First give us a bit of background information- Where are you from? Where did you go to school and what are you artistic interests?

I was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. I have a Bachelors of Science in Fine Arts from Towson University and studied Photography and Art History in Florence, Italy where I studied Renaissance art and black and white photography techniques. As for my artistic interests, I am drawn to the simple beauty in everyday things. From the strength of a concrete overpass to the decay of an old house, the shapes, colors, textures and sharp contrasts are my eye candy.

Tell us a little bit more about what you do. How do you describe “Interaction Designer”?  Who do you do work for? Are you freelance or with a firm?

To me, an Interaction Designer is someone who makes the complicated problems simple by designing intuitive, thoughtful solutions regardless whether its online, offline, environmental or service inspired. As an Interaction Designer for Pinpoint Logic, a user experience design company, my background in visual communication gives me a unique edge when it comes to understanding business problems and crafting an informed design.  My thought process is very visual and I spend a lot of time doing sketch notes and whiteboard exercises to help navigate through the problems and define solutions.

It’s cool to see Copic Markers used in such simple and functional application. You are actually blending and adding tonal elements in your prototypes. Will you describe your process with the markers?

I use grid paper, nothing fancy, and pencil in the outer frames of the prototype. Then with the Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 pen, I start outlining. I often switch to a smaller gauge pen to do any type treatments. I have various line styles to denote headings, copy, links, etc. Once the outlines are inked, I then use Sketch Markers to add depth and dimension to the modules. I use c1, c3, n1, n3, w1 and w3 of the grays to indicate static, active and inactive states of the windows. Through the use of the markers I have created a set that works quite well in most paper prototyping situations.

Sketching out the windows and user interface elements help me visualize the interactions and decide whether my initial design thoughts were correct. Paper prototyping takes less time than trying to create the screens on the computer and allows me to get the answers faster; whether its from myself, from a team member or a user. Its amazing how quickly you can determine if a user interface will be too visually cluttered just by layering a few sheets of grid paper.

When you linked me to these images of your work I was surprised because in my experience with web design/planning it’s usually done on a white board and/or wire-framed using software. Is your approach typical?  Why take so much care with the initial phase? Is it aesthetic for you? Are you just an artist/craftsperson at heart?

I am not sure if my approach is typical although I have seen a spike in sketch notes which lead me to believe that there may be others like me out there. Working this way allows me to be creative and hold on to my fine arts experience but yet move forward in a technical problem solving kind of way. Creating the paper prototypes confirm design decisions and when I share them with the users, they become more engaged. Its amazing to see how they interact and quickly see what designs work and what will not. Its a lot cheaper for me to draw, test and redraw on paper than it is to spend weeks crafting just the right wireframe in Omnigraffle.

Interaction Design has everything to do with how humans engage information. To me it seems like hand-drawing your browser frame and content layouts is a much more tangible and direct way to think about the human side of information. Do you see it that way? Does slowing down the layout process help you think about content better/differently?

Yes, I do see it that way. We spend so much time looking at, and working in, a box that we miss out on opportunities to really digest how humans interact with the tangible world. Taking the interfaces and drawing them out, gives me the opportunity to see each element as an object that has a purpose and needs to help the user, not get in their way. Overall, I enjoy what I do because I’m an advocate for the user… but some days I enjoy it just because I get to draw with markers all day.

Drawing all day is always a bonus. Tell me more about your photography? When did you start taking pictures?

My photographic journey started when I was a kid and its been a start and stop trip ever since. In the fall of 2008, I bought my first digital camera and vowed to get back into taking photos and rediscover my eye. So the 365 day challenge began. In 2009 I took photos almost every day. It had been so long since I had taken photos on a regular basis that I was unsure what my “style” was. So I left it open and focused on taking photos and not get too hung up on the technical aspect.

Who are some of your favorite photographers?

Some of my favorite these days are those who I know personally. I hope to learn more about well known photographers and study their techniques. This is actually part of my project this year. I’m working on mastering the Manual mode:)

Most of my photos do not have a human element in them and that is something I hope to change in time. I’m always intrigued when someone can capture the pure essence of a human in their raw environment. My friend Dave has a knack for this. I find photos, whether famous or a simple snapshot, incredibly beautiful. It’s the story that the image communicates and how we interpret them that always leaves me in awe. <

I always find a lot of inspiration in the creative output of my friends. Absorbing work that is different from what I do professionally or in my own studio has always been helpful for me as well. Do you feel there are direct connections between the practice of shooting pictures and your design work?

