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Q1: Let’s start with the common question, if you can kindly introduce yourself.
My name is Ken McCuen. I am an illustrator and artist currently working in Toronto, Canada. Currently my art-making time is split between being a production artist for feature films and illustration collaborations with writers and theatre directors.
Q2: How did you get into the field of your work?
Carrying a sketchbook around with me and filling it constantly had become a very important staple for me even as far back as gradeschool. During my early teens I was writing and illustrating my own novels. Throughout highschool I was illustrating lots of school play/production posters and drawing portraits of friends over lunch hours. Drawing became a huge part of my identity.
I was lucky enough to meet many professional artists early on in my life so the idea of getting paid to ‘draw all day’ was an easy choice to make when it came time to choose a career. I would watch movies or read comic books and at the same time think to myself ‘I’m going to create these some day.’It would take me forever to get through a novel because I would continuously stop and paint my own cover for it or draw a scene from the story that I enjoyed reading.
The logical step was to take my interest to art school and learn how to do it really well.
I attended Sheridan’s Illustration Program and shortly after graduating started working at a post-production studio as a matte painter for feature films.
Q3: Do you have any current favourite artists, comic artists, photographers who may have influenced you to become the artist that you are?
When I was very young much of my learning came from copying the spot illustrations inside the instruction manuals that came with Super Nintendo games. I drew tons of Star Trek, X-Men, and Secret of Mana.
Later on in the 4th grade my parents used to drive me to weekly evening drawing lessons held at an artist’s home. Those lessons were where I first started carrying a sketchbook at all times. It was also where I learned that if you turn the pencil on its side you can ‘shade’ a drawing a make it look *3D* — Totally blew my mind at the time.
In Highschool it was the team of Michael Turner and Talent Caldwell on Fathom and a buffet of other comic artists. Online art forums such as conceptart.org led me to guys like Andrew Loomis.
Throughout art school (and as my interest in book illustration grew) I became very influenced by:
Jon Foster, Arthur Rackham, Rick Sealock, James Jean, Sam Weber, Iain Mccaig, and Greg Manchess.
Q4: What are the main tools of your trade?
For the artwork itself graphite pencils, watercolor, sable brushes, ink, and photoshop/wacom. For the reference gathering my canon DSLR with some random photography lights and several boxes of sculpey for making rough models of the ‘tricky’ stuff.
Q5: How was it for you to learn the process of that? Did you teach yourself, take classes or learn from other existing artist’s tutorial?
My process is a very organic thing that changes constantly. It’s a complete mix from many different teachers with quite a bit of self-teaching thrown in. I’ve had a lot of hands-on instruction with the graphite early on in life while the photography is a recent skill I figured out mostly on my own or while shooting with peers.
Q6: Do you think its possible for you to describe the process of your art style, what are the dos and don’ts, the important aspects you set yourself to achieve your style of design?
In its most simple terms my process starts with abstract, very scribbly thumbnails drawn in a coffee shop and ends with (hopefully) a fully painted illustration in my studio. The meat that falls in between are the various puzzles, challenges, and quests that turn the scribble into something far more than a scribble.
When working with an art director or collaborating with a writer there’s a lot of back and forth in the initial stages where I show them sketches, they give input, and I show them more sketches until they’re happy with a concept than can proceed to final.
Q7: What are the biggest struggles you encounter as an artist?
The #1 biggest struggle is time. I’ve been trying very hard to increase my final painting output so I don’t have to put off so many personal projects. I have sketchbooks full of scribbled ideas that I would love to do fully-realized paintings of.
Q8: Do you have any other future plans that don’t involve creative art?
I’m currently writing a book, but even that is heavily illustrated. I set quite a few lofty artistic goals in the days leading up to the end of art school. We’ll see what happens when those are completed.
Q9: Do you have any personal mottos, quotes or existing quotes that motivates you to do what you love doing? Can you share it with us or provide words of wisdom from your experiences for those who look up to you?
For productivity advice I use the Jerry Seinfeld calendar trick. I keep a calendar at my desk. I have daily art-related goals. If I meet the goals for a particular day then I get to put an X through that day’s box. If the goals are not met then that day remains blank.
It’s for motivation. Chains of XXXX next to one another day after day looks awesome and makes me want to work just as hard the next day. A gap in the chains of Xs is highly annoying to look at, but is also a source of motivation to work harder.
Q10: What do you think the future will hold for all artists from all backgrounds from now?
I’m not sure about ‘all backgrounds’, but my simple answer would be ‘information’. The sheer amount of content available on ‘drawing tutorials’ online currently in 2011 is overwhelming compared to what was available ten years ago.
Q11: To round off the last question, where can your fans and new fans find updated news and progress from you, – Where can we find you?
My latest paintings, news, sketches, and process:http://kenmccuenillustration.blogspot.com/
my Portfolio: www.kenmccuen.com