Exclusive Interview with Steve (aka. The Dark Inker) + Illustrations Showcase

Pxleyes’ special guest for today is a digital artist specialized in illustrations. Steve (aka. The Dark Inker) is a very talented English man who turned his childhood passion into an income source and a hobby at the same time. We have the honor of publishing his work on our blog, along with an exclusive interview. Both are a source of inspiration and knowledge, so here goes!

Q: Howdy Steve! Welcome to pxleyes.com community. Please tell us a few words about yourself.

A: I was born in the EastEnd of London and now live and work in Brighton on the south coast of England. After leaving Chelsea Art Collage in London I worked as a sheet metal worker for awhile before becoming a freelance illustrator. For a few year my main source of income was as a comic book artist working for different publishers like 2000AD on the Judge Dredd comics, Marvel UK and Vortex Comics. These days I work during the day as a games artist here in Brighton for BlackRock Studio doing concept art and environment art and at night and the weekends I do as much illustration work as I can manage.

“The Runner”

Q: What is the root of this artwork you’re creating and where does that inspiration come from?

A: Comics were the first source of inspiration for me when I was a young child. I loved to read as many as I could get and was inspired to draw my own characters and comics. These day’s inspiration comes from so many different places, films, comics, books, music, art of all kinds and even every day life and the strange and weird things you sometimes see.

“Stone Fish”

Q: Your illustrations use strong colors. Is there a message you’d like to transmit or is this just pure art and a matter of taste?

A: I guess using strong colours in my work is really just a matter of taste also as a games artist I see so many game that just seem to look so grey and bland in there palette that when I come to do my own artwork I’m drawn towards strong colours 🙂

“Lu Ma”

Q: Do you have a favourite subject? What about a favourite digital manipulation software?

A: I don’t really have a favourite subject but whenever I design characters I’m always drawn towards females, I just find female characters more fun to illustrate. The two digital programs that work best for me and Adobe Photoshop and Adobe illustrator. They are the first two programs that I got into, I’d really like to make sometime to try my hand at Corel Painter as I read so many good things about it from artist that use it. I have started to do my sketches with Autodesk’s SketchBook Pro which is cool.

“O Abate”

Q: What kind of extra hobbies do you have, besides digital art?

A: To be honest when I’m not working at the games studio I try and spend as much time as I can doing my own artwork. I just really love digital painting and can’t imagine life without it. I love to watch films and play a few games. And I try to read a little every day, I’m really into the fantasy books of David Gemmell right now and find them very inspiring. At some point I’d love to do some artwork based on some of the characters in his books.

“Thailand”

Q: A little piece of advice for the newbies just starting out in this field or art?

A: My advice for anyone out there trying to make a living as an illustrator is to Practice, Practice, practice and when you get a commission never miss your deadline. Try to develop a style that is your own, there are so many fantastic artist out there and it’s great to look at there work and be inspired but if you can get your own style it maybe the thing that make you stand out from the crowd.