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Hrvoje Bubić; BRIAN JONES INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
Brian Jones je kanadski ilustrator iz Toronta. Za Solin Live govori o sebi, svojim ilustracijama, inspiracijama, kao i o suradnji s Metallicom
To begin with, can you introduce yourself to our readers and say something about yourself.
Greetings Hrvoje, and thank you for giving me an opportunity to chat about art, and design. A bit about myself, well I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. I love art, and I love music, and for those who know me, that is very, very obvious. I absolutely love 80’s San Francisco Bay area Thrash Metal( Metallica, Slayer, Testament, Death Angel, Exodus ). I am 53 years old, with 2 very artistic kids in their early twenties. I absolutely loved being a teenager in the 80’s, it really was a special time for my artistic, and musical journey. I know that you are very likely to be a product of your surroundings, and that was so true for me. Luckily, I went to an ART focused High School which laid a great foundation to really get serious about pursuing art.
You work in illustration field, so I was interested in what motivated you to become an illustrator, what are your influences, inspiration. I noticed that there is a lot of Pushhead influence in your style, as well Derek Riggs.
When entering High School, Heavy Metal was really getting popular among my friends, and myself. It was the heaviness, the loud, the speed, and the rebellion towards the status quo. So that with the insane artwork on the album covers, I was just blown away and knew this was really for me. I would say the first artist that really grabbed my attention was Derek Riggs of Iron Maiden fame. Probably the Piece of Mind, and Powerslave albums first. My bedroom walls were covered in Maiden posters from floor to ceiling. My parents thought that I worshipped the devil. Soon after, I started to see artwork from Pushead in Thrasher magazine, and on Misfits t-shirts, and of course Metallica shirts too. Rounding out my top 3 influences would be Ed Repka of Megadeth fame. That is where the journey really started. I would constantly re-draw all these album covers, and whatnot, and started to notice that I was getting pretty good at it.
Have you taken any formal education at college or deisgn, if so what so? Do you think having or not having any formal art and design training or education it has helped your creativity or hindred it?
Besides being in an art focused High School, I starting dabbling in apparel screen printing which was so much fun, and a great learning experience. Most of my friends were musicians so I would be the guy to design art for them, and print the t-shirts. I knew going into College, that I needed to get into art design programs, that was never in doubt. I attended College just outside of the Toronto area for a one year art foundations course. Probably the most influential year of my life. I learned so much in that year, and still apply this training today. I applied the next year to the 3 year Classical Animation course at the same school. Looking back, not sure why I took that route, but shit happens.Still though, I learned so much again, and to really think in 3 dimensions when drawing. Apparently at the time, this was the best animation school in the world. We would constantly meet with recruiters from Disney, Nelvana, and many other studios from around the world.
What woul be your dream project, and how would go about making it a reallity?
Dream project ? Hmmmm. I would say designing apparel, and gig posters for Metallica. That being said, when you get to a certain level, and you now realize every other artist is incredible. Its more about being a great marketer, and making some contacts in the industry that will open doors to these opportunities. I am working on that now, and its not easy.
Have you any desire to work in 3 dimension be it sculpture, wood carving, or some other creative medium? Pushead did the Prong – Prove You Wrong cover with repurpsed items and now works with sculptures in Japan to make the collectible figures, is that something you’d like to try your hand at maybe?
Being a creative type, of course you want to spread your wings and try new things. So yes I am looking to start to get into sculpting some 3D projects more seriously. Some would be based on the 2D designs I have done previously. I am a big fan of what you can do with the blank Munny figures from KidRobot too. I have planned to take a bit of a drawing break this winter to focus on a sculpt project. We will see what happens.
What is your favorite piece of your work and why?
That is a really tough question. As far as my own work goes, there are maybe 2 or 3 designs I feel I just knocked it out of the park for whatever reason. But when looking back, I see little flaws that inspire me to get better and better, regardless if its “great” or not. For other artists that I am a fan of, and a collector of…just can’t pick one. Some notables would be Derek Riggs “Somewhere in Time” album cover, Pushead “One” design, and Ed Repka “Dead Again” Suicidal Angels album cover.
Tell me about your drawing technique. As far as I can tell, you use a digital drawing pad rather paper/ink.