Yes. I found that just the sheer act of taking photos every day really helped me strengthen my understanding of basic design elements (balance, composition, etc) and in turn started to affect my interaction design. I approach my designs differently now, especially in breaking down complicated tasks into the simplest of measures. Whether it’s zooming in on particular user flow, or approaching a system from a 30,000 foot view, my sketches/prototypes hone in on the true task at hand without the clutter of any system noise. I don’t think I would have noticed if it wasn’t for my co-workers who started to pick up on the shift in my work. After a few months of tracking my photo project and my interaction designs, they linked the two and confirmed it for me.

I have a BA in Art History and find that my ability (as a graphic designer) to look at and talk about images to others has been greatly helped by this experience. While there is no obvious, direct connection between the Renaissance and interactive design, what about your understanding of fine arts in general informs your commercial work?

Since I have a BS in Fine Arts (I’m serious, a BS! I started out as a Bio Chem major) having the basic understanding of the elements of design really helps me design the GUI (graphic user interface) as well as the overall balance of interaction on the screen. I never thought all those terrible and rough college critiques would come in handy in the real world. Might sound funny but being an art student really did help prepare me in handling clients and gathering requirements. I feel like I’ve perfected the art of asking all the right questions.

Thanks Michelle! Check out more of her photography on Flickr. Find @michellechilds on Twitter and check out her blog Complicated is Easy.

What is your earliest memory of making art?

When I was younger, I was always doing something artsy or crafty. I remember going to Ben Franklin with my grandparents and buying latch hook kits and art materials to make art. In elementary school, my dad got me a Badge-a-Minute machine, which I loved. I drew pictures and cut out magazine photos of Duran Duran to make buttons that I sold at the holiday craft fairs. I recall that, one of my favorite things to draw were pictures using repeating words. For instance, I wrote the word “butterfly” over and over to fill in the shape of a butterfly. Maybe, that encouraged my affinity for typography.

Growing up, I designed clothes for my Barbies, loved making fashion designs with Fashion Plates, made hair accessories, doodled on my Peechee folders and decorated my Trapper Keepers with collage. My love for papercrafting started at a young age, I started making handmade cards, scrapbooks & journals in 5th grade.  When I was 9, I taught myself calligraphy using a speedball book/pen set.  In high school, I designed and sewed most of my dresses for school formals by revamping my moms old bridesmaid dresses. I loved anything that had to do with art, fashion and design.

Do you have formal training or are you self-taught?

I am formally trained as a graphic designer. I received my Degree in Graphic Design with a minor marketing from Woodbury University in Burbank,CA.  As a designer, I was trained in color theory and conceptual design. But when it comes to collage, painting and book making that was self taught. In college, I took a watercolor and life drawing classes that were good foundation courses but nothing like the artwork I create today.

Can you briefly describe your creative process?

My creative process differs depending on the project…. If I’m doing a theme-based project, I treat it like a graphic design project. I begin by creating an adjective bank, brainstorming and researching ideas relate to my topic. I create idea/inspiration boards to collect swatches of color, photos, magazine pictures, anything related to the project. Then I sketch out thumbnails and/or idea roughs and sometimes alter the artwork on the computer. If I’m designing a garment, I draw 5-10 sketches for the outfit with notations of materials and ideas I’d like to incorporate into the final piece. My mind is always working overtime when it comes to creating art. I like to sketch out my ideas for jewelry, class workshop ideas, lettering and project ideas so I keep a journal/sketch book by my side at all times.

When it comes to painting, I work randomly..free..without a thought of the end result. My paintings are very organic,  I consider myself to be very prolific when it comes to making art or designing journals.  I work fast, intuitively..letting the colors, tools and my imagination to take over. I work on several paintings or pieces at once. I find this helpful to not feel stuck or not know what to do next. It keeps my mind moving.

Here’s a little step-by-step of how my art is created: PAINT.COLLAGE.STITCH.MAKE

Most times I begin by painting abstract backgrounds on paper and fabric pieces ranging from 5×7 to 24×36. Playing with color,

drizzling paint, making marks with stencils, stamping and writing words with various art tools and supplies, pens, markers, oil pastels. Most of my paintings incorporate collage, I use black & white photocopies of my original art on the base layer, then paint and gesso on the top. My journal covers are made of patchwork collage covers using my product Collage Pauge to glue paper to fabric. The collages are randomly pieced together with wild freeform machine stitching to create the journal or art quilts.

Copic Markers are just one part of your art-making toolkit. I would guess you have a tendency to use whatever is accessible in your collage work. Can you describe your approach to art materials? What is the deciding factor on what you’re using?

