Interview with Mats Minnhagen

Hey Guys, today is the day! Today we're posting an interview that we have done with Mats Minnhagen. We truly hope that you enjoy it, there has been put alot of time in it.

© The artwork presented on this post is used with the permission of its author, Mats Minnhagen. All the artwork is copyrighted. Please do not use the images without the permission of the artist or owner. 


Thank you for agreeing with taking this interview, do you have any things to say beforehand?


Hi!


For our readers, could you introduce yourself?

My name is Mats Minnhagen, and I'm a freelance illustrator living in Sweden.
I work with book illustration, rpg illustration and concept art for computer games. Among others, I've worked for EA Dice and Wizards of the Coast. Pretty much all of my images are digitally painted.


Since when were you interested in graphic designs? Can you tell us how you got into Photoshop and such? And since when?


I've been drawing since I was a kid. I guess most children draw, I just didn't quit. Like other kids, I used to create long, epic (and rather poor) comic adventures, and wanted to become a comic book artist. But when I got older, I decided art would have to be a hobby, and went for an academic career instead. I kept drawing occasionally, but it wasn't until several years later, in 2004, that I finally decided to give my artistic ambitions a serious try. At that point I had discovered digital painting, and quickly been hooked by its obvious advantages. Suddenly the prospect of a career in art became a lot more realistic.

Floating Fish: This piece was my entry for CGSociety's "Strange Behaviour" Challenge. The theme of the challenge was to depict any kind of strange behaviour, and my (rather far-fetched) interpretation was that thes egentle floating fish don't normally behave in the havoc-wreaking manner seen here. That's why it's strange. The painting didn't win that particular competition, but it later won both an Exposé Master Award and a Chesley Award, so I can't complain!


Where do you get inspiration from?
In terms of others artists, when I was younger my major source of inspiration were undoubtedly Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee, John Howe and Angus Mcbride. Later on, as my eyes opened to the world of digital art, I discovered Craig Mullins, John Wallin Liberto, Sparth and countless others. But I also draw inspiration from everything around me, from every aspect of life. One of the most inspiring things I can think of is simply taking a walk in nature.


What programs do you use to create your work?
I use Photoshop for painting. It's a very versatile program with a good brush editor. Painter is good too, but I find the way in which it tries to simulate real media a little bit annoying. Digital painting is a medium in its own right, and I think it's better off treated as such. Also, I often use Sketchup for building simple 3D block models of my scenes. I'm not a 3D modeler, and my models are very quick and rough, but even so Sketchup can be useful for trying out different perspectives and compositions.

Abandoned Hut: This was a personal piece that I came up with after spending a day walking on the beach. I like to explore abandoned places, and try to figure out who might have lived there. In this painting I added some enigmatic details such as the wooden statues and the stone construction to get the viewers imagination going.


What would you like to say to beginner designers?
Be patient. There is a lot of focus on speed in the digital art community - speed painting, fancy shortcuts, etc. - but try to ignore that. Illustration is a craft that takes a long time to learn. There may be digital shortcuts for applying texture to your paintings, but not for learning anatomy and composition. Speed will inevitably come later on.


Are you making anything currently? If yes, can we have a preview of it ?
At the moment I'm working on a light-hearted book on physics, which is a lot of fun. But I can't show any of that yet, I'm afraid.

King of Ruins: Another personal piece, an allgory this time. Time crumbles everything, even the mightiest empire...




What are your opinions on Photoshop Cs5?
I haven't tried CS5 yet. I seem to have a problem keeping up with Adobe, since I just got CS4. Actually, everything I need to paint was already present in CS2, so I'm not in a hurry to update. I might be a bit conservative too; once I get used to a program, I'm usually reluctant to changes.


What is your favourite color?
I don't have preferences on individual colours, but rather on colours in relation to other colours. I like the colour scheme of dusk – dominant bluish tones with contrasting touches of orange and red.


What is your favourite band?
Right now that would be Rise Against - even though listening to them always makes me feel that I should quit drawing and do something useful!


What do you do like beside designing?
Work takes up a lot of my time these days, but whenever I get a chance I like to go hiking. It's nice to get away from the computer. And sometimes I outline stories that I would like to write, but probably never will.

Crusaders in Tavastland: An illustration for "Jarlen och Kungariket", a book on Swedish 13th century ruler Birger Jarl (LL-förlaget). In the beginning of his career, Birger led a crusade in Finland


What was your first piece ‘art’?
I'm not sure. If you mean the first drawing I made, that would be way back when I was a little kid, and I don't remember. The oldest I think I've seen is a drawing of a pirate rowing a boat with both oars on the same side in a very odd manner. But I must have started with more basic stuff.


What is your site?
www.minnhagen.com


Once again, thanks for taking this interview with me.
Thank you!

© The artwork presented on this post is used with the permission of its author, Mats Minnhagen. All the artwork is copyrighted. Please do not use the images without the permission of the artist or owner.