I recently switched from pencil/paper to digital about 3 years ago. I was absolutely blown away with the quality of work I started getting using that format. Like anything, change can be difficult, but after about a month of tinkering with the tools in Autodesk Sketchbook, I started to see what it was capable of. I will never go back to paper now. As far as my style, everyone says “Wow,your stuff reminds me of “Pushead”. Its just been a part of me for like 40 years, so ya it really grew on me. It can be a curse or blessing, I don’t want to be labelled as the guy who copies Pushead. Even though there are elements of similarity, With every new piece I am trying new effects, shading techniques that separate me a bit more and more.
You run the company Metalhead Mafia, which deals in making props and memorabilia of heavy metal music. Please tell us more about Metalhead Mafia.
Metalhead Mafia was a brand name I had on the back burner for maybe 10 years. It actually came to fruition about 5 years ago. Its just an apparel line that showed pride in being a Headbanger basically. All the skulls you want, and play off song titles from some of my favourite bands. I would attend local weekend events like Tattoo Shows, Motorcycle Shows, and Art Shows. I built a really awesome following over the years, and have met some very cool people that appreciate what I do.
You cooperate with Metallica fan clubs (so-called Met – Club Chapters). I was interested in how the collaboration actually came about, and what is Metallica’s point of view about your works?
My first MetClub commission was from Orlando, maybe 20 years ago. That would be besides running my own fan club chapter out of Toronto from the late 90’s. In general though, I was just posting my designs on various Metallica Facebook groups I belonged to, and then I started getting the requests for artwork. Its been worldwide too, which has been amazing. Australia, Tasmania, to South America, to the UK, Greece, Germany, Georgia, Poland, a bunch in the US and Canada, and on and on. Its my favourite work to do. I did design surfboard pieces for Rob and Kirk in 2006, that was pretty cool. That was through the Metclub.
In addition to illustrating, is there anything else you do besides music?
I would say not very much at all besides the music thing. Between commissions, and my own design work I don’t veer off from the music/skull/skeleton themes.
For the end, what are your future projects? What would you recommend to our readers?
Like I mentioned earlier, I will diving into some 3D sculpting over the winter. Not sure where that would take me, but I would love to come up with a unique piece(s) to have with me at future art show events. If your readers get a chance, please head over to metalheadmafia.com, even just to check out my portfolio and leave a comment. Most of my social media is done through Facebook at Brian Jones (Bones), check that out too and “friend” me. Thank you !
HRVATSKI PRIJEVOD
Možete li se za početak predstaviti našim čitateljima i reći nešto o sebi.
Pozdrav Hrvoje i hvala ti što si mi dao priliku za razgovor o umjetnosti i dizajnu. Malo o sebi, rođen sam i odrastao u Torontu, Kanada. Volim umjetnost i volim glazbu, a onima koji me poznaju to je vrlo, vrlo očito. Apsolutno volim Thrash metal iz 80-ih San Francisco Bay area (Metallica, Slayer, Testament, Death Angel, Exodus). Imam 53 godine i dvoje vrlo umjetničke djece u ranim dvadesetima. Apsolutno sam volio biti tinejdžer u 80-ima, to je zaista bilo posebno vrijeme za moje umjetničko i glazbeno putovanje. Znam da ste vrlo vjerojatno proizvod svoje okoline, a to je bila istina za mene. Srećom, išao sam u srednju školu usmjerenu na UMJETNOST koja je postavila izvrsne temelje za stvarno ozbiljno bavljenje umjetnošću.
Bavite se ilustracijom, pa me zanimalo što vas je motiviralo da postanete ilustrator, koji su vaši utjecaji, inspiracija. Primijetio sam da ima puno utjecaja Pushheada u vašem stilu, kao i Dereka Riggsa (ilustrator koji je radio naslovnice albuma Iron Maiden,op.prev.).
