Monday, December 04, 2006

Thumbnails: Scott M. Fischer

Thumbnails: 30 Second Interviews

Scott M. Fischer's excellent understanding of the human figure, combined with his bold sense of color and design, has made him the perfect choice for a broad range of genres and audiences. Scott’s work can be seen on adult and young adult book covers from every major publisher, role playing games, and Magic cards. Currently Scott is writing and illustrating his own picture book for Simon & Schuster, to be published in 2007.

What painting do you wish you painted?

Man-o-man, any of the great Klimpts!


Do you remember the moment you knew you wanted to be an artist?

Heh, my mom jokes that I came out of the womb with a paintbrush in my hand,
Yowch! But the first time I announced it to the world was in fourth grade. I wrote a paragraph saying that what I wanted to be when I grew up was the artist that did all the art for the Dungeons and Dragons game.

Do you have to like the book to be excited about the project?

It depends on how much freedom I have! Ideally, I love when a synergy gets
created between the text and I, and I can get in the zone!

A career highlight?

Illustrating Peter Pan in Scarlet! Talk about putting me on the map!


What are you working on now?

A cover for a Charles de Lint novel -- sooo fun! Book eight of
The Secrets of Dripping Fang -- love that series! My second kids book, Mmmm Broccoli! And a Shell Silverstein-ish book of animal poetry, illustrated in the uber expensive medium of disposable ball point pens!

Advice to a young illustrator?
It takes years to amass technical ability, and that is important, but you will see your greatest improvement not with a new technique, but when you actually see things differently with your eyes. It is about the forest baby, not the trees.

How do you balance family and work?
That's always a tough one. If you are fortunate enough to be able to work in a studio at your home, the fam always knows you are there when needed. And spending lunch and a coffee break with your wife and kids every day is way cooler than a dad who has to be gone at the office 12 hours a day. We make out own schedule -- if I take an hour in the afternoon to go to the park, I can make it up late that night! And there are a lot of late nights.

2 comments:

Arkady Roytman said...

but more importantly, how does Scott find time to rock out!!! (devil horns, air guitar solo)

Anonymous said...

Wow - more art I recognize and now I get to put a name with it - thanks for showing this, and the little interview :)