Questions and Answers

I've been super busy juggling two and sometimes three jobs as of late. So, there just hasn't been much time for blogging. Sorry about that.

I did just finish filling out a questionnaire for Stone Arch books about myself. It's full of questions all the young readers want the answer to. I figure it'd make for an interesting blog read and let me get back to work. Enjoy!

Name: Sean Tiffany

Book(s):
Illustrated a LOT of the Jake Maddox Books. At the end of this current batch, the count will be up to 42!

How did you become an illustrator?:

Art was always something I did as a kid. If I had the free time, you'd find me drawing. When I was 18, I went to art school in New Jersey at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. I loved the assignments and loved to be able to draw all day for school and homework.

Once I graduated, I became an assistant artist at a studio that did a lot of production work for comic book merchandise. I learned a lot there with a ton of on the job training. I left when I started to work for Marvel Comics, doing a lot of airbrush painting and inking work. I finally got sick of New Jersey and moved to Colorado.

Don't ask me why...it seemed like a good idea at the time.

In Colorado, I finally broke down and bought a computer and learned to use all the fancy art programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. Once the web and computers caught up to what I wanted to do, I posted some of my work online at a few art sites like www.theispot.com and www.creativeshake.com. Once I did that new clients found me and I've been busy drawing for a living ever since.

Just do your best, have fun, keep learning, and keep at it. It seems to have worked well for me.

What’s your illustrating process?

I get the newest Jake Maddox manuscript from my art director and read through it, taking notes as I go and doing little sketches.

Then, usually during lunch at my favorite bagel shop, I draw out little thumbnail sketches of each illustration so I can give myself a blueprint of what I am going to draw and show my art director what my ideas are. I also do little head shots of each of the main characters to make sure everything looks OK.

Once everything is approved I pencil out each illustration for the book using both non repo-blue pencils and regular graphite pencils. I send those off to my art director and await approval.

Once those are OK'ed I go to inking each piece, usually with a brush and ink as well as micron markers (for all those straight lines).

When everything is inked I scan my finished pieces into the computer and add grays to the interior pieces and color to the covers using Adobe Photoshop. I also use Adobe Illustrator sometimes to add numbers to jerseys or logos to t-shirts. Anything to add those little details.

When all is done and looks good, I upload the finished art to Stone Arch's website and await my paycheck! Hooray art!

What were you like as a kid?

I was quiet and a bit shy. I also think I was very very focused on art to the point where it's all I cared about. Getting older, I've learned to open up a bit more to new things and have found new loves for sports, like hockey and football, and playing music. All these things I wish I had loved and tried when I was younger. Ah well, better late than never.

When you were a kid (the age of your readers) what did you want to be when you grew up?

An artist...always an artist. For me, there really wasn't any other choice.

What’s your favorite book?

L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. I absolutely love the arch types of all the various characters and always find myself drawn back to this story. The fact that it's survived so long in so many forms proves it's a classic story able to stand the test of times. But, even with all the various interpretations, it's hard to beat the original book.

What do you eat/drink as you’re illustrating?

I'm not a big snacker. I eat my regular meals during the day but never nibble on anything when I work. As for drinks, it's usually Diet Coke left over from lunch or dinner or just plain old water. I know...boring.

If you could have written or illustrated any book, what book would it be and why?

Most books that I enjoy are because I really love the people doing them and their work on them. So, because of that, there aren't any books that I wish I'd worked on because then I'd be missing out on some great work someone else had done.

The one book I want to work more on in the future is my own project called OilCan Drive. It mixes my love of art and music. It's the story of four kids, on their own, out in the desert wastelands, flying airships, trying to survive, and playing rock and roll. The lead singer is an ex-hockey player, the lead guitarist used to be a soldier, the drummer is a runaway girl, and the bass player is a giant gorilla named Henry.

If I go through life and DON'T get to work on OilCan Drive, that will be the story and book I wished I had worked on.

Now, back to the drawing board...

Nascar!

Well, the holidays have come and gone and I actually even took a few days off. When I knew I had some free time I made big plans to do some personal art, record some songs, maybe even actually breath for a change.

Well, I got to breath, at least.

No new recorded songs, no new personal works of art.

The day after Christmas I was back at the drawing board doing the covers for the newest Jake Maddox books- four stories featuring Nascar Racing.

Now, I'm not a car guy by any means. I've had the same Jeep Wrangler for twelve years and if I was ever hit by a sedan in the street I'd be hard pressed to give the cops a decent description of what kind of car hit me. I might be able to sputter out the color though. Maybe...

So, doing a four book series about cars has been a real challenge for me. But, you know what they say, what doesn't drive you to pull all of your hair out just might make you stronger.