Kad sam krenuo u srednju školu, Heavy Metal je postao jako popularan među mojim prijateljima, ai među mnom. Bila je to težina, glasnoća, brzina i pobuna prema statusu quo. Tako da sam s ludim ilustracijama na omotima albuma bio oduševljen i znao sam da je ovo stvarno za mene. Rekao bih da je prvi umjetnik koji je stvarno privukao moju pozornost bio Derek Riggs iz Iron Maidena. Vjerojatno prvi albumi Piece of Mind i Powerslave. Zidovi moje spavaće sobe bili su prekriveni posterima Maidena od poda do stropa. Moji su roditelji mislili da štujem đavla. Ubrzo nakon toga, počeo sam viđati umjetničke radove Pusheada u časopisu Thrasher, i na majicama Misfitsa, i naravno na majicama Metallice. Zaokružujući moja tri najbolja utjecaja bio bi Ed Repka (ilustrator specijaliziran za heavy metal,op.prev.) najpoznatiji po Megadethu. Tu je putovanje zapravo počelo. Stalno bih iznova crtao sve te omote albuma, i što sve ne, i počeo primjećivati da postajem prilično dobar u tome.
Jeste li pohađali neko formalno obrazovanje na fakultetu ili dizajnu, ako jeste, koje? Mislite li da je to što ste imali ikakvu formalnu obuku ili obrazovanje o umjetnosti i dizajnu pomoglo ili spriječilo vašu kreativnost?
Osim što sam bio u srednjoj školi usmjerenoj na umjetnost, počeo sam se baviti sitotiskom na odjeći što je bilo jako zabavno i sjajno iskustvo učenja. Većina mojih prijatelja bili su glazbenici pa bih ja bio tip koji bi za njih dizajnirao umjetnost i tiskao majice. Znao sam da odlaskom na koledž trebam upisati programe umjetničkog dizajna, to nikad nije bilo upitno. Pohađao sam koledž nedaleko od područja Toronta na jednogodišnji tečaj umjetničkih temelja. Vjerojatno najutjecajnija godina u mom životu. Toliko sam toga naučio te godine, a ovu obuku primjenjujem i danas. Sljedeće sam se godine prijavio na trogodišnji tečaj klasične animacije u istoj školi. Gledajući unatrag, nisam siguran zašto sam krenuo tim putem, ali sranja se događaju. Ipak, ponovno sam naučio toliko toga i stvarno razmišljati u 3 dimenzije dok crtam. Očito je u to vrijeme bila najbolja škola animacije na svijetu. Stalno bismo se susretali s regruterima iz Disneya, Nelvane i mnogih drugih studija iz cijelog svijeta.
Koji bi bio vaš projekt iz snova i kako biste ga pretvorili u stvarnost?
Projekt iz snova? Hmmmm. Rekao bih dizajniranje odjeće i plakata za nastupe za Metallicu. To je rečeno, kada dođete do određene razine, i sada shvatite da je svaki drugi umjetnik nevjerojatan. Radi se više o tome da budete izvrstan trgovac i da uspostavite kontakte u industriji koji će otvoriti vrata ovim prilikama. Sada radim na tome i nije lako.
Imate li želju raditi u 3 dimenzije bilo da se radi o skulpturi, rezbarenju u drvu ili nekom drugom kreativnom mediju? Pushead je radio Prong – Prove You Wrong tako što je prekrio prepravljenim predmetima i sada radi sa skulpturama u Japanu kako bi izradio kolekcionarske figure, je li to nešto u čemu biste se možda htjeli okušati?
Budući da ste kreativan tip, naravno da želite raširiti krila i isprobati nove stvari. Dakle, da, želim se početi ozbiljnije baviti kiparstvom nekih 3D projekata. Neki bi se temeljili na 2D dizajnu koji sam prethodno radio. I ja sam veliki obožavatelj onoga što možete učiniti s praznim Munny figurama iz KidRobota. Planirao sam uzeti malu pauzu u crtanju ove zime kako bih se usredotočio na kiparski projekt. Vidjet ćemo što će se dogoditi.
Koje vam je najdraže djelo i zašto?
To je stvarno teško pitanje. Što se tiče mog vlastitog rada, postoje možda 2 ili 3 dizajna za koja osjećam da sam ih izbacio iz parka iz bilo kojeg razloga. Ali kad pogledam unatrag, vidim male nedostatke koji me inspiriraju da budem sve bolji i bolji, bez obzira na to je li to “sjajno” ili ne. Što se tiče drugih umjetnika čiji sam obožavatelj i kolekcionar… jednostavno ne mogu odabrati nijednog. Neki od značajnih bi bili Derek Riggs “Somewhere in Time” naslovnica albuma, Pushead “One” dizajn i Ed Repka “Dead Again” Suicidal Angels naslovnica albuma.
