THE ARTIST

My name's Mike Panganiban, also known as Thief6 to the art community. Twenty-two years was all it took for me to progress from kindergarten stick drawings to…stick drawings! Just kidding, it's just that ever since I was small, I've always had a peculiar interest for art.

THE PSEUDONYME

Thief6 is a pseudonyme that I just got stuck with after having played the game 'THIEF' too many times. Added `6' because it's my favorite number.

THE WEBSITE

Sorry, no Web site yet. Damn, I don't know how to code!! We'll see later. My page at Deviantart, I guess...

THE INFLUENCE

H.R. Giger has always been a compelling force in my artwork. Anything dark, wicked, or grim-Batman, Spawn, Heavy Metal Magazine artworks-fascinated me. I learned to play around with my hand illustrations using art-editing software and got the hang of it (Thank God for Photoshop!).

SECOND NATURE

My wife's smile, heavy metal music, navel oranges, even the rancid smell of garbage-anything that stimulates my mind and my senses inspires me. My mood also plays an important part in defining the outcome of my artwork. I am easy to please; almost anything can inspire me.

THE STYLE

Most of my works are comic-style illustrations…I love those mean-looking disproportionate baddies! Villains interest me a great deal. I take pleasure in portraying aggressiveness, raw energy and twistedness. Hey, it's an ugly world out there! I would also like to work on dark photomanipulation but there are too many guys who are great in this technique already. When drawing, I have a habit of delving on the minute details of one area that sometimes, my left hand is already slapping my right, telling it to "stop, stop, stop!!!"

Views on the skinning and GFX community

I say that it has improved tremendously. There is complexity and a great challenge involved when it comes to this art. I might try to go for it someday. I have much respect for the skinning community, and in the near future, I can see more artists venturing or branching out in this line of art.

THE MUSIC

Music? Well, I listen mostly to heavy metal and classic rock. There's no way I could work without Slayer's fast riffs, Pantera's thrusting growls, or any good band's chugging guitars. I listen to Frank Sinatra sometimes or to classical music just to set some calm before the storm.

THE MOVIES

Goodfellas, Star Wars, Alien Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Exorcist, Cool Hand Luke, Heat, Akira, Seven Samurai, The Professional, Snatch, Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels. There's too many of them...

Do you create for yourself or for an audience?

Art, for me, is a hobby which enables me to express my day-to-day interpretation of life-disgust, awe, helplessness, hope, fear, joy, even lust. When other people like my work, then it also gratifies me.

FAVORITE WEBSITES

www.deviantart.com
www.rustedfaith.com
www.heavymetal.com

SOFTWARES/TOOLS

Adobe Photoshop, my trusty scanner, Bryce, pen and paper, and a digicam.

IS THERE REALLY SUCH A THING AS PORNOGRAPHY?

Nothing much shocks the world today. I have no problem with nudes or sex in art; in fact I welcome them (ha-ha). Art can sometimes be bold to the point of being sacrilegious, offensive, or repulsive. However, any depiction of the sexual act which lacks aesthetics and degrades an individual-that for me is pornography.

FAVORITE ARTISTS

H.R. Giger, Steven Garofalo, Todd McFarlane, Jay Fotos, Salvador Dali, Simon Bisley, Luis Royo and those great artists from Deviantart, they know who they are...:)

Moral issues which constrain your creativity

Nothing constrains my creativity. So what if my boss calls me a Satanist? Hell, I'll draw demons if I want to.

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

My favorite work is `Abdiel.' Before, I would draw on paper and simply color my work with different types of coloring medium like watercolor or colored pencil. With `Abdiel,' I decided to take my illustration to Photoshop and that's when I started integrating hand-drawn art and digital design (The wonders of software never cease to amaze me). While working on `Abdiel,' I discovered new skills and techniques, and this opened another window of learning. In regards to imagery, the illustration itself is pretty chaotic-the messy lines and the alienating personality make `Abdiel' ominous-looking. By the way, 'Abdiel' is my personal depiction of a character with the same name from John Milton's `Paradise Lost.'

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

I play videogames a lot. I think this is good, because this gives me great ideas about my art. If I weren't indulging in my art hobby right now, I probably would be playing basketball, hanging out with friends, or going out to watch movies…I think it's good to have some time off once in a while from one's art.

Your top three sexiest women, mike?

Monica Bellucci
Maria Grazia Cucinotta
Shannon Elizabeth

Your new year's resolution

I resolve to…improve everything! But you know it's not going to happen! (",)

WRAP UP WORDS

When it comes to art, either traditional or digital, there's always new stuff that's going to happen. It's a continuous learning process. Never be complacent with your work, always seek to improve your techniques, be patient, the obstacles you encounter are there for you to overcome!

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