Nothing is off limit when it comes to materials I use in my artwork. I do have a few favorite product lines I prefer when it comes to paint and markers. I mix a variety of mediums, pens and pencils in my drawings and doodles. As for painting, I use very simple tools when I paint…foam brushes, a few different size cheap paintbrushes and a brayer. I hand cut stencils with an Xacto knife out of discarded postcards and make stamps using self-adhesive fun foam from the craft store.  I have collected so many art materials over the years, now I use whatever is in my studio. I prefer to recycle paper, so I paint on found paper, paper bags, envelopes and paint over unused fabric. One of my favorite substrates are paper towels, I paint and dye them for my collages. I believe that you do not need expensive materials to create great art.

You are a busy entrepreneur and travel a lot. Can you talk a bit about how this came to be and how it facilitates your creativity and art making?

Before I became a full-time artist. I worked in Silicon Valley for eight years and my jobs took me all over the country. I developed a love for travel and told myself that when I had my own business I it would involve a lot of travel. I love to explore new cities, I love hotels, airplanes and meeting people on the road. So I when I started teaching, I set up gigs in cities that I wanted to explore or had family that I could visit. Then in 2006, when my first book Collage Unleashed was published, I set up my own book tour around the country, teaching workshops, offering demos and doing book signings. My book tour took me all over the world including Bali, Australia and Canada. The past few years my hectic travel schedule only allowed being home a few days a month. It’s a fun lifestyle but has many challenges to maintaining a healthy work/life balance. Being on the road, I do find it difficult to find time to be in the studio. I have learned to adapt to my environment and set up a mobile studio in my suitcase, I work in hotel rooms, on the airplane and in coffee shops.

What/who inspires your work?

There are so many things that inspire my artwork…a walk on the beach, flipping through a fashion magazine, making art with kids, a thought, an idea, a word, a photograph. I carry my digital and video camera everywhere. I take inspiration photos of interesting shapes, signs, art, flowers, etc. These photos make their way in my art through doodles, altered backgrounds and sketchbooks. I love old craft books from the 60’s and 70’s, I revamped techniques based on traditional macramé and latch hooking in the bindings of my journals. Fashion and magazines are a great reference for photography, color and images for the faces that I draw.  Typography is another one of my loves. I study letterforms and ad layouts for interesting ways to incorporate type and freestyle lettering in my art. I used to teach K-12 art and found that working with kids inspires creative freedom when creating artwork. Technology plays a big part in my life, I am always exploring new ways to incorporate it into the way I market my art and brand.
What advice or criticism from a teacher or mentor have you received on your work that really helped you develop?
I can’t recall much criticism about my art since I graduated from college a long time ago. But when I first started my career as full time artist and teacher, one of my mentors offered me great advice about staying true to my style {of artwork}. She said, “If you want to be successful in this career, share your art with the world…write articles, write books and teach people.” She taught me a lot about being a giving artist and teacher. In my workshops and in life I strive to inspire others with my art.

What’s the best part about being a full time artist?

There is so much about being a full-time artist that I love. The freedom of creating my own schedule, I have the flexibility to work anytime of the day or night. So I can go to the gym or do yoga in the morning and then work in the afternoon thru evening. I am blessed to be doing what I love daily. I am an entrepreneur at heart, so I am always looking for new business opportunities and exciting ways to further the exposure of my art and develop creative partnerships with manufacturers and other artists.

What is the worst part about being a full time artist?

There is not much I can complain about when it comes to my job. I have a career that most people would dream and love to do. The worst or hardest part about being a full time artist is probably not having a regular paycheck and no benefits like I had when I was working in the corporate world. Also, I find it difficult to balance creative studio time and business time. Now that I have so many other facets to my business, like licensing, online web properties and developing product, I find that it gets harder to spend time in the studio to just create and play for myself. Everything is driven by deadlines for writing, workshops or product, so I am not able to spend as much time creating as I would like.

Any classes or workshops coming up?

Yes, I teach a variety of mixed media painting, collage and art journaling workshops. I will be teaching throughout the US and in Tuscany in 2010.  It’s a much lighter schedule than in years past, I have decided to cut back on my live events to hopefully get back in the studio to paint and develop more porduct! I have also created a series of online workshops, which include downloadable color PDF lessons, videos, discussions and photo galleries. So for those who can’t travel to a live workshop, they can take a class from home. My 2010 schedule is available on my website www.treicdesigns.com.

