Tell us a little about yourself and what steps you took to get here.

I am an artist/designer living in Austin, TX. I kind of just do what I feel like, I tend to fixate on specific things, and when I do something I do my best to make it as good (and as simple) as I possibly can.

What are your steps for starting a portrait? Talk us through your processes.

You know when something catches your eye? A "shiny object" an attractive girl, a charismatic pop star, you just have a natural inkling toward it, that is how it usually starts, it's somewhat fickle. I usually do some research on that person, find images to use as references, and then try to capture their "essence" in a minimalistic but engaging way.

What's your go-to source of inspiration outside of art or music?

I love good conversation, I love just chatting with other people who are the thinking type. Also I love listening to stories in radio form, its hard to find interesting stuff but television is so dumbed down and books are so detached, radio has an intimacy involved with it, its mentally engaging but also can be very heartfelt if done well.

What's your personal favorite piece of work you've created?

It seems like its always the last one you create, right now I am pretty happy with my self portrait, I feel like it pushed me a little further into my own style and captured my overall playful jadedness.



What blogs or magazines do you turn to for creative inspiration.

I look at quite a few, but I have to say if I could only go to one ffffound.com is absolute gold when it comes to inspiration and creativity. Its like going into every antique store, art gallery, design agency and taking a look around every time you go to that site.

What's your all-time favorite piece of art or design. (*not created by you)

It would definitely be something by my favorite artist Jonathan Viner, his paintings are unbelievable but its very difficult to pick just one cause I love most of what he creates. I own "Eye for an Eye" so that is definitely one of my favorite pieces of art, it still moves me every time I walk by it. I'd probably sell my bed before I parted with that painting



What's your current creative obsession.

I've always been really into social experiments, I cant really explain it but its more or less about what happens as a result of what you do instead of what you did. I'm really trying to get better at it so I don't alienate the masses.

Tell us a little about yourself and what steps you took to get here:

I'm originally from England, now living in Austin, Texas. As a kid I listened to a lot of old-school hip hop, which got me interested in graffiti and letter forms. Finally, one of my early art teachers in college looked at my reproduction Funkadelic album cover and accused me of being a graphic designer, which was a term I wasn't familiar with at the time. I think I resisted at first, but I soon learned to embrace the truth.

You use some amazing color combinations. Do you have a resource you like to use for inspiration on palettes?

I troll the blogs to jump-start my brain at every stage of the creative process, but mostly it's trial and error - a sort of Zen process. The colors tell you when they're right.

What's your go-to source of inspiration outside of art or music?

I live in books and movies. I'm rarely on top of what's going on in the world beyond those mediums - not really out of choice, but because I've always got my head in the clouds. A great story almost always inspires me to create something.

What 's your all-time favorite piece of art or design?

I dig the Ogden plumbing logo by Matt Everson. It's a perfect logo. I hope I'm never approached to do a logo for a plumbing company, because my thinking will be stunted from the start. I'm also deeply enamored of Alex Trochut's work, although I don't think I could pick just one example.

What's your current creative obsession?

Lettering - a return to my roots. It comes in waves, but I'm occasionally so obsessed with letter forms that I dream about them. It's sad really. I've also been writing a lot lately, which I do mostly for myself but which has been really cathartic.

Thanks for your time Simon.

Tell us a little about yourself and what steps you took to get here:

I'm an Iowa boy who left the comfortable anonymity of the countryside and a possible law career to try and follow what I thought was something that would make me happy. Two cities, four agencies, and countless hours of work later, I feel like I finally am doing what I was meant to do. It's been a long journey, and it's not even close to finished.

What's your go-to source of inspiration outside of art or music?

Anything from times past. I find an incredible amount of inspiration just by experiencing things from a different era. I love to read old books on industrial design, archetecture, whatever from the 50's, 60's, 70's. Obviously the challenges have changed, but within those clashes of context we can find new ways to approach new problems.


What's your personal favorite piece of work you've created?

Just finished it actually: - a music video and accompanying website for Doomtree's Mike Mictlan. It encompasses the entirety of my training as a designer and artist, and was a collaborative piece in every step of the way. It took conscious efforts in graphic design and direction, motion graphics, time-based art, music, typography, web design, promotion, etc. It really wrapped up everything I've been trying to learn into one package, super proud.


What blogs or magazines do you turn to for creative inspiration?

I always have trouble answering this sort of question. I read a lot, actually I buy a lot of books and read them when I can. There's probably more books on my shelf I haven't cracked yet than there are books that have been read. I don't really read many magazines. Most of the content is available online, the only advantage is the physical nature. Blogs, most of the typical ones. Swiss Miss, But Does It Float, Form Fifty Five, Draplin, Kindra Murphy, all sorts of stuff. Keeping up with it all is intimidating though I need an RSS Reader Reader (Fever maybe?)

What 's your all-time favorite piece of art or design.
(*not created by you)
Fuuuuck. Hardest question ever. Probably the original Avant Garde logo by Herb Lubalin. Or his Families logo. Definitely Lubalin though.



What's your current creative obsession.

Working with people. The discussion and the compromise is a lost art. I find it amazing to work with people on projects and just get your hands dirty. Discuss, disagree, argue, yell at each other, get frustrated, fight, work late, comp dinners, make up and hug, and eventually make something amazing. I just love working with people. Maybe not all the time, but what I learn from the experience about process and myself always stays with me, and I appreciate that regardless of the outcome. Gotta be okay with failing sometimes.



Thanks so much Greg for your awesome work and words of inspiration. Keep on rockin' brotha!