Teefury

Words from jimiyo: We got something special for you today. Awesomenessssssssss!
The man that brought you Zombie Obama brings you another solid design oozing with craftsmanship and Zing! BTW Very Inspirational Interview! Jared is ballin yo!

Tell us about this design:
As a tribute to the sacred place that fondly-remembered Saturday morning staples like LAND OF THE LOST hold in our hearts (no matter how badly Hollywood botches them up), I concocted this mash-up of iconic Catholic imagery and beloved Sid and Marty Krofft creations.  Is it blasphemy?  Good Lord, no!  I loved LAND OF THE LOST as a kid, and anxiously awaited my Saturday morning ritual of waking at the crack of dawn to pour a big bowl of cereal and gorge on the pop-culture buffet my TV would spread before me until about noon.

There have been some major milestones occurring in your artist career,
tell us about some of the recent events:
I feel like I'm finally beginning to find my place as an artist and figure out what my niche is (sarcastic, over-the-top and/or bizarre pop-imagery) and it's nice to start gaining wider recognition and acclaim.  I never thought my style of artwork would be something that a publication like SPECTRUM would ever pay attention to, but I took a chance and submitted some work, and sure enough I got published (in the forthcoming volume)!  I owe Jimiyo and TeeFury a debt of gratitude for helping me along the road with their picking up my ZOMBAMA shirt design, which I thought was just a throw-away novelty trifle, yet has ended up selling a lot of shirts for me.  The press coverage of that design was unexpected yet welcome, and it's already started to lead to bigger and better things, which can allow me to pick and choose my projects a little more selectively.  I've also now been bootlegged, so I guess that's when you know you've started to make a dent in the art world, right?

In an artist career, does it ever feel like, if only I could get
printed here, or get coverage there, or this or that client, that you
will have made it? And does that feeling ever stop?
I think the endpoint of me "making it" will be when I am able to be a self-sufficient recognizable brand name like Coop and have a wide variety of merchandise featuring my artwork and characters that I can make a decent living off of.  The desire for more coverage and recognition never stops, but I don't really try to rabidly promote myself or struggle endlessly to gain notice by certain people, publications or sites.  I'm not saying I don't try to promote myself, but I got so tired of spending all my time trying to find work and win jobs/clients and not creating new art -- I'd much rather create some cool new stuff on a regular basis, put it out there where I can and see what happens and where it takes me.

Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years with your art career or other?
I would like to have my own line of branded merchandise with name recognition.  Maybe run my own screenprinting shop and/or join up with a few other like-minded artists to form an invincible super-team of pop-culture powerhouses.  I wouldn't mind contributing stories and character designs to some sort of animated or comic book projects, as well.

Where do you get your ideas?
I usually keep them under the sink, but when the pipes leak they sometimes get all soggy and mildewy and I have to air them out on the clothesline and then the birds in the backyard poop on them.  It's not the best storage solution, but I'm working on it.

Any shout outs/promotions?
Be on the lookout for the forthcoming volume of SPECTRUM to be published in late summer/ early fall featuring some of my work.  Also keep checking in over at Jinx.com for some more of my gaming/geek shirt designs (and a big thanks to Kino at Jinx for being such a great guy and giving me more work).  Oh, and I'm also single again, so any ladies out there who are feeling particularly desperate can now take a crack at me.