Features

OK. First and foremost, let’s talk about the stuff on your blog header. You have a Transformer cassette tape?! That’s awesome! Are they personal mementos? What does all that stuff say about you?

If you scroll back through my blog you’ll find I like to work in a few different styles and mediums. So when it came to designing the header for my website I wanted to create something that reflected that.  It’s made up of things that you’ll find in my studio and together I guess it’s both a representation of what I do and what influences my work.

I’m also very curious about the photo with the orange scribbles all over it…do you mind if I ask what that’s about?

That’s just a sticker for the band Cold World.

And your childhood…did you grow up in Melbourne? As a kid, did you always want to be an artist?

Yep I grew up in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne and yeah, like a lot of artists I’ve always drawn/been creative/been away in the clouds and was encouraged from a young age to pursue it in some way.

How was France? What did you get up to over there? Did you feel you needed to get away?

Not so much that I needed to get away, more that it was time for a bit of an adventure. I got a job teaching English in primary schools part time which allowed me to get a long stay visa and gave me time to travel and continue illustrating freelance. It was an awesome experience, working with kids is never boring, you either love them or want to throw them out a window.

How much does a new lifestyle or cultural perspective impact your work?

For me it was great. Even though I was away from my studio and didn’t have everything I’d normally work with, I did a lot more sketching and note taking than I normally would have. What I didn’t get done in finished work, I made up for in new ideas x 100.

If you could live and work anywhere in the world, where would that be?

I’m pretty set on staying in Melbourne, but in the future, I wouldn’t mind spending a working holiday in Amsterdam for a month or so.  Awesome place.

In the ‘O’ Series, you use images of skeletons or skulls alongside pictures of life and beauty –what does this correlation between life and death mean to you and your work?

To be honest with those pieces, for me it’s really only a visual relationship. I’m more interested in the contrast of imagery than any message or meaning that someone might see. I guess that goes for most of my work. I generally don’t have an agenda or message that I try to inject, I’m usually just focussed with how a piece works visually and how the different graphic elements relate to each other. Probably the illustrator/designer side of me taking control there, might not always be the case but that’s where my work is at the moment I think.

You’ve done a bit of artwork for metal bands. What is it about that culture or genre of music that inspires you artistically?

Skulls… Haha, no I’ve grown up listening to lots of those bands and going to see them live. I guess it’s where I got my start. I did a t-shirt design for a friend’s band and it kind of went from there, a pretty common story I think.  I’ve always done other kinds of work but commercially I’ve started to move into other areas in the last couple of years. I like working with any band that will let me go crazy on a design, I guess it’s the heavier ones that appreciate what I do.

Tell us a bit about No Eyes. Is it your ‘baby’? What’s your involvement in the project? 

Not my baby, it’s another great idea from the minds of Jake Rolfe and Mick Thomas. They just asked me to contribute and I’m psyched to be involved. There’s a real good mix of different artists, I think once it really gets going it will be awesome. 

Cyberspace is a massive opportunity for artist’s to get their work noticed, but at the same time, a lot of people put a lot of crap out there. Do you think the Internet has had a positive or negative affect on the creative community?

No doubt a positive effect. Now an artist’s career doesn’t rest solely on a decision from an agency or gallery to give them a break. Anyone who really wants to do it can get their stuff out there and find an audience a lot easier, sell prints, shirts, zines etc. There’s enough people who blog and spend time sorting through the stuff that might not be ready yet to find the goods. Cream rises to the top.

Melbourne artists seem to be both competitive and close-knit. What do you think about Melbourne as a hub for creativity?

Yeah sure Melbourne is a great city for artists, lots of galleries, different communities, support etc. The list goes on, I probably don’t take advantage of it all enough.

What’s coming up for you work-wise?

Right now I’m putting the finishing touches on an illustration for Design Federation’s first annual. I’m going to be creating some illustrations for Hopeless Lingerie’s new line, which looks like it’s going to be a great project and there’s a few pieces to be done for some group shows coming up.

See more of Sam’s work at samoctigan.com and of course keep up on his contributions with the rest of guys at noeyesdocumentary.com