Featured Prints Artist: Ian Field-Richards

Location: United Kingdom
Speciality: Horror
Contact: zilla774 [at] deviantart [dot]com

In this thrilling interview we are featuring Digital Artist and Graphic Designer Ian Field-Richards a.k.a. ¢zilla774. Although his mostly sinister horror imagery might suggest otherwise, Ian is really just a normal talented guy who has found his way of getting those little demons out of his head. Deviously artistically, creatively skillfully, all thrilla, no filla. That's Zilla!




Let's get started with this thrilla. Tell us a bit about yourself, Mr. Zilla.

/scratches head and searches for something exciting to say about himself.

Ok, erm. Well…. I… er….. *cough* erm…. I’m just this guy right? Not very exciting really… What do you want to know? I’m about this tall

/motions in air with hand

and about this round

/makes swirling motions with hand

and I used to have hair on my head

/points to shaved head

in fact, all my hair is now making a break for freedom down my back, like some sort of prison break where the only path to freedom is the sewers… but anyway I digress.
/scratches head and searches for something exciting to say about himself.


When and how did you first step into the realms of graphic design and digital art?

I guess I’ve always shown artistic leanings really, right from a very early age. My preferred form of relaxation was first Lego, then painting, then those little metal figures, the Warhammer ones, which I collected, painted and finally made from scratch. After that it was a natural progression to digital art with the advent of powerful enough computers.


What kind of formal education have you obtained?

Apart from scraping through my GCSEs and A Levels I also went to Art College. For those that are not from the UK, let me just explain GCSEs and A levels… GCSEs are ludicrously easy exams which lull you in to a false sense of intelligence. A levels on the other hand are insanely hard and are designed to break the weak of will.

People are always surprised when I say that I didn’t do any form of art at school. The reason for this is two fold; firstly I hated the way they taught art at school. I mean, do I really need to know the history of art to be able to draw? I didn’t think so. Plus drawing flowers in the style of whichever artist the teacher was into at the time really didn’t float my particular boat. Secondly, and more importantly for the adolescent Zilla; my parents wanted me to do French instead. Je ne say pas pourquoi, je ne peux pas parler français, de sorte qu'ait été une perte.

After the hell of exams and failing to learn a foreign language, I ended up going to Art College, where I studied Audio Visual Design at Bournemouth College of Art and Design. This was a varied course designed to give a wide grounding in various media related subjects ranging from set design, music production, photography and journalism through to radio, television and film.

Interesting Zilla trivia: I was on the same course as Edgar Wright, the director of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Look at me now… oh yes…. Feel the burn.

The course was ultimately supposed to let me try as many things as possible before finding out which area to specialize in. What in reality it did was to tell me that I wasn’t set out to work in film or television. I just didn’t click with it enough to go on and do another 3 years diploma in a specialist subject. So I went and found work as a Graphic Designer, something I had done before going to college as a summer job. So I guess Graphic Design chose me, more than the other way around. It was the only thing I was really interested in, or had any flair in, at the time and bills needed to be paid.

"People are always surprised when I say that I didn’t do any form of art at school."





Do you remember what exactly your first attempts at digital art were?

Yes I do. It was using the first version of Photoshop, on a Mac IIfx computer, and it was a wedding anniversary card for my parents. I scanned in a photo of them and then went to town doctoring it. Should have been a warning sign for the future really MWAHAHAHAHAH!

You never forget your first time *sob*


How did you acquire your artistic skills? Did you take classes or used tutorials, or are you completely self-taught?

I’m 95% self taught, 5% tutorial driven I suppose. My design training was on the job, and my art is as a result of just messing around in Photoshop. Anything I really needed to know or found interesting enough to learn was garnered from tutorials. But I quickly found I had a nack for finding my own way through problems. That and the fact that I’m WAY too lazy to learn anything that way. This has probably contributed to my style a huge amount.


What has deviantART done for you and your art?

What hasn’t it done would be easier to answer!! DeviantART has become the reason I do personal art. I mean, I did art before, but it never got finished, I’d just try techniques and not complete anything, but when dA came along I suddenly had a focus. I got the drive to prove that I was at least as good as most of the artists on here. It was like suddenly finding a place you belong, a place you can call home, where like-minded people didn’t judge you for what or who you were. If you look back through my art you can chart my progress and the shift in my skills. Right from day one through getting my Wacom tablet to today’s work. It’s awesome. I love this place!

I’ve also met loads of really neat people at the UK devmeets, people I wouldn’t have otherwise met had it not been for dA.





How has art impacted your life, and how has life impacted your art?

Like most artists, art IS my life. It’s now such a huge part of who I am it’s difficult to separate it out. I work as a web designer as my day job, I work for dA as a part of the creative staff and any spare time after that is spent making personal art.

Life has inevitably influenced my design, with my work becoming increasingly darker as I find ways to get my day to day stresses out. My relationship breakdown and subsequent divorce had a lot to do with that I guess, but did result in some great outpourings of freakish horror.


