept sketches and send them off to be considered. Once I get the go-ahead on one of the concepts, I move to final art. The nice thing about freelancing as an illustrator is that, no matter how big the job, it never takes as long (for me) to finish an illustration as it does a comic story or, much more, a graphic novel. If you factor in all of the research, the scripting, the concepting, the penciling and finally inking that goes into a graphic short story, it’s incredibly time consuming. You can be working on a story for months. Freelance jobs don’t take that much time, and I find it a nice break to produce something more quickly to counter-balance the more time consuming comic work.

What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?

Right now I’m listening to a lot of Motown and Doo-Wop. I always move in circles through music and return to things. Right now I’m circling those two. I’m also listening to a lot of old radio dramas, This American Life, and Coast-to-Coast AM, streamed through the Internet. All three of those are very entertaining and often fodder for new story ideas. Two constants that remain for me, and have heavily influenced my work, are Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. In fact, Springsteen’s album “Nebraska” played a very big role in turning me on to the possibility of writing graphic short stories that, when placed together in a volume, speak of a larger story. Nebraska is a very stripped down acoustic album that he produced on a 4-track in his bedroom. It’s a collection of beautiful stories that, as a whole, paint a picture of one side of the American experience. To my mind, it’s one of the greatest albums ever made. He’s done the same sort of things on the other “folk” albums he’s produced: Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust. But Nebraska is my favorite. The characters in the songs on that album really stay with me. When you’re a fan of a musician who is a storyteller, you stick with them and become an enthusiastic observer of the world they create through their music.

What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?

I own an original cover illustration by Glenn Head for an anthology called Rosetta, and an illustration by Danny Hellman for the back cover of his anthology, Legal Action Comics. I also have an early painting by the artist Royden Watson, who I think is one of the great young painters working today. Other than that, I have posters of a young Bob Dylan during his Highway 61 Revisited days, Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in the movie, The Hustler; and a poster of James Dean. I also have a poster of a picture by Robert Doisneau.

What’s the last novel you read and last movie that you saw that you’d recommend? Which movies and books do you always return to?

Literary fiction and film are as inspirational to me as comics. In the process of developing and refining my skills as a graphic storyteller, there are endless sources of influence out there that are beyond the confines of comics proper. Film and fiction are two of those. I take in as many books and films as I can. It’s tough, of course: I find that the greatest amount of time necessarily goes into the actual drawing of many, many pictures in little sequential boxes. But, for me, the writing, research, and the collecting of reference material plays a big role, too. Right now I’m reading the short stories of T.C. Boyle – “Without a Hero” and “Tooth and Claw”. I’ve been focusing on the short story for about the last year, really trying to learn all I can about what makes for a compelling short piece. In this capacity, I’ve returned to Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff quite a bit, and Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son.

I’m a nut about movies. I love actors and the craft or art of acting. The last movies I’ve watched are Al Pacino’s The Panic in Needle Park and Dog Day Afternoon, as well as James Cagney’s White Heat and The Public Enemy. I’ve been interested in Pacino’s early films and Cagney’s gangster movies. I’m interested in film and comics as art, as well as reflections of a particular cultural place and time. Movies that I often return to, though, are harder to nail down. It depends on my mood. I watch a lot of black and white movies because I find them so aesthetically beautiful. I return to Paul Newman and Marlon Brando movies quite a bit – movies like the Hustler and On the Waterfront. I’ll watch the last thirty minutes of Last Tango in Paris once a week or so just because I’m so awestruck by incredible Brando’s performance – I think it’s the best acting I’ve ever seen. Also Humphrey Bogart movies. I love movies like Dead Reckoning and The Big Sleep. I watch Midnight Cowboy about once every two weeks; Dustin Hoffman is incredible in as Ratzo Rizzo. On the other hand, if I’m in the mood for comedy, I watch a lot of Woody Allen, the movies of Wes Anderson and the Coen Brothers. I watch way too many movies.

Current and upcoming projects?

I’m working on FOLKTALES, the next book of short graphic stories following ABANDONED CARS. I’m also producing stories for HOTWIRE #3, MOME, and an anthology called PLEASANT DREAMS, edited by Peter Wild. all of these stories are eventually meant for FOLKTALES.

What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?

In some ways, I don’t think that anybody who is really bent on succeeding – whatever that means to them exactly – in an artistic endeavor really needs any advice. By that, I mean the toughest seem to survive one way or another, no matter what, burning on their own steam. One thing I would suggest is to remember this phrase, because it’s helped me: Learn to breathe underwater. I’m not trying to sound like a smart-ass, and obviously I’m speaking figuratively. But this phrase, coined by a friend of mine a long time ago, makes a lot of sense to me, especially when you are starting out. It took me over ten years before I was able to publish a graphic novel. I had worked on various ideas – mainly ideas meant for comic book serialization (or what, I guess, are now called pamphlets) and received nothing but rejection letters. I had much better luck freelance illustrating than I ever did in comics, but comics meant the most to me, so I kept going. Slowly – largely thanks to Danny Hellman – my work started appearing in a few anthologies, while at the same time I was producing and self-publishing my own comic book, Happy Hour in America. It reminds me a little of Chester Gould’s experience trying to get the Chicago Tribune interested in his work. Fantagraphics is my equivalent to Gould’s Chicago Tribune – the publisher I wanted the most, whose artists I admired the most, etc. It took Gould a decade before he came up with Dick Tracy – originally called Plainclothesman Tracy – and God only knows why anybody sticks with anything so long with very little positive reinforcement. You do what seems the impossible and most absurd: you learn to breathe underwater, and revel in it. Get drunk on the water in your lungs. Cultivate a functional level of positive insanity. And develop tough skin. Stick with it if only because your reasons are inexplicable. I really think there’s something to the idea that an artist doesn’t choose his/her medium so much as the medium chooses the artist. And God only knows what tomorrow will bring. So stick with it, don’t get discouraged, and delight in your successes with humility and live in the present as much as possible when you have success; live for tomorrow when you’re dealing with failure. If you aren’t an overnight success or ever become regarded as a genius in your lifetime, you’re in very good company, historically speaking. Hopefully this will sustain your lean years. The main thing is that you believe in what you’re doing. That’s, to me, what is most important.

For more info on Tim Lane head to:

http://jackienoname.wordpress.com/
http://www.jackienoname.com/