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*DRAWING DOWN UNDER*
It is shameful that, until his name appeared on last year's Hugo ballots, so few people outside his native Australia knew much about the work of the artist *Nick Stathopoulos* -- in fact, many confessed to not even knowing the name. All of that has changed over the past twelve months or so: later last year the anthology_ Dreaming Down Under _walked off with a World Fantasy Award, and earlier this year its Stathopoulos cover was nominated for a BSFA Award. Nowadays_ everybody _knows the name! The Paper Tiger Online Gallery (www.papertiger.co.uk/ezine/fantasy_gallery/index.html) is proud to have a great selection of his work on show. A busy man, Nick nevertheless gave generously of his time for this interview:_
*PS:* First of all, the question on everyone's lips -- are you going to be able to make it to Worldcon in Chicago in three weeks' time?
*NS:* Sadly no. I'm running behind on a major mural project . . . six huge paintings of classic Australian steam trains. The largest is 16ft long! I pretend I'm N.C. Wyeth when I paint these things! I have a couple of other projects bubbling away . . . and getting a flight back was going to be a bit of a problem thanks to the Olympics. The Australian dollar is nearly 50% down on the US dollar . . . so when you add all of those things up . . . sorry, no trip to the US this year. Wish I was going tho.
*PS:* Talking of the USA, I know a lot of US fans beef about the fact that so very little Australian fantasy/sf fiction is published in the States, and I get the impression this is true in spades about Australian fantasy/sf art. Have you found that it's retarded your career in any way that you don't live in the USA?
*NS:* The short answer . . . yes. Well, things are improving -- for writers anyway. The World Fantasy Award winning anthology _Dreaming Down Under_ edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb is just about to be published in the US with my original Australian- edition cover. That should mildly redress the dearth of Oz fiction. There are Australian writers who have made inroads . . . Greg Egan and Sean McMullen are probably the best known. But so little sf and fantasy gets published here, it's mostly imported from Britain and the US. Has being in Australia retarded my career? _What_ career? I get maybe one or two covers a year. And the pay! About a quarter of the lowest US rates. Pathetic! The US reprint fee for the _Dreaming Down Under_ cover is more than I got paid for the original here! To make matters worse, publishers here have discovered PhotoShop, and now do these appalling CG covers in-house. Woeful stuff.
*PS:* How active is the fantasy/sf art scene in Australia? I know there are some excellent artists there, because there were some fabulous Oz submissions (your own included, I hasten to add) for the Paper Tiger Online Gallery. Is it much of a community, or do you tread your separate roads?
*NS:* Not really a community as such. There are some excellent artists residing around the country. Like the incredible, young and gifted Shaun Tan, who won a Gold medal in the recent _Spectrum Best SF and Fantasy Art_ volume. Marilyn Pride, who is famous for her painted stones and dinosaur books. Then there's Gregory Bridges, who paints these super-detailed cityscapes and spaceships. There are some up-and-coming talents too . . . like Marco Nero -- only names to your readers, but they are all talented artists. I was amazed at the work by Wayne Haag on the Paper Tiger Online Gallery. Wow! (Bravo to all who laboured hard on the site -- looks great!) Sadly, we do tread separate roads. The tyranny of distance, work commitments, and the low level of fannish activity don't help either.
*PS:* As you know, I'm especially nuts about your cover for Cherry Wilder's _Dealers in Light and Darkness_. Do you have any particular favourites of your own?
*NS:* Thanks. That happens to be one of my favourites -- I'm a sucker for a sad robot too. I like cover for _The Man Who Melted_, and a big painting of the Yamato I did a few years back, both in oils. That was a technical nightmare. But I'm not really too keen on my own work. I think it's common for artists to not like their own work. All they see are the mistakes and the shortcuts. I get a lot of pleasure "image fixing" from other artists' work. I tend to prefer the art I do for small-press publications because they give me more freedom, and they don't get art-directed into banality. It was interesting to see my work on the Paper Tiger Online Gallery (another plug!) in conjunction with the work of others. I realized that I don't really have an identifiable style, unlike say Brom -- whose work is distinctive and greatly admired. I try to tailor each cover to the feel and contents of the book, but at a personal stylistic cost. No two of my covers looks alike in that gallery. That's probably not a good thing.
*PS:* And, as a kind of corollary to the last question, if you were to be given the opportunity to do the cover for any one particular book you've never illustrated, which one would it be? Likewise, of course, for the interiors . . .
