Philip Straub is an established digital artist, currently employed by Electronic Arts as Concept Art Director/Concept Department Manager, as well as a published author and illustrator.


Cof: Hey there Philip, welcome to the interview. Lets start off with some background information; Where are you from, how old is your inner self, what do you do, favourite movies, anything else interesting?

Philip: Hi there! I'm originally from Syracuse NY, my family then moved to CT where I spent most of my youth. I moved to Orlando Florida 2 ½ years ago to work for Electronic Arts first as Senior Concept Artist and then Concept Art Director. I am 32 years young and not sure exactly how old my inner self is but, I'll get back to you when I know more. Lets see my favorite movies..Lord of the Rings trilogy, Matrix trilogy, a few of the star wars flicks, actually, there's just too many to mention. Other interesting tidbits..hmm I teach an online Concept Art class about once a year to students worldwide, I have my own licensing business that produces a variety of products including, wallmurals, children's puzzles, stationary, and scrapbooking kits, and I play the guitar.


Cof: In your own words, how would you sum up your artistic style? Are there any particularly influential artists who inspire you to create, how did your style develop?

Philip: I think it's always hard for an artist to classify their style but, if I had to put a label to my work I would probably call fantastic surrealism. That said, I enjoy quite a few different styles from matte painting realism, to sci-fi/fantasy conceptual art, to children's book stylized painting.
I enjoy the works of quite a variety of artists. In the Concept arena I really like Craig Mullins, Yanick Dusso, Eric Tiemens, and Stephan Martiniere. Drawing from the illustration arena I enjoy the work of Scott Gustafson, Kinuko Craft, and Micheal Whelan. Within the contemporary fine art communities I like Guy Bruvel, Daniel Merriam, and Micheal Parkes.
My style is really the sum of all of artistic experiences and continues to evolve as I am challenged to create art for new clients and work with new licenses. The realism, well, that comes from my schooling. Paier College of Art is a "Sharp Focus" school...meaning the focus is on realism and the curriculum supports that. The teachers there all subscribe to the school of realism and there is even a class that focuses on producing one hyper realistic painting during the whole semester. One of my illustration teachers, Tim O'Brien, a fantastic and well know illustrator, is a very realistic oil painter, so the techniques I developed during that time were a reflection of his teaching.
Upon graduation, my work tended to be fairly subdued and I used of lot of earth tones to help accentuate the more somber subject matter I focused on at that time. My first job, working for well-known children's book author and illustrator, Mercer Mayer, would change all that. The work he was producing during this period of his career was very very colorful and, not only that, it was being created on the computer, using some new program called Photoshop. So, I went from being a traditional realistic oil painter to a digital artist focusing on colorful children's content! It was hard at first, but it was really the training ground for what was to come. During that time I produced digital paintings for over 25 children's book and further refined many skills, especially my understanding of color theory. I stayed active in the freelance illustration scene while working with Mercer and I began to see a shift in my style; over time my work started getting more colorful and bold.
This colorful style continued to develop when I went onto my next job working at a division of Vivendi Universal Games, producing illustrations for licenses under some big names: Jurassic Park; Disney; Fisher Price; and Mattel. More and more my personal work, which tends to focus on fantastic themes, was utilizing the influences of working in the children's market. Working in a variety of different markets has ultimately pushed me to develop two separate styles; one that is whimsical and childlike, the second focusing on darker fantastic subject matter. Currently I've been doing quite a few matte paintings and am utilizing more 3D geometry as a base for my work and so my focus has been on near photo-realism. In addition, I'm developing a series of highly realistic wildlife and landscape paintings that borrow from the matte painting approach.


Cof: Sounds intersting, let me know when you get some done . When you are creating your works, is there a specific genre of music you listen to that helps the process? Any favourite musicians you could mention?

Philip: My musical choices when painting are usually progressive rock or progressive metal. I love the progressive rock bands of the 70s like Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and Emerson Lake and Palmer. There's been a new movement of progressive rock and metal bands over the last 15 years and I really enjoy bands like Opeth, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Fates Warning, Pain of Salvation, and Flower Kings. I tend to listen to the softer stuff when I'm painting prettier things and the heavier stuff like Opeth when I'm dealing with darker subject matter.


Cof: Hehe, Yeah - I'd be into most of that 70's stuff... not the modern Prog Rock though . How did you "break through" into the art scene, with so much competition around coupled with the stigma from "traditional" artists surrounding the digital medium. What got you started, and what inspired you to keep at it!