During my blog reading this week I found a great feature on Illustrator Abner Graboff. For those of you who dig children’s book illustration, especially stuff from the 50’s and 60’s, this is a great read. Portland, Oregon Illustrator Ward Jenkins did some research on Graboff and even did an interview with Graboff’s son Jon. Over three posts, Jenkins show off a lot of great images from Graboff’s books from the 50’s and 60’s.
Check it out: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Jenkins himself has recently released his first childrens book, “How to train with a T Rex and win 8 gold medals” about olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Great stuff.

Some time last year I was contacted by Cat Staggs and was very excited by the work she was doing. She has a very painterly style and her techniques give her film and comic book icons a rich presence.

From her bio:

llustrating over 130 cards for the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith card set for TOPPS, Cat joined the Star Wars / LUCAS FILM family in 2004. The highly collectible artist’s sketch cards brought Staggs into the forefront of Star Wars fandom. Having produced exclusive prints for Star Wars Celebrations III, IV, and Europe, Cat has also contributed drawing tutorials and Halloween masks articles for the kid’s section, as well as illustrating short fiction for starwars.com

Not content to only play in that galaxy far, far away, Cat’s work has also been featured on The Lord of the Rings Evolution and Masterpieces card sets and three sets featuring Indiana Jones for TOPPS.

Moreover, further cementing her reputation among collectors and fellow artists, Cat’s distinctive work can also be seen on Rittenhouse Archives’ Iron Man-The Movie, Complete Marvel Avengers, X-Men Archives and DC Legacy card sets, as well as The World’s Finest VS trading card game for Upperdeck.

See below the interview for a brief description of her process.

What is your earliest memory of drawing or making art?

I don’t remember not drawing. My mother tells me I was drawing something the second I could hold a crayon.

Do you have formal training or are you self-taught?

Both. I would draw all the time but I also focused on art classes from an early age. I never wanted to do anything else. I went to a University Of Texas in San Antonio and studied fine art, obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree. That is the extent of my formal education. But to this day I am still learning something new everyday. Whether it be something I figure out on my own or learn from my peers and/or mentors.

Can you briefly describe your illustration process?

I usually come up with an idea. I Frankenstein reference together. I normally shoot my own(myself or with the help of a photographer ) as it is the only way to make sure i get exactly what I need. Then I will do my layout sketch. Once that is finished I then scan the sketch and print out a blue line version to do the coloring on. I usually start with an under drawing of the basic light and shadow. Once that is complete I go in with the color, layering until i reach the desired render. once i am “satisfied” I go in with a white acrylic to had the highlights in the final layer.

Paint vs. Markers? What is the deciding factor?

For me i really enjoy markers. I feel like I have a little more control over the media than I do with paint or a paint brush.

How did you get into doing trading cards for film and comics?

I started going out on the convention circuit and handed out portfolios. I was then contacted a few months later by Topps asking if i was interested in working on the Revenge Of The Sith trading card set. And the rest is history.

Who are some of your favorite illustrators/ artists?

I am a big Norman Rockwell fan as well as Jon Whitcomb and Robert McQuire. More recent illustrators include Adam Hughes, Phil Noto, Mitch Breitweiser, Mark Brooks, Brian Stelfreeze and Dustin Nguen to name a few. I am lucky that part of my job is going to conventions and getting to sit in the middle of some of the most talented illustrators of our time. It is really inspiring.

What advice/crit from a teacher or mentor have you received on your work that really helped you develop?

My high school art teacher told me to go with my gut and trust my line and keep the focus on one idea at a time. Continuous second guessing is never a good thing and in the end you will wish you went with your initial instinct and could lose your idea in the process. It was great advice at the time.

That being said, I have come to learn, the initial idea is not always the strongest. There are times when another set of eyes will see things that the creator does not. Things that can bring a new energy to a piece, especially if it is just not coming together. Art tends to always be evolving even within a single piece. An idea can strike right in the middle that would make it better. Inspiration can strike at anytime. I have found that most artists will never complete a piece. We are constantly seeing ways to make it better, even years later.

What’s the best part about being an illustrator?

Working freelance.

What is the worst part about being and illustrator?

Working freelance…LOL

Here is a brief step-by-step of the above Batman image Cat did for a private collector. She used Copic Markers as well as white acrylic for highlights.

Top left to right
1) cleaned up sketch
2)Blacks
3)Warm Grays
4)Tonal grays
5)Neutral and cool grays
6)blue violet under drawing
7)first color layer
8)second color layer
9)whites

If you dig what she does then check out her website, her deviantart page and her blog.