_{Tym-Benn:  How do you use music to fuel your energy to work? What music is most conducive to your art?}

contraomnes:  Music in general is great for inspiration but work specifically, it's better to use music that has no lyrics in it. Music stimulates your brain, but lyrics make you think about the words, so you don't concentrate on your work. My chemistry teacher from high school said so! But I listen to like, Ratatat, Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells, Alicia Keys, Daft Punk, Justice, and such. I listen to some Japanese stuff to, Quruli, Deerhoof, Pillows, Tokyo Jihen, Pizzicato Five and others.


_{Do you see your work take on a life of its own?}

I suspect they're signing onto my fb when I'm not looking.


_{What do you value most?}

Life. Living is an art. People forget to live and just become absorbed in their trivial bullshit. I work hard and party hard, Bacardi and Cola, can't have one without the other. Hang out with your friends, find someone to love, get a job, watch movies, read books, travel, explore new parts of the city, new restaurants, new ideas, new inventions, and always work, but REALLY work. I look forward to a new Ratatat album as much as finishing my next project-Wildcat is the best work music. My illustrations are as important as seeing Iron Man 2 (Don Cheadle is an AWESOME War Machine.) You should always be both satisfied and proud, probably the two most important things in your life. People age infinitely quicker when they feel no reason to be around.     



_{How do you organize your time and projects?}

Pull all-nighters!

_{In what ways do you surprise yourself?}

Every piece is a surprise! There will always be a disconnect between your ideas and concept and the actual execution, because what most people don't realize is that the process itself influences the idea and concept as you're creating it. How you feel, what you're thinking about or doing, how excited you are about the piece, what mood you're in, all in subtle ways screws with your piece. I could be drawing a dog but if my girl broke up with me, and I haven't slept in like two days and that song I fucking hate comes on the radio at 2 in the morning, it's going to be a cooked dog. In my rice bowl, with some Kikoman.  


_{How do you generate energy and keep your spark alive?}

A bit of competitiveness haha. A bit of competition keeps you nimble, on your toes. Too much competitiveness actually does the reverse, your focus becomes the competition and not your work, where it should be. Also the constant wave of new ideas and work that is always pouring onto the scene, always compels you to work, because it is hopefully stirring existing urges in new and exciting ways. Basically I look at a lot of art books and galleries, OH, and FFFFFound.com! I molest that site as often as possible.



_{What rivers are flowing through you?}

The Hudson. It's in our tap.


_{Which pieces of art are closest to your heart, the ones which you know express the most intimate and attuned connection to your life?}

The ones I had fun doing. You have pieces you do because you have to, you have pieces that are really good, you have pieces that everyone else likes, you have pieces that say something deep, but as an artist, you don't care about that. As a person I care about the pieces that have deeper meaning but as an artist I care about the piece. Even the pieces that might be your best that everyone loves, you might hate. Sometimes people LOVE the piece that you HATE! Haha Most artists will agree that a lot of times the client always pick the sketch you hate. The last minute sketch you just threw in on a whim too! Lots of people love my 'Ten More Minutes, Mom' piece, but I'm getting tired of it.


_{What kind of pressure do you put on yourself? Is this a constant pressure?}

The pressure I put on myself never gets to a negative point, but I don't bullshit. Go hard or go home. Your work should be more important then your degree or your grade. Go hard or go home. If your work sucks, who really cares if you have a degree or you got an A or whether or not you passed your class. School is not the rest of the world, once you're out of the bubble that is your classroom, you're screwed. If all you want is a passing grade and a BFA, art isn't for you. I have more respect for someone who gets and F and has amazing art than someone who has terrible art and an A. Doing the minimum requirement, just getting by...how can you be proud of that? Take pride in what you do. I recently heard a student who said she'd try harder if her class was 3 credits instead of 1 and half. I'd have put all my effort into it if was zero credits. There are no excuses. Go hard or go home.



_{Do you think of art as a form of communication or as a living language?}

I do. It's visual communication. You're conveying ideas through imagery. Lots of people think art is an unnecessary part of society; it feeds no one, quenches no ones thirst, keeps no one warm, or sheltered. But artist influence people in subtle ways they don't even realize are affecting them. The imagery of societies creates the personalities of societies. A little less than two thousand years ago all art was forced to be Christian themed and this lasted all through the Byzantine and Gothic eras, and today the majority of a several billion person population is Christian. Tell me art has no influence on people.


_{What genius have you been inspired by?}

Heads of State is currently having a hefty impression in a design way. I like Typography in general, I have a soft spot for hand drawn type, or hand made type, that's my illustrator bias I guess, haha. Stefan Sagmeister is a pretty influential; his mind is just wrapped around crazy ideas. I love it. I think Chris Ware is a genius of comics and design and even illustration in his own way. As far as fellow illustrators, you have to check out the Pencil Factory. Powerhouse of editorial illustration, period. Sam Weber, Jillian Tamaki, Chris S. Neal, Ted McGrath, Josh Cochran and so on, that's the Pencil Factory. Alessandro Gottardo is pretty awesome too. Prologue and Buck are really fun Motion Graphics houses. For motion stuff, Imaginary Forces and MK12 are cool too. Frank Stockton and James Jean used to be big influences, but the constant comparisons to both of them made me lose my appetite for them. I also want my art to grow of course, and I think it's time I put them behind me.   


_{What burns inside of you?}

Panang Curry at the moment.


_{How do you nourish your body mind and spirit?}

Porn. I get my five a day.