Teefury

Tell us about this design: My wife Cheryl bought me a pencil from where she worked.. it was just a regular pencil, the lead was a bit blacker than most but that was it.  This was the first thing I drew, and it just flowed onto the paper without thought.  Somehow it's become my most popular design - I'm not sure if that reflects badly on everything else I've done, or if it's just me practicing no-thought.  Either way I do love this little brown bugger.

What's a day in the life of Damien like? I've got a 10 month old son named Oscar, and anyone with kids would know that he takes up pretty much any free time I might have had. Basically I sneak my illustration in.. in the morning, if I'm early to work, or late in the evening after Os is in bed. He's brilliant though, so much fun to play with, and I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything.

Do you own alot of shirts? If so, what's your favorite? I buy all my shirts through sites like this one, and RedBubble - places where I can engage with the artists and I know they're getting paid well for their work.  My current favourite would be this one, but I'm saving up for this little slice of awesomeness  (hmm... apparently I have a thing for monkeys)

What would be your dream job? I'd love to be illustrating full time.  Right now I can wrangle the odd job through work, or a bit of freelance, but nothing constant.  I reckon illustrating kids books would be great.. some way to let me influence and warp eager young minds.
What advice would you offer to aspiring designers? Just keep working, and challenging yourself.  We're in an industry that values talent over qualifications, so build up your portfolio any way possible.  It's good to realise that you will always need to keep learning to stay on top of technology and styles, especially when it's your job, so you might as well start now.

MAC or PC?  I'm on a PC. I know, I know, I'm the devil.  But for me, being able to make lots of mini-upgrades, add new hard drives, dvd drives, ram, whatever, wins over a pretty GUI.  Plus it's cheaper.

What are a few of your favorite websites? Obviously I'm a big fan of http://www.redbubble.com, as much for the community as for the store aspect.  I also like to keep an eye on http://drawn.ca, http://illustrationfriday.com and too many blogs to mention for inspiration.  There's a lot of talented people out there on the internet.
Do you have any interesting hobbies or tales of intrigue? Twice a week I go to a traditional Japanese Swordsmanship class called Hokushin Shinoh Ryu Iaido  http://www.hokushin.com.au, but I'm redesigning that terrible website so don't judge it from that).  It's one of those things where you are constantly learning, I think I could spend years just on trying to cut properly and still not get there. It's also a way to develop your mind, learn self-discipline and calmness.  I am amazed to find a teacher in Adelaide who has learned from the current Grandmaster in Japan, who in turn was taught directly from the founder.

Any shout outs? Yeah, a big hello to my wife Cheryl and son Oscar, who isn't going to read this any time soon but that's okay, and to my fellow illustrators at RedBubble who continue to inspire me. Also a massive thanks to anyone who buys this tee.