IA: Can you tell us how your way of conceiving illustrations has changed over time and why?

MO: I used to think of illustrations as a way to show off. I would draw some nice looking stuff without putting any thought into other than making sure it looks nice and that it’s cool. Now it’s really important to me to really try and tell a little story with every piece I create. Blank (or story less if you prefer) illustrations are fun to do from time to time, but seeing all those glamorous fashion partings really does nothing for me. Then again, I bet plenty of people looking at my pictures are wondering "why is he drawing those ugly things!"

Another thing is that I used to think that what software you are using, how big the image is or how many layers are you using is important. It is so not important. You should be able to draw whether it’s with a stick on a sand or Cintiq on a supercomputer. Drawing is drawing and the rules are always the same. What’s changing is the tool you are using and all those technical things are nothing else but tools to channel your imagination and skill into a form others can see. So first off, learn general painting rules and then how to operate your favorite painting tool.

IA: What software and hardware do you use?

MO: I use primarily Photoshop. I learned it quite well while I was a web designer and now I'm feeling really comfortable with it. As for hardware, I'm working on Wacom Intuos3 A4 and a computer with C2D processor and 4GB of Ram. I have a serious layer addiction so I need fast machine.

IA: What are your favorite tools and techniques?

MO: I usually work just with few brushes from Brushpack that were created by the amazing artist Mathias Verhasselt. I like to put some finishing touches with textures in overlay mode, if properly used this technique can enrich a whole image.

Lately, I'm playing more and more with Zbrush. It’s an amazing 3D sculpting program and working with it is so much fun it is sometimes hard to stop putting all those details. It’s really easy to set up some basic lights and then carry on with Photoshop to finish the image off. This workflow is really efficient in creating characters.

IA: What do you like and dislike about CG?

MO: I really like the freedom it gives. You can always go few steps back to fix this and that and redo another thing. It’s really flexible and once you know your tools you don't think much about, “how can I do it?” You just do. The flow between your brain and canvas is practically uninterrupted.

I don't like a few of the shortcuts that are really tempting, but in the long run nothing good can come out of them, for example, painting over pictures. And I’m not talking about matte paintings, I do those all the time, I'm talking about taking a picture and painting over it adding just a few details here and there and posting as your own. Where is skill in that? I think good measurement for 2D artist is that if you cannot draw without a computer you are on the wrong path.