Lombi: Hey there and welcome to the interview. How are you today?
Shelley: Busy as usual, working 40 hours a week, freelancing and going to school full time makes Shelley a dull (and tired) girl...

Lombi: Aww.. *gives ultra compassionate look* Alright, let's start off with you giving us a little bit of background info ... who you are, what you do, where you are from, how old is your inner self, what your foot size is... that kind of thing :}
Shelley: My, my all those questions... My name is Shelley Eichholz aka noir and I am a professional graphic designer/artist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am old enough to know better but too young to resist, which puts me at about 40. I don't have feet, I have cloven hooves...

Lombi: How would you, in your own words, describe your style? What and who were your major influences in the development of that style? Does your soulmate have any bigger influences in what you do? Which artists do you admire and respect for what they do?
Shelley: Hard to say, I really don't have any distinct style these days. I used to do quite a bit of what's known as dark art but basically got bored churning out the same style all the time. I felt the need to grow, I think every artists goes through discovery stages. With me it's quite cyclical, I began drawing as a kid and from there moved into fine art photography then to film and then to digital. I am once again going back to my roots of fine art and find that much of my painting and drawing is very stylized. It's fun rediscovering your voice in a new or revisited media, it's really easy to get stagnant and stop growing in your art if you don't keep evolving.

My soulmate and husband is super supportive of my art, I don't think I'd be an artist without his love and support. He inspires me and encourages me to take chances and to be myself.

I don't know that I am really influenced by anyone. When i see an artist style I like I really don't try to emulate it. Why bother? I get told quite a bit that my art looks like Gigers and I think that's a crock. I love Giger, he's amazing, his work is amazing but he is much more bio mechanical than I am. My work is far too organic to be compared to his. Thanks for the compliments guys, but I don't see it.

I am a huge Jim Dine fan as of late. He's so amazing and multi talented.

Lombi: What kind of music do you listen to, when you work? What are your favourite bands/artists?
Shelley: **Looks at Winamp** Well let me give you a quick snapshot. On my winamp currently I have: Devo, Social Distortion, Modest Mouse, NIN, Patti Labelle, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Bad Finger, Barry White, AFI, Elvis Costello, Henry Rollins, Manson, Napalm Death, Gwar, Portisehead, Billie Holiday, Talking Heads, Tool, Frontline Assembly and the list goes on and on - how's that for farked up? With the exception of country music I love everything.

Lombi: A question everyone wants to know these days ... at what point did you want to become the artist you are now ... was there any breaking points or such? How did you get started in digital art?
Shelley: I wanted to be a professional photographer when I was in high school. I grew up in the Midwest and females going to college back in the day were unheard of unless you were going to nursing school. I was told by my father that he would only pay for me to go to nursing school and NOT art school. I made it through one semester of nursing and then got the hell out of dodge (or IL as the case may be)... I moved to CA fell in love got married had a son and realized somewhere along the way I lost my dream. Back to school I went and this time to UC Berkeley for fine art photography. From there I got into film making and eventually came back around into digital. I did quite a bit of layout and typography work back in the day when it was all cut and paste and moved gradually into digital so it was an easy jump for my art as well.

Lombi: The second most commont question out there (hehe) ... what software do you use in creating your artworks, how does the common process look like when you are creating a piece? Do you just see that software as purely a tool used to create or as something more? What kinds of media and techniques do you commonly like to use when you create a piece?
Shelley: I always think this is an odd question. People have this misconception that you can run out and buy the same software someone uses and low and behold create what they do. You know how I like to answer this? "My Brain". Quite true. I get an idea for an image and develop it in my head for a while. I occasionally sketch things out but generally if I'm going to do something digital I figure why bother. it's just duplication.

I like to references "Torn" for this type of discussion as it illustrates really well my thought process. "Torn" is my homage to Hellraiser. The opening scene of that movie disturbed me so much, over a decade later it still gives me nightmares. I work with DC (ka-os) any chance I can get. He's a freak and I admire that in a person. I asked DC if he would be kind enough to work up some head shots of himself in a particular pose, in this case shot in profile with his tongue out and being the total rocking freak he is, he provided a perfect shot. I knew I wanted to simulate human skin being torn off and considered a few options and finally went with a car chamois. It was about the right color and elasticity that skin would be. The chamois was cut into pieces and had S hooks hooked through it with chains attached, this was all scanned on my scanner. It was then a matter of blending the pieces into one another, correcting the color and adding core shadow and highlight.

The software is a tool, it is only as good as the person operating it. No more no less.

Lombi: When you create a piece what normally inspires your work?
Shelley: Things I read, songs, my nightmares and dreams.

Lombi: When you are working on a piece, when do you know that it's finally done?
Shelley: Pieces get finished? Really? Wow!!! My work never really gets done, I just get tired of working on it for a while. I'll pull out work years old and start in again on it. As it sits I see the flaws and they become more pronounced the more I look at them.

Lombi: Hehe, yeah ... I get that feeling too ... that I just have to "correct" flaws on my previous images. That's why half of them carry the "revisited" in the title. Okay, sorry, wandered off topic a bit. Anyway ... tell me how was it like breaking into the digital art scene ... i know it's very hard for young and unknown artists to get their name out nowdays ... how was your experience like? What's the best advice you could give to someone who wants to break into the scene?
Shelley: I didn't so much break into the scene as it picked me and carried me along it's wave. I stumbled into the online art community when it was in it's infancy and became a bit of an anomaly as one of a handful of females that created art of a dark nature, giving me quite a bit of exposure and this odd cult following. It's been fun, the notoriety makes me laugh at times. I actually run into people in the real world that I start talking to and they realize they know me and my work from the net and that's always a kick.

