LittleHelen

Simon Sherry ♥

Without knowing Simon well at all…I got a good vibe off him and really enjoyed this interview ;)

Simon, You have some wicked art and t-shirts in your portfolio. Is your art all digital? If so what programme do you use?

Cheers – and, yes, pretty much everything you see of mine here on the Bubble is 100% digital in nature. My main weapons of choice are my trusty G4 Quicksilver Mac, a wacom cintiq (the bastard lovechild of monitor and graphics tablet) and usually Adobe Illustrator CS3, although the odd bit of Photoshopping creeps in when I want to add some extra effects. I’ve been known to create the odd digital painting with PhotoShop and Corel Painter, though these days I’m focusing on what I like to think of as painting with vectors rather than pixels.

I’m assuming and hoping redbubble has been profitable for you. Do you sell your work off the internet?

I’m pretty shocked at how well I have been doing to be honest with you. My main reason for joining the Bubble was to use it as a means to create the designs that I myself would want to wear – to think that there are people out there not only laying down their hard-earned on my gear but wearing it boggles the mind.

As far as selling my work outside of RB (is that what you mean by ‘off the internet’), most of my bread-and-butter illustration and design work is the type of thing you wouldn’t see unless you’re staring at a textbook in school. The odd comic cover has worked its way into the mix, but they’re done for love, not money.

Of course, if anyone wants to pay me, I’ll be happy to accept it ;o)

An artist you admire on redbubble?

There are a LOT of amazingly talented people inhabiting the bubble, and I don’t think I could whittle it down to one. However the guys who have personally driven me to work my arse off while offering an incredible amount of support and encouragement would include Scott Robinson, Rubyred and Sjem – these guys have been incredibly generous with their time and input when I’ve needed it, and the work they produce themselves just blows me away regularly.

To slip into Martin-Landau-Oscar-speech-mode, I’d also like to give shout outs to ThickBlackOutline, LilyM, NoFrillsArt, QuigonJim, Jordan Clarke, and Danny Nolan – the craziest and most inspiring tribe of creative – WAIT, WAAAAIIIITTT, I’M NOT FINISHED YE…

Is there in area in the field of Design you would like to venture into?

Well, the bubble has so far fed my desire to delve into the apparel side of things, but I’ve got a long-standing wish to crack into toy design. Being able to populate my office shelves at home with little plastic Killbots would give me a special kind of buzz.

Have you travelled overseas If so..where? If not…where would you like to go?

Unfortunately the closest I’ve come to overseas travel is crossing the Tasman, and it’s probably not helped by the fact that I’m terrified of flying (well, not so much the flying, rather the long plunge into certain flaming death).

Saying that, if an affordable and 100% safe version of matter transport comes on the market in the near future, I’d love to visit large tracks of mainland Europe, dash over to the Pyramids in Egypt, take a stroll along the Great Wall, and spray-paint a goatee on one of the Easter Island heads to see if there really is a close resemblance.

I have a harmonica in one hand and a cherry vodka in the other….I’m offering you one of them…which would you choose and why?

I’d take the harmonica, hand it over to my almost-three-yr-old daughter Olivia, and then pass the cherry vodka to my wife to soothe her nerves while Livvy starts to play her own, special, rendition of Queen’s We Will Rock You.

Your favorite all time movie?

Possibly one of the hardest questions to answer, but if I had to pick one, it’d probably be the original, un-bastardised cut of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Having finally gotten the opportunity to listen to the man speak while sitting only a couple of metres away, my appreciation for that film and the others that have followed it, has grown even more. If you haven’t seen it, do so, and see why a zombie movie done right is about so much more than dead folk and gore.

Do you or have you ever played a sport?

Wellllll, as a young ‘un I played basketball, cricket and dabbled in a couple of martial arts, but these days I occasionally hit trees with golf balls. One day, when I’m eventually physically up for the challenge, I would love to try fencing, but in my current condition I’d be too big a target for my opponent.

The name of a song you remember from your childhood?

I’ll give you three – Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jnr, and the opening themes from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Doctor Who – my childhood in music.

Simon…thank you ;) Your designs and t-shirts are fantastic…(I do have my eye on a couple) and I am sure your vision to turn your characters into toys will happen. You are a talent.