It has been a while since I spotlighted an artist on Somewhatnerdy. For this interview, I had to dig in the vault for one I had hidden for a special occasion. Well, with all the hype that is going out their with the new X-men movie as well as the cool hero shows on the CW, I felt now was that occasion. I discovered this artist on Deviantart, and I suggest after you read this, you do the same.
SWN: Who are you and where are you from?
AF: I’m a graphic/web designer living in Melbourne, Australia. I also animate short films and develop 2D and 3D games in my spare time.
SWN: I love your artwork! How did you discover your style?
AF: I’ve gone through many different phases over the years, I used to use very little color, I had a noir style going on during the 90s, I was also influenced by thrash metal album cover art, and again everything was very black & white with just a splash of color.
Once digital art become prominent I started toying around with Photoshop and then Illustrator and became accustomed to vector graphics that works well with my style, I use a lot more color and got better at balancing it out.
SWN: One of my favorite projects of yours is your X-men series of art. Do you have a favorite one out of the set? Mine is Havok.
AF: I was quite pleased with the way Archangel and Phoenix turned out, as well as some of the more obscure characters like Vertigo for instance, that one had a nice psychedelic feel to it.
SWN: Besides the X-men series, what other series have you worked on?
AF: I’ve done a few characters from Game of Thrones, some Avengers, I also have my own original characters that will take part in a motion comic series that I plan to do.
SWN: When did you first know you were an artist?
AF: I took an interest in drawing when I began reading comics when I was around 7-8 years old and started drawing pictures of Nightcrawler on my desk. Then I took a lot of art subjects when I hit high school and continued to draw pictures of Nightcrawler on larger desks.
SWN: Do you have a favorite piece that you have done?
AF: I’m partial to the art nouveau styles that I’m currently exploring. I have one of my original characters (Lila Scarlett) posing in one of those. The Rogue & Gambit (Nouveau) piece was another one that I enjoyed illustrating.
SWN: If you were not and artist, what might your career have been?
AF: Probably doing something in music, or possibly getting into audio engineering, I do the sound design/engineering for my animated work and record my music. I’ve also done some video editing for television.
SWN: Where can my readers see more of your work?
AF: I have my portfolio website aforestinorange.com with links to my online shop on Society6 and I have a Vimeo account vimeo.com/andrewformosa where I upload some of my animated works.
SWN: Do you have any advice for struggling artists?
AF: If you’re into comic art, do some research, read a lot of comics, and have an understanding of its rich history and where it all stemmed from. I still get ideas by looking at material from the 1930s and 1960s. Having that knowledge always helps.
SWN: If you could work with anyone, who would it be and why?
AF: I’d love to do album covers for Robert Smith or Trent Reznor especially back in the 80s and 90s. One of the most exiting aspects of buying an album was the artwork. Even just to be involved in the process of working in their video clips.