Reci mi nešto o svojoj tehnici crtanja. Koliko mogu reći, koristite digitalni blok za crtanje umjesto papira/tinte.
Nedavno sam prije otprilike 3 godine prešao s olovke/papira na digitalni. Bio sam apsolutno oduševljen kvalitetom rada koji sam počeo dobivati koristeći taj format. Kao i sve, promjena može biti teška, ali nakon otprilike mjesec dana petljanja s alatima u Autodesk Sketchbooku, počeo sam uviđati za što je sposoban. Sada se nikad neću vratiti na papir. Što se tiče mog stila, svi kažu: “Vau, tvoje me stvari podsjećaju na “Pusheada”. Jednostavno je dio mene oko 40 godina, tako da mi je stvarno prirastao. To može biti prokletstvo ili blagoslov, ne Ne želim biti etiketiran kao tip koji kopira Pusheada. Iako postoje elementi sličnosti, sa svakim novim djelom isprobavam nove efekte, tehnike sjenčanja koje me malo više i više odvajaju.
Vodite tvrtku Metalhead Mafia koja se bavi izradom rekvizita i memorabilija heavy metal glazbe. Recite nam više o Metalhead Mafia.
Metalhead Mafia je bio brend koji sam imao u pozadini možda 10 godina. To je zapravo došlo prije otprilike 5 godina. To je samo linija odjeće koja je pokazala ponos što je zapravo Headbanger (heavy metal fan,op.prev.). Sve lubanje koje želite i svirajte naslove pjesama nekih od mojih omiljenih bendova. Posjećivao bih lokalne događaje vikendom kao što su izložbe tetovaža, izložbe motocikala i izložbe umjetnosti. Tijekom godina stekao sam stvarno sjajne sljedbenike i upoznao neke vrlo cool ljude koji cijene ono što radim.
Surađujete s klubovima obožavatelja Metallice (tzv. Met – Club Chapters). Zanimalo me kako je zapravo došlo do suradnje i kakvo je stajalište Metallice o vašim radovima?
Moja prva narudžba za MetClub bila je iz Orlanda, prije možda 20 godina. To bi bilo osim vođenja vlastitog ogranka kluba obožavatelja iz Toronta iz kasnih 90-ih. No općenito, samo sam objavljivao svoje dizajne na raznim Metallica Facebook grupama kojima sam pripadao, a onda sam počeo dobivat zahtjeve za umjetnička djela. Bilo je i širom svijeta, što je bilo nevjerojatno. Australija, Tasmanija, Južna Amerika, Velika Britanija, Grčka, Njemačka, Gruzija, Poljska, hrpa u SAD-u i Kanadi, i tako dalje. To mi je najdraži posao. Dizajnirao sam dijelove daske za surfanje za Roba (Robert Trujillo, basist Metallice, op.prev.) i Kirka (Kirk Hammett, gitarist Metallice,op. prev.) 2006., to je bilo prilično cool. To je bilo kroz Metclub.
Osim ilustriranja, bavite li se još nečim osim glazbom?
Rekao bih ne baš puno, osim glazbene stvari. Između narudžbi i vlastitog dizajnerskog rada, ne odstupam od tema glazbe/lubanje/kostura.
Za kraj, koji su tvoji budući projekti? Što biste preporučili našim čitateljima?
Kao što sam ranije spomenuo, tijekom zime ću zaroniti u 3D kiparstvo. Nisam siguran kamo bi me to odvelo, ali volio bih osmisliti unikatni komad(e) koji bih imao sa sobom na budućim umjetničkim izložbama. Ako vaši čitatelji dobiju priliku, slobodno idite na metalheadmafia.com, čak i samo da pogledate moj portfelj i ostavite komentar. Većina mojih društvenih medija radi preko Facebooka kod Briana Jonesa (Bones), provjerite i to i “sprijateljite se” sa mnom. Hvala vam !