So, with hope in my heart, I started doing the covers for the four books.

This was my initial attempt at the first story's cover. I thought it came out decent and sent it off to my art director. She was positive, said some nice things even, but had just enough comments to send me all the way back to square one. And that is never a good feeling. It feels like failure. It feels like you just didn't give it your best shot. It digs at that "why am I an artist in the first place" feeling you have down in the depths of your body. But, honestly, after I went back to the board and took her suggestions to heart, I am glad she didn't accept this piece.

The newer covers are more colorful, more detailed, and all around better than this attempt. About three days into the new covers I finally figured out some tricks to make the cars shine like they had just come off the assembly line. I made over two dozen fake sponsor logos and plastered them all over the cars. I made the wheels spin and the smoke fly.

So, now I can look at the new pieces and tell that little "why am I an artist in the first place" feeling to go take a hike because, hell, I did some kick ass covers!

I'll post the new covers in the future but, for now, enjoy the first attempt. Remember, you have to start somewhere...

Happy Holidays!

"Whether you've been naughty or nice, hope you have a great holiday!"

And that's my design for the 2008 Plastic Spoon Press official holiday card featuring, as usual, my good buddy, Mr. Mucho! I hope everyone who wanted one of these got one in the mail but, for those of you I missed, I apologize and hope that you too have great fun with family and friends this holiday season.

Another gift I'd like to impart to you is one of my favorite Christmas songs by Bruce Springsteen. No, it's not "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", "Merry Christmas, Baby", or even "Run Run Rudolph." Nope, this song is one I've only heard in one place and it's on a cassette tape given to me years ago of a live Springsteen show in Brixton, England circa 1996. I honestly don't even know the name of it but I can guess it's called "Pilgrim in the Temple of Love."

It's the story of Bruce Springsteen and the adventures he has one Christmas Eve at a little roadside strip joint. And, for those of you with delicate ears or kids within earshot, be warned, the Boss does curse. But, that makes it all the more fun.

So, here it is, one of my FAVORITE holiday songs. This one's for Sam! Enjoy and have a great holiday!

Edit: If the song doesn't pop up in the window you can find the original file HERE.

Now I'm Famous! LOL

Because you just haven't "made it" until someone names a sandwich after you!

Thank you, Einstein's Bagels!

Disc Golf

I've heard about disc golf (or frisbee golf) a lot but I've never had the pleasure of playing the game. I can only imagine the things I do bad on a golf course with a driver and a ball would only be amplified if I started chucking a frisbee around the links.

This was the last book of the four book contract I just finished. Putting this one together last was a tough one because I was battling exhaustion and almost every interior illustration of the book had at least four or more characters in it. But, as usual, I just hunkered down, worked every day, and got it done.

And, as for the finished results?

Ask me again in a week...I may be fully rested and ready to look at it with fresh eyes by then :)

Tennis Anyone?

Nothing too witty today with this one.

The biggest thing I remember about doing this book was how I could just NOT wrap my head around the way they keep score in tennis. I mean, the interior text explained scoring in such a way that a kid with a fourth grade reading level could figure it out and I still just couldn't get it. It didn't make illustrating the image with the scoreboard in the background easy but, thanks to Google image search, I found something I could copy so I hope it's right.

Any of you kids out there who see it and think it's wrong, you know where to email me :)

I spent most of the day putting together my greeting cards for this season. For some reason, addressing the envelopes, writing in each card, signing each card, sealing the envelopes, and putting the stamps and return address stickers on everything actually took longer than it did to illustrate the cards in the first place. But, I think it's all worth it. I think it beats a printed signature and sending the cards out to some service who does all the work for me. This way, every card has a little love in each one.

I just wish it didn't take so long. Stupid love...

Run, Rabbit, Run - Part 2

As promised yesterday, here was my initial idea for the cover of the Jake Maddox Track book.

I love the idea of the kid running straight at the viewer, a big grin on his face, happy to be doing the one thing in life he really loves, running. I really would have loved to have seen how this would have turned out as a finished inked and colored cover but it just wasn't in the cards. When my art director suggested I pull one of the images from the interior and color it to make that the cover, I jumped at the chance because, honestly, it saved me doing a bit of work. At the time I'm sure I was juggling multiple thing so saving a few hours of art table time seemed like a good idea.

But, I still like this idea.

All the more because, living in Boulder, I see a LOT of people running and jogging and walking for exercise. And never, not once, have I ever seen one person who is running for exercise smiling.

Not one single time.

So, I like the idea of a kid who is smiling and running. Living life doing what he loves in a care free way. It just shows what kind of fantasy land my head lives in.