THE ARTIST

THE PSEUDONYME

I just looked at some AncientGreek words and made something up in a similar style. Previous to "Psilic", I've also been known as "Defected" and "Saint", not to mention a long line of other embarrasing nicks. I like to change my nick with reasonable regularity. Its nice to refresh your audience, and its good to start over, being unknown again. I find it helps to ground me, to stop myself from getting rammed to far up my own ass, as happens with so many designers.

THE WEBSITE

Exitwound is just somewhere I can design for total visual stimulation as opposed to functionality, and where people can always get hold of my work, and find out what I'm up to. Its nice to have a little "playground" where I can do what I like.

THE INFLUENCE

I think it was a game. Possibly FFVII, I'm not sure...I don't have the greatest memory. But it was definatly a game, I remember seeing it and being so totally blown away, knowing instantly that I wanted to do that for a job. I've strayed a lot, but I'd still love to work on a game someday.

THE INSPIRATION

Honestly, I have no idea. Just life I suppose. I rarely know what triggers my inspiration, I'll just suddenly get the urge to work on something and won't stop till its finished. Some days it comes, others not. I wish I knew where it came from, then I could tap it on demand.

THE STYLE

As Andrew Vallance, I don't really have a specific style. But any one nickname I have tends to have a specific style. I like to experiment, and I like to think that I always raise the bar a little. Whether I do or not is a whole other matter.

Views on the skinning and GFX community

I'm no veteran, but I've seen a lot change in the few years I've been around, and mostly for the worse. Theres a lot of hypocracy around now; A lot of designers preaching about "designing for yourself" while pumping out the same tired old shit for their fans. Theres also a whole lot of talentless people jumping on the "abstract 3d" bandwagon and getting serious respect. I've always believed that people should only get the recognition they deserve, so I always get annoyed when I see that.
Theres also a lot of "design gods" who seem to be able to do nothing but their own little style, and that's not what being a designer is about. Far too many people thinking they've learned all there is to learn. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying I'm more skilled than them, but at least I can recognise that I've still got a lot to learn.

THE MUSIC

Pretty much anything except really heavy stuff. Classical, Pop, Rock, Indie, Dance, D&B, BlueGrass...all sorts of stuff. Nothing beats a real good bassline though.

THE MOVIES

1. Gattaca
2. Matrix
3. FinalFantasy
4. Far andAway
5. Phantoms

Do you create for yourself or for an audience?

This is kinda going back to what I was saying before I guess. When I design, I try to both please my audience, and also expand my talent. Neither is more important than the other imo.

FAVORITE WEBSITES

I'm ashamed to say I don't keep up on others work much...I don't often get the time to browse around.

SOFTWARES/TOOLS

Photoshop5, 3dsmax3, and more recently Maya4.

IS THERE REALLY SUCH A THING AS PORNOGRAPHY?

Of course. The line between pornography and nudity is crossed when the nudity causes arousal. I think its very subjective. Different people find different things a turn on. So yes, theres such thing, but I don't feel theres any specific catorgory you can put it in. There never is when people are involved.

FAVORITE ARTISTS

I'm going to show my ignorance here, because when it comes to art history; I'm clueless. But In digital art, I love the work of SPX

Moral issues which constrain your creativity

Heh, I'm not a hugely moralistic person. There are a lot of things I'd never consider including in my work, but I think if anyone ever had to put concious moral restraints on their work, it'd mean they'd have no morals. Which is worrying to say the least.

One favorite work and an in-depth explanation or thoughts behind that work

Thats a tough one, its hard to think of any one of my works. Over the years I've done a few hundred. If I had a favourite work, it'd be one from my time as "defected", thats was a time for me where I put a lot of emotion into my work. Then I was an artist, now I consider myself more of a designer.

If you weren't 'photoshopping' what would you be doing?

I'd be paying more attention to my friends, whom I neglect way too much. It's not on really but thats the way things are.

Top three sexiest men

Kerr Smith
Ryan Phillipe
The guy from smallville

WRAP UP WORDS

Chocolate tastes best just after a bag of ready salted crisps. Oh, and don't surround yourself with empty cans and rubbish, clutter causes stress.

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