The New York Times best-selling book illustrator and popular cover artist Scott M Fischer on tinkering and fueling his art mojo.
My studio is located in Western Massachusetts, US. Though I hesitate to simply call it an 'art studio' – because it’s more like a mad scientist's lab. I surround myself with all sorts of inspirational and terribly distracting things.
Why yes, that is a motorcycle in the studio. And a BMX bike. Sometimes you just have to rock! There are rockin’ guitars all over, for when you just have to shred
I have a love for objects that are old. And often rusty and dirty. Peeling paint and chrome surfaces are practically a prerequisite. I like to build bizarre things with them. Robots, guitars, motorcycles and bicycles. (The cars stay in the garage but they, too, are old and rusty.)
My method of creation is to find a bit of this and a bit of that, and make something unique and, to my eye, beautiful. Things full of character and the all-important mojo.
I make robots out of junk in my spare time. This fellow is called Emerson and he’s a full puppet who often joins me on school visits
And here's the interesting thing: the same applies to my art. It's a bit of this and a bit of that. A texture here, a paint-stroke there. This area flat and graphic, this area rendered and slick – adding mojo one flick of the brush (or stylus) at a time.
On the shelf and on the floor are two more robots I’ve built out of junk
I'm a tinkerer at my very core and this is my utopia.
The brain centre of the whole operation: iMac and Wacom Cintiq 22HD on an Ergotron arm
Scott M Fischer is a renowned book illustrator and cover artist for publishers including Penguin Books and Harper Collins. He's also known for his work on series such as Halo, Harry Potter, Star Wars and the TRON franchise.
This article originally appeared in ImagineFX magazine issue 120.
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