It’s finally here! Vectortown interviews John Schwegel, we hope you enjoy the read. Please feel free to post comments!

How Long have you been working as an illustrator and designer? Can you tell us a bit about what you do day to day?

I graduated from The Hussian School of Art in 1996 where I majored in illustration. Soon after I started working at a newspaper, designing ads. Then, I began working as a production artist for an advertising agency. I’m still at the same agency doing web/interactive design work. Every once in a while they let me do some illustration work. I’m pretty much a 9 to 5er most days…(wake up screaming, shower, eat, go to work, eat, work some more, go home and eat again, play with the dog and ferrets, feed the fishes, draw something, watch some cartoons, kill a few zombies, go to bed, sleep, get kicked in the face by dreaming dog, etc…the usual stuff). So, I’ve been designing for about 10 years and drawing pretty much all of my life. I started doing freelance illustration work about three or four years ago. I try to work on personal pieces whenever I find some free time, which is pretty rare these days. I used to be a bit of an insomniac, so I would get a lot of work done in the wee hours of the night. Unfortunately, I’m loving sleep these days, so I’ve been doing less personal work.

So Adobe Illustrator is your weapon of choice. What made you choose this software?

I’m insane. Most people I talk to hate Illustrator with a passion. I think you need to be slightly insane to use it as much as I do. For me, it just fit my traditional drawing style better. I’ve always enjoyed drawing more than painting, and illustrator seems to be more drawing oriented. I love the total control I have over every little detail and I can adjust lines, colors and shapes easily. It’s also cool that I can resize my work to any size without loosing any quality. Oh…and I’m insane.

Can you give us an idea of what your work area is like? Do you have your own studio where you work on your personal work?

I have an office at home that is usually pretty messy. Although, it is much cleaner these days now that I live with my girlfriend. Before I met her I was a complete slob. She helped me realize I’d be able to find things much easier if I cleaned up every once in a while and organized things. So, now most of my mess is restricted to my computer’s hard drive. I have a G4 mac with an outdated scanner and a fairly new HP photosmart printer. There is a wacom tablet on my desk which I rarely use. One of these days I’ll get around to experimenting with it. Until then, I’ll keep using my trusty optical mighymouse. I usually have my iTunes playing while working and a nice view of the pond my GF and I just put in our back yard. I have a lot of Invader Zim and Nightmare Before Christmas crap surrounding me and a few of my framed prints. There are a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy art books laying around for when I need a bit of inspiration. There are a ton of traditional art supplies and a drafting table gathering dust.

You have an obvious love for humor and monsters in your art, what is it about these subjects that interests you?

It’s probably because of my love for cartoons and sci-fi. To me, they are the only things worth watching on TV, except for nature shows, which are also cool, especially if they’re about frogs, turtles or monkeys. Anything realistic or dramatic just puts me to sleep. I have to live with reality every day, so why would I want to spend my free time drawing realistic things. Usually when I draw I just draw for myself, even if it’s a freelance job. I just like to draw things that make me smile, or say “hey, that looks pretty cool”. If other people like it too, it’s a bonus and it means that they have good taste like me. Most people tend to think I live in my own little fantasy world, which is somewhat true. I try to see the humor in everything and try not to take life to seriously. And monsters are cool.

Do you have any hints or tips you could give to aspiring illustrators that may help them getting started in the field?

I think practice and experimenting are the most important things. And a good knowledge of traditional art is also a big help. I would recommend a good college or a trade school, to help get your foot in the door, if possible. Illustration is a tough field to break in to, at least from my point of view. I’m still trying. So, it’s always a good idea to have a back-up plan. I’ve been lucky enough to work in a somewhat related field at my day job. I’m pretty much a slacker when it comes to promoting my work, which is something I need to improve on. There are a ton of trade shows and conventions out there that are good for networking. One of these days, I’ll start attending them and pimping my work. I have been pretty good at getting my work seen online. I pretty much post my work wherever I can (if it’s free). I also post to a lot of art/illustration/design forums. These are great places to get feedback on your work and talk to others in the field. And every once in a while I’ll get a job from someone who has seen my work on one of the sites. Caffeine is your friend.

How long on the average does it take you to complete an illustration? (Can you give us an idea of the process?)

I’ll usually start off with a few quick sketches, anywhere from a half hour to a couple of hours. Then, tighten things up a bit once I’ve drawn a layout I like, another half hour or so. Sometimes, I’ll just use the sketches as a rough guide sitting next to me and redraw everything in Illustrator. If it’s a more detailed design, I’ll scan in my sketches and draw on top of them in Illustrator. This process could be anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days depending on how detailed the design is and how picky I’m being. My personal work usually takes me longer because I’m not in a hurry to meet a deadline or anything, and I try to get things just right, often experimenting with different colors, shading, and styles along the way. For freelance work, I usually have a specific look in mind before starting, so things go a bit faster.

Then there are the other times when I just start messin around in Illustrator with nothing in mind. I love to draw eyes, so I’ll just draw some eye shapes and see what evolves from them. These are usually my favorite pieces, because I have no plan and I’m usually pleasantly surprised by the results. So, basically it takes about 3 to 24 hours, give or take an hour or 12, to be exact. OK…I have no concept of time when I’m working.

Does all your work end up Digital or do you have some finished natural media peices?

Most of my work lately is all digital. I used to do a lot of traditional work with acrylics, inks and colored pencils, which I love. Unfortunately, I haven’t really had time to work with them recently. I also tend to be very messy and I’ve been trying to keep the office clean. Hopefully I’ll get back into it soon. I just need to find a spot where I can be a slob and splatter paint everywhere. I recently painted a terra cotta frog planter with acrylics which turned out pretty cool. I also try to paint a few pumpkins every Halloween. Does that count?

What is it about vector graphics that interests you so much, or is it that you hate using Photoshop ;) ?

I think I answered most of that in the 2nd question. I just like the control. I do not hate PS. I use it to color scanned sketches and ink drawings every once in a while. I’ve just never really wrapped my mind around the whole digital painting thing. Although, it’s something I’d like to experiment with once I figure out that crazy dust-covered tablet thing on my desk.

If you were suddenly given the ability to fly, what would be the first thing you do or first place you would go?

Who said I can’t fly?

Thanks John for a great interview, I know I can’t wait to see more work from you :) For the readers please drop by John’s Site and take a look at more of his wonderful illustrations!