Philip: Hard work! I would probably consider myself relentless and I think most of the people that know me would agreeJ Even when many people doubted my skills when I first entered the marketplace I kept pushing to try and get better and get noticed. I approach my work as a legacy and think of each piece as small part of a bigger picture and overall body of work.
As I mentioned in an earlier question, I was given my first chance at digital art through well know Illustrator Mercer Mayer. The main things that keep me at it is my competitive nature and undying desire to create the perfect painting and to master to the recreate reality and/or alternate realities. I have a long way to go.


Cof: The burning question, what software and tools do you use in your conceptual pieces, any prefered techniques or 'out of the ordinary' processes you use?

Philip: I primarily use Photoshop and Painter for my digital work, occasionally applying the use of 3D software for the more realistic stuff. I usually get the basics for an image down; lighting, values, color palette etc. first and then I do a-lot of post layer effects to create atmosphere and further define color harmony.


Cof: How do you know when one of your artworks is finished? I know I'm forever fiddling and tweaking

Philip: That is a tough one for sure but, as time has passed I've become better at knowing when a piece is complete. Many times I know a painting is done when it's no longer enjoyable to work on, other times it's done when the assignment is due. I've found that I have an internal clock or gut check now that tells me when a piece is done.


Cof: I've asked for your 5 favourite pieces, so lets take a look. What's inspired them, is there a deeper meaning, what was the creative process, tools of the trade, etc?


Afternoon Light


Philip: I've recently gone back to my roots and I've been doing more landscape/wildlife type pieces in the matte painting style. The difference between my matte's and many other out there is I usually don't work from an original plate (photo) but, instead I find a bunch of reference that I think will help in the painting process, create a 3D model, light it and render using Mental Ray. Following that I thin begin painting; this painting utilized a ton of custom brushes I made along the way as well as some photo reference.


Where Fears Roam


Philip: This is a definite favorite of mine and has gone on to become one of the more popular pieces on my website. This is an image from a book project I've had going for a few years now that hopefully will wrap up shortly (if I can find the time) People ask me quite regularly what the meaning behind this painting is and I tend to shy away from to many specifics but, the particular location in this painting is one of a few locations in the story that deal with nightmares and is a visual metaphor for a specific type of nightmare or fear all of us must deal with in life. Again, this one employs Maya, Painter and Photoshop to get the job done. This image went on to be included in quite a few illustration annuals including Spectrum 12 and Expose' 3.


Incubus


Philip: This is one of the many characters I'm developing for the book project. It is a bit more abstract, expressive, and loose when compared with some of my other work. The change is style for me caused a bit of a controversy since long time fans of my work felt it was too much of a departure from what I normally do, while other felt it was one of my best pieces.


Cohabitation


Philip: "Cohabitation" illustrates the concept of how different civilizations can influence the landscape around them, ultimately effecting each other in unique an unpredictable ways. Again I don't want to give too much away but, the images that follow this one in this story further show the change in the landscape due to unseen events. This piece was created primarily in Painter with some additional touches added in Photoshop in the final stages.


Faceplate


Philip: This painting is fairly unique in my portfolio since it is a hybrid of traditional oil and acrylic painting as well as digital painting tools like Photoshop. Much of the work was done using traditional tools but I was able to clean up a few little areas digitally to ultimately offer this image as a very large limited edition giclee.' The images was ultimately purchased for inclusion in Electronic Arts permanent collection in hangs in the building I currently work at; its cool to see it when I go to work in the morning.


Cof: Fantastic work there Philip! If you were to wake up and you had an amazingly cool superpower, what would it be and why?

Philip: I think it would be telekinesis. I'm not sure why but I've always had a fascination with the idea that the human brain is capable of so much more than our current understanding on it.


Cof: Ooh nice one, I'd have to go for not having to sleep (there just isn't enough time to get things done!) If you were going to live on a desert island, what you would take with you?

Philip: Well...that is a tough one. I guess something to paint with, a guitar, and my girlfriend.


Cof: Uhhh, Any questions for me?

Philip: I don't think so; thanks for asking me to do the interview!


Cof: No problem mate, glad to have you on here - that's pretty much the end of the interview; Thanks very much for your time Philip, but before you go - Any final words of wisdom for budding young (and old!) digital artists out there?

Philip: Practice, practice, practice! Never give up, set a goal for yourself and don't stop until you reach it. Ultimately its just that simple; determination and consistency are the keys to success in this industry.

Wondeful stuff, great interview, props!

Make sure you check out the bigger version on his website