Did your former role as a Gallery Director on deviantART influence your own art in a way or another?

Well, I suppose they must have in some way or another. But I don’t think I consciously noticed a shift. I think, looking at my gallery, that it helped my confidence to post other works, like I actually submitted some prose, plus I started doing more tutorials and dA focused things like the little code widgets and skins and stuff, which were a lot of fun to do.

One of the things I suffer most from in life is a huge lack of confidence and self-belief. Being a Gallery Director definitely helped say I was accepted and respected as a person and that helped a heck of a lot.


Why Dark Art? What inspires your mostly dark and sinister artworks?

Ha! I knew this was coming… Ok, so I could say something really creepy and make out like I’m a freak or something, or I could just say that actually I like pushing the boundaries to see what makes people go “eww”. In reality it’s also because I really dig doing all the little details in the textures. I just love getting into all the detail and working up the boils and ruptures and peeling skin and stuff. I so totally relate to Slarty Bartfast and his need to put the crinkly bits on Norway. I would so have got lost in that and gone over the top.

Also, apart from using horror art as a way of getting the demons out of my head, I’ve always been attracted to that style of art. It’s reflected in my taste of music and films too.





Who has inspired you to create? What art do you look at that makes you want to work?

Oh, all sorts of stuff. Sometimes the obvious, like Giger sure, or Wayne Barlowe, or Brom, but most times it’s really abstract stuff that can trigger an idea. I see all sorts of neat shit just day to day. Some of that actually makes it into the page sometimes, if I get to a computer quick enough.

A lot of the time when I’m lacking in inspiration, a quick browse through dA can spark off ideas. There’s a huge wealth of art right under our noses. But then we know that already don’t we…


From the idea to the final image, can you walk us through a typical artwork of yours?

Hmm... tricky, because each one can be different. Generally though I’ll have an idea of what I want to draw in my head. I’ll first try doing a rough thumbnail of it and work out what I can realistically achieve with my skills. It’s at this stage that the work is make or break. If I get a good vibe, the piece is generally fairly well roughed out in a few hours. If it doesn’t work then it’ll fail in the first ten minutes. I have lots of work not completed on my harddrive from failures of this kind. If it’s successful then the second sitting generally adds the details and refines the concepts. I rarely need a third sitting, but it has been known. My biggest failing is probably my impatience to finish a piece.

"If I get a good vibe, the piece is generally fairly well roughed out in a few hours."


How important are third party art resources to your works and what are your requirements for using them?

When I first got into horror art it was essential that I had good stock. It filled in the gaps which my skills couldn't cover. Now though, I'm using stock less and less. Mostly I use one image as reference for a pose and then attempt to paint out from there. It's helping my skills to practice in this way, so this is definitely a technique I would recommend to others. Don't be afraid to rely on stock if you have to, just try to use your own skills more over time. Worked for me anyway.

"Don't be afraid to rely on stock if you have to, just try to use your own skills more over time."





Do you feel that digital art is taken seriously as a medium by the rest of the art world?

More and more so yes, definitely. Especially with how popular art communities like dA are getting.


What does Zilla enjoy outside of his killa arts?

You think I have time to do other stuff? Heh, well, I spend time gaming, or keeping fit; I swim a kilometre everyday (not that it's working on my figure much… but hey, fitness is more important). I also play guitar a fair amount still, not as much as when I was in a band, but it's nicer to not have to deal with record company bullshit anymore.


Many artists always want to try other genres, are there any that you want to try someday?

Oh undoubtedly. A friend of mine keeps trying to persuade me to do something “nice” for a change. Maybe I’ll move away from horror at some stage and try something a little more "pretty". But I do a fair variety of art, both personally and in my day job, that I’m currently fairly satisfied with my outlets. But time will tell.


Which of your artistic accomplishments are you most proud of?

Having “Her Valentine” published in a variety of books. That rocked so hard for me. That and I still remember the first time my work appeared on the front page of dA as a “opular” piece, or "Daily Top Favorites" as it was then. You never get over that. Silly I know, but that feeling was like a drug.





If we may ask, what projects are you currently working on?

You may ask indeed, but only because you were so polite… I’m currently working on a horror piece in my personal art. Just some concept stuff. Nothing with much focus, like my better works, but interesting anyway. It might see the light of day soon. I’m also knee deep in my new role here on dA, working through the old version4 pages to bring them up to date. It’s a blast and I’m loving it.


Do you have any last words of wisdom for our readers and fellow artists?

I often get asked how people can get “as good as me”, which always makes me laugh as I don’t think anyone should aspire to being as “good” as me (there’s that legendary self belief we spoke about earlier). But I always reply: practice, practice, practice and practice some more. Then when you are done practicing, move onto to advanced practice. Rinse and repeat. Oh and enjoy what you do, for yourself, not others. If others like your work, it’s a bonus.

"Enjoy what you do, for yourself, not others."

Visit!

zilla774's Prints Store
www.zilla774.com

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