TD: I’m guessing you loved to draw from an early age, but were you always more interested in illustration than in fine art?
Justin Gerard: I was always interested in story really. And art (or drawing really) was the one thing I could contribute to it. I was not an exceptional writer, I was not musically gifted, but I loved to draw. And so comics, illustration, fine art as categories were more or less irrelevant to me. Whatever would best tell the story was what I wanted. The form is interesting to me now, but in the end, it is the ability to draw always seemed the best thing to pursue.
TD: Who were some influential artists along the way?
Justin: There have been a great many, and the list changes year to year and as I meet new people and see new parts of the world.
The initial influences were all comic book (much to my parents dismay) simply because that is what I had on hand.
In late high school/college I was introduced to the world of illustration. I followed many illustrators throughout my college years, but 2 in particular are worth noting because they have had the most effect on my working methods. Peter DeSeve more or less taught me how to illustrate in watercolor and pencil and Greg Manchess for oil. I found step by step guides on both of them and studied them feverishly. I even stole copies of them from the library. They were reliquaries for me in college.
I owe both of those artists a great debt. I had the pleasure of meeting them in San Diego this year at ComicCon, they are both sincere, wonderful people.
Since then I have studied many others as well as learning more from DeSeve and Manchess. Recently, More classical artists, and contemporary artists working in classical methods, have had a great effect on me. Mucha, Alma Tadema, Waterhouse, Draper and Rembrandt have had a great influence on me, as well as who I consider to be some of their modern counterparts, in Petar Meseldzija, Donato Giancola, Jon Foster and Kinoko Craft.
I would be remiss to not mention Carter Goodrich, Wendelyn, Fluharty, Shaun Tan and Paul Bonner as well. A careful eye would almost certainly pick up their influence on my work.
There are a hundred others that have influenced me a great deal as well, but the list is probably too long for this sort of Q&A. I am very thankful to live an era with such easy access to the works and methods of so many great masters.
TD: Your favorite illustrator?
Justin: Right now? That is a very hard question. All of the previously mentioned artists would have to duke it out in my head- I could never say.
TD: When did you go digital? And how did it affect your style?
Justin: I have worked digital since Photoshop and home scanners existed. I got a demo of Photoshop a long time ago and installed it on my dads computer and taught myself back in those harrowing days of junior high.
Since working in digital has been with me since before I had a style, it is difficult to say how it has affected my style. However, I did give up digital for a time during college and did not pick it up again until after college, when Wacom Corp blessed the world by giving us the Intuos tablets with pressure sensitive pens. This essentially made digital art as we know it now possible. I began working with the digital tablets about 6 years ago and this allowed me to work 3x as fast and with more control than I could traditionally. It quickly became my most valuable tool, because of how well it enabled me to meet client demands. Within a few months of using it I had stopped working traditionally altogether. It wasn’t until many years later that I began to miss certain elements of my old art. there was a soul to those old watercolor pieces that was lacking in the new digital ones. The new ones were plastic. The old ones has a crisp texture and life to them that I could not ever achieve digitally and that I could not help but achieve traditionally. So to answer how did digital affect my style, I would say that when I was using it alone, with the help of traditional materials, I think it made it more synthetic. More canned and more plastic, albeit more proportionate, accurate and with better color harmony.
Since then I have developed a working method that incorporates what I consider to be the strongest aspects of traditional working methods and the strongest aspects of Digital methods, while minimizing their weaknesses. I believe there is still a great deal to be learned and experimented with in this though. I think technology will continue to radically change how we perceive the visual arts.
TD: Can you tell us a little about your famous custom Photoshop brushes?
Justin: I made them in just 10 minutes. But I had to screw up making them for 2 entire years before being able to make them all in 10 minutes.
TD: It’s great that you’re a member of the Society of Illustrators–how did that come about?
Justin: (I am? I am not sure if I am or not actually, don’t you have to pay a fee or something?) I did have a piece accepted last year. That was very exciting for me. I am very honored to have a spot. It is something I have wanted ever since college.
TD: Your first self-published book, Beowulf, won an award. Can you tell us why you chose that story? Is part two in the works?
Justin: I chose Beowulf because it is AWESOME. It is a story about bravery, courage and clarity in fighting evil. I love the story for many things, but perhaps mot of all because because it says that there will always be evil in the world, and it is right to fight it even if it will ultimately destroy you.
I also love drawing battles with monsters. I won’t pretend that didn’t have a big influence on my decision to illustrate that story.
And yes the second (and third) part is in the works, though it may be some time before I can share the awesomeness of those parts of the story with the world. I am very much looking forward to painting Beowulf and the Dragon, which is one of my favorite scenes in all of literature.
TD: I know you have been studying in Europe lately. Who have you studied with, and what are you learning from them?
Justin: I have been studying with Petar Meseldzija in the Netherlands, and have learned a great deal of Rembrandt’s methods from him. Petar is an exceptionally talented oil painter who is originally from Serbia. He has a beautiful style and a phenomenal knowledge of art. I hope to continue to learn more from him.
As far as what I learned, there is almost too much to say. I only spent a very short time there, but I felt like I had gotten 4 years of education in that time.
TD: It seems that all of us as artists have felt the crunch of hard times lately. What are your goals for Portland Studios down the road?
Justin: Portland is always going to be a story company. I hope to develop it into a production studio that partners with other studios, directors and talent to work on films and other story-related projects. Our focus is to provide really excellent artwork for stories. And in the crunch we will use our art skills to help other clients in need of fine art and illustration as a way to further refine our skills to better be able to meet the demands of stories that will come to us down the road.
TD: Do you have any advice for up and coming illustrators?
Justin: Draw as much as you humanly can. Listen to good music and read books that move you. Travel as much as you can, and then draw what is beautiful and what you love. If you draw what you love, odds are other people will love it to. Never draw what you think people (specifically art directors) will love.
Justin will speak about his illustration techniques on August 15th at our Write at the Start Conference.