*NS:* Oh! What a fabulous question! My instant image response was not for literature but for music. I'd love to design Wagner's Ring Cycle, or take a whole bunch of my favourite pieces of music and do an exhibition's worth of paintings based on each piece. The viewer would listen to the track while looking at each painting or sculpture. I find music very inspiring. I've discussed doing this with a talented composer friend of mine, Peter Miller. I've already painted a cover for one of his CDs -- _Love Vs Gravity_, which is featured in the Online Gallery. Maybe a book and CD combo . . . CDs are so cheap to burn these days. While I was art-directing a computer game company they _almost_ bought the rights to a _Lord of the Rings_ game. (In hindsight that was a mistake!) So I started sketching and imagining my own Middle Earth -- that's about to become well trodden territory. Now I mainly fantasize about my own universes and projects . . .
*PS:* How did you find the experience of working as a backgrounder for Hanna-Barbera? And Disney? Did you find the two companies different in their approaches to their artists?
*NS:* I learned a lot in the five years I freelanced . . . I became adept at freehand airbrushing . . . analysing a subject -- reducing it into simple components . . . and I really learned to speed up. All lessons I carry with me today. I was painting five or six backgrounds a day. I'd also paint the elaborate opening and closing pans, which were showcases. I didn't just paint backgrounds -- I occasionally did special- effects animation, or sculpted maquettes of characters when they needed to be realized in 3D. Oh . . . I also learned how to play the airbrush trumpet! Hanna-Barbera was fun. I liked the work environment and the goofy (no pun intended) atmosphere. Disney was totally different, even though the same artists transferred there when Hanna-Barbera closed down. It was kinda like working for the CIA or something . . . everybody was constantly looking over their shoulders, so serious. They wanted us to wear uniforms! Sheesh! I wanted mouse ears . . .
*PS:* Have you ever done any animation of your own?
*NS:* Oh yes . . . I was working single-handedly on an animated _Titanic_ short (for years!) but got beaten to it by some guy with a two-hundred-million-dollar budget. So, sadly, it's now shelved. And, as the Australian Film Commission told me when I tried to get funding, no one's interested in the _Titanic_. (I actually turned down working on Cameron's _Titanic_, but that's a different story.) I've worked on commercials and stuff in the past. I've moved on to bigger pet projects now . . . although I love animation -- to the point of obsession -- particularly Miyazaki's works . . . and I loved _The Iron Giant_ . . . there's some great computer animation in kids' TV these days. Seen the CG _Starship Troopers_? Amazing! (If you're very good I'll scan you some images from _Titanica_.)
*PS:* Everybody is constantly remarking on how very good I am, so yes please! As well as illustrating, you've also written some sf of your own. Talk us through that facet of your career, please.
*NS:* This is a minor facet of my work . . . a hobby really. I've had a couple of short stories published -- which of course I've also illustrated. I adapted a story by Terry Dowling into a short film script. I'd love to write more fiction, but there are only so many hours in the day! I've got some kids' books I'd love to do one day. (One involves the robot you love so much, called _Morris Lives in Tomorrow_.) I'm also concentrating of some film scripts . . . but more about that later.
*PS:* What of media? Which ones do you find yourself most inspired by?
*NS:* Everything. No! Honest! I'm inspired by so much! Other artists, books, movies, nature, CG, music. I play music as I paint. All sorts of things . . . I've got Bowie, Bauhaus, BBE, the soundtrack to _Gladiator_ and Kraftwerk in the CD carousel as I type this. I love to compose my own music, which I haven't done for some time. Film is great . . . because it really is the _Gesumkunstwerk_ -- the "total work of art" . . . where all disciplines come together to create one great artwork. But there's nothing like the frisson of a spectacular painting to get me going.
*PS:* Have you ever worked much in 3D?
*NS:* As a sculptor, yes. Lots. I used to make latex masks for masquerades, models, puppets. As a computer 3D artist no . . . altho I'm working with a friend who is translating some of my designs as 3D computer objects. I really want to get into this. I'm fascinated by Jim Burns's transition into 3D and computer graphics . . . so seamless! I've seen other fine artists become totally anonymous in the CG environment, but not Jim. His CG is so _Jim_! You can't tell it's CG. That's very heartening.
*PS:* What would be your advice to a new, young fantasy/sf artist in Australia contemplating embarking on her/his career?
*NS:* Just do it . . . look at Wayne Haag! He's a Melbourne boy who's now working around the world on all these amazing films. The only barrier to success is your own talent. Simple.
*PS:* And the inevitable final question: what of the future for Nick Stathopoulos? Are there any exciting plans just about to come to fruition? And are there any longer-term dreams . . .?
*NS:* Ha! I've got to clean out my studio . . . I just can't bring myself to throw out any scrap of paper . . . and finish those bloody trains! Exciting plans . . . Perhaps! I've just completed my second feature-length film script. The film is designed and mostly cast. All the locations have been scouted . . . it's now going to my readers at a major studio and the relevant funding bodies. I hope to direct it later this year. But I'd leave this one in the "longer-term dream" category. I love the idea of my artwork alive on a big screen.
*PS:* Nick Stathopoulos, thanks a million! |
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