I see so many people trying to be the **next big thing**, they are like politicians collecting votes in the form of pagehits. Makes me wonder where their heads are, I've got an idea - I could draw you a map **giggles**. I really don't know how to answer this, I never tried to break into any scene, I was just me creating art.

Lombi: I've asked you to choose 5 of your favourite artworks to be featured here along with this interview ... so tell me ... why do you like these 5 so much, what are the stories behind them?
Shelley:
Torn: Well see above for the story on that.
While It Sleeps: This is by far one of my all time faves. An oldy but a goody as they say. This is an image of a girl I photographed 15 years ago and I had always loved the image and wanted to do something with it. Ekud and I were going to do a collab together and I pulled this image out and was playing around with it. he got busy on some other stuff and I kept staring at the part of the collab I had done thus far and all of the sudden it clicked that this creature should be some sort of high priestess, on an altar, resting between the meals the servants bring her. This image evolved from the one textured creature into a whole scene. So Ekud if you are reading this, I'd still love to do a collab one day but I'm kinda glad you didn't get round to adding onto her so I could end up with this piece. ;).
Neila: I had not yet taken a figure drawing class and begun rendering the skeletal structure and muscle mass that lies beneath skin when this was painted, so this piece has all kinds of issues on that level, but I still love it. neila marks a new journey and freedom from the digital world. neila is oil on canvas 20" X 24" and was done entirely using raw umber (the paint not actual shit - sheesh), thus making is a monochrome. I was pretty happy with the range of value I could get from using one color and learned a lot from this piece about what works and what does not....
20 Minute sketch: Probably one of my most fave pieces I have ever done and my entry into an upcoming show (leap of faith time). This piece amazed me and made me realize that I can do most anything I put my mind to. I dreaded taking the figure drawing class, it is completely frightening to have a model stand before you and draw them, knowing that, yes, they will come and look to see how you rendered them. The whole series from this model are actually really good. There was something that just really clicked with him. I have since found that there will be models I can draw all day long and those I would rather stick a sharp stick in my eye than draw.
Stairs: Oil on canvas, 18" X 24". I love the lighting in this piece. I stood outside in winter and painted this, it took about 12 hours or so in about 3 sessions. I wonder what lurks in the shadows, I know something does...

Lombi: So tell me ... how would you describe the digital art scene roughly around your location? I've heard many artists complain about almost complete ignorance towards digital art ... especially from traditional artists, galleries and such. Your two cents?
Shelley: You would think because I live so close to Silicon Valley that there would be this huge digital art movement here but it just isn't so. This is not to say there isn't a digital art scene here, but it is still fairly underground and not yet on the gallery walls. You have to remember, a gallery exists to make money. Museums showcase art, galleries sell it. It is difficult to sell digital art for the price you can sell original one of a kind art, so trying to get digital art on a gallery wall is a tricky proposition. Not impossible, but you have to be very smart about it.

Lombi: What do you think about the whole online art community thing at the moment? Where would you like to see the future of art go? What are your plans for the future (except of course continuing to make such cool artworks)?
Shelley: I think the online art community is till having quite a few growing pains, it is still so young and there are a lot of people that hang around it that aren't truly there for the art. The good news is, I see more and more great artists emerging. It's a matter of balance, the community is still struggling to find that balance.

Lombi: You have a really awesome website ... why the separation of your business portfolio and the darker art one?
Shelley: Thanks and funny you should mention that. I am currently working on bringing the two sites together again, not as one but connected to one another. Sdezign.com is gone now. The new business site will be Noirdesign.net and will link to and reference Fadetonoir.com. I just redesigned my new business card and sent it out to print last week and then name of both sites appear on the car along with the words "art and design". The original split was due to a few of my clients that mentioned had they seen my "creepy" art work they might not have hired me to do design work for them. Oddly I eventually stopped working with these people because they were so hypocritical of people and their surroundings, I couldn't stand to be around them. The realization is this, my art is part of me, it is not all of me and if people cannot separate the two and insist on judging me by a portion of my art without ever meeting or speaking to me then frankly I have no need for them. I don't need the money that bad...

Lombi: You wake up one day and find out that you have amazingly cool superpowers. What are they?
Shelley: I have the amazing ability make everyday be the same day. So everyday would be Halloween, my fave holiday and oddly enough, my wedding anniversary.

Lombi: You find out that you will be relocated on a desert island tomorrow. You can only take one thing with you. What is the one thing you can't live without?
Shelley: My family.

Lombi: Err ... umm... any questions for me?
Shelley: Why interview me - there are so many more interesting people... I should interview you one day ;) I get the feeling that would be so much more fun...

Lombi: Err, hehe, well ... I'm up for that. But to answer your question ... I've been kinda admiring you and your works (which do not limit only to Photoshop as a lot of "artists" stop there) ... and an interview can be a very big compliment to an artist ... somehow as a result of the continuous hard work that has been put into his/her artworks, blah blah blah. So in a very direct way you can take this as a compliment, Shelley. Well, that's kinda the end of the interview. Thanks for taking the time, my friend. Any final words of wisdom you would like to share with us?
Shelley: Wisdom is merely bullshit spewed by people who think they have something important to say yet rarely do...

Great Interview. Shelley is a great artist.