Lum: Hi Adam! Can you tell a little about yourself and how art plays a roll in your life?

Adam: Hello, and thank you for featuring me. Where do I start, well I have always had a love for art right from an early age, my parents saw this and encouraged me to improve through practice at home as well as taking the right modules at school. I also grew very fond of space and sci-fi, I use to read loads of magazines about space and spaceships mostly just looking at the pictures and trying to recreate them with pencil and paper. It wasn’t until I started my first year in University that my artistic skills spilled into the digital realm of Photoshop, and instantly I was trying all kinds of things and realized I had found the medium for which I could create all those magical images of space I had thought up or had seen in movies and books. Since then I have kept with digital art mostly but also attend life drawing classes.

Lum: Yes you really stand out as a sci-fi artist. We see that you are a big fan of Battlestar Galactica. Is that where you get a lot of inspiration from or are there other series aswell?

Adam: I have drawn a lot of inspiration from the new Battlestar Galactica series mostly down to its gritty appearance and the somewhat close to realistic battle scenes it has, just the general look and feel of the series has really given me a lot of help. But it isn’t the only series that has inspired me, I have watched loads such as Stargate SG1, Babylon 5, Star Trek, Lex as well as countless sci-fi movies and all of them at some point have given me an idea at some point such as a subject or even composition ideas.

Lum:You want to be a digital artist for games right? Are you a fanatic gamer aswell and do you play them purelly for fun or are you really studying them, geeking out on every detail haha?!

Adam: Haha well it is an ambition of mine to eventually work as an illustrator or concept artist in the games industry, but it will be some time before I achieve that goal. As for gaming I am quite the fanatic, mostly play console games on my 360 but I use my PC now and then. I have found that on a lot of games I tend to study them, look for things in the game that I know how to do, such as the way they have done the texture work and lighting, so yeah I can be quite the game nerd sometimes.

Lum: Well passion is what you need to get far in that industry. I heard you are getting quite a few comissions lately. One of the advantages of getting more well known! How does that feel and how does it work different for you then your personal work?

Adam: Yeah over the past few months I have been doing commissions for projects ranging from book covers to in-game assets for browser based games, it is a great way to build up a good portfolio. Working on commissions is different than my personal work, but not as much as I had thought, ultimately it’s the client who I have to please and not myself. The really good thing about commission though is that they do tend to push you out of your comfort zone more and you pick up and learn lots of new stuff.



Lum: You mentioned earlier that you go to life drawing classes. How much do you think this ability to draw with a pen and paper helps when it comes to useing the computer?

Adam: It’s always important to practice traditional art if you’re doing digital art, the freedom of pencil and paper and an ever changing subject in front of you is a perfect way to improve drawing skills and it translates into digital skills just as much. What your learn about human anatomy from drawing out of books is no comparison to life drawing, and its not just life drawing, all kinds of drawing and painting, I carry a sketch pad with me all the time and doodle whenever I feel .

Lum: You are certenly on your way to become a well known artist. You have a very personal style that is recognisable, I think that is very important for an artist. What would be your dream job, what company and what position?

Adam: Thank you, well my dream job would be working on the Halo franchise as a matte painter or concept illustrator, the Halo universe has always captivated me I have read most of the Halo novels and played the games many many times. There is just so much to the story of Halo which isn’t even touched upon in the games and even in the novels, to work on a game that delves deeper into the mysterious history of the Forerunner race would be my dream.

Lum: Is The Luminarium the first art-team you have been involved in? Can you tell us a bit about your roll in the team and how it effects your work?

Adam: The Luminarium was the first art group I joined and I would say it has had quite an impact on my work, the people I have met and the exhibitions that have been set out have had a huge impact on me. Putting up a work in progress on the forums and letting people look over it giving advice is great, I would go as far to say that a lot of my work would not have turned out as good as it did if it wasn’t for the constant input from The Luminariums members. The exhibitions are also a great way to broaden a portfolio, giving artists a subject is a lot of fun especially to see how other artists have portrayed the subject.

Lum: Speaking of other artists is there any in particular, in The Luminarium or outside of it, that you particularly look up to and are inspired by?

Adam: There have been a few artists who have always been a constant source of inspiration and who I look up to one being Alexei Kozachenko or Nameless Designer as he goes by on Deviant Art, ever since I started doing space scenes I have always looked at his work for guidance as well as his input on my own work. Another artist who has influenced me recently is Dan LuVisi or adonihs on Deviant Art, as I have recently been branching out towards more structural subjects such as space craft I found myself looking more and more at this artist for inspiration, despite that he doesn’t do anything like my kind of work his technique, use of lighting and texture is a big drive for me.

Lum: You are defenately pushing yourself and we like to see that! Before we round this up, are you working on any cool project right now that we can expect to be finished soon?!

Adam: Well one big project I am working on at the moment is a birthday present for my brother, a big space battle scene set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe with their giant gothic style space craft having one hell of a scrap, its going well so far and it should be done soon, his birthday is on the 1st of April so I best have it done by then

Lum: Haha that is awesome! We will be looking forward for it! Adam it was a pleasure to interview you, any last words?

Adam: Thank you for making me your featured artist!