Chris Piascik

An interview by Lon Levin

When did you first think about what you wanted to do as an adult? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?

When I was a kid I used to take apart the album packaging around the house and recreate my own. One time when I was doing this my uncle, (I think that’s who it was) said something like , “Hey, you’re going to be a graphic artist one day.” I told him I didn’t know what that was and he explained it was the person who made the album artwork. It blew my mind that was a job. I couldn’t understand why anyone would choose to do something different.

My Uncle said, Hey, you’re going to be a graphic artist one day.” I told him I didn’t know what that was and he explained it was the person who made the album artwork. It blew my mind that was a job.

"The female part of the family is artistic and little crazy, the male part is more down to earth - so when I need some precise help I call my Dad and when I need to cry over my shoulder - I call my Mom."

What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?

I was a bit quiet, and I drew all the time. Aside from drawing I was really into skating and riding BMX. Whatever I was doing, I was very obsessive about it—I still am. I grew up in a small shoreline town in CT. My first influences were album cover designs and logos; Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Chicago, etc., Ren & Stimpy, The Simpsons, Beavis and Butthead, The Green Day Dookie album art.

Tell us how Aerosmith played a part in your choosing to be a graphic designer?

When I would redraw album artwork I always liked copying the logos. The Aerosmith wings script was one of my favorites. I would say that’s what initially led me to design instead of illustration, but to be honest I didn’t really know there was a difference.an

Who influenced you? Artists ? Teachers, family?

In my early days - my Mom as she is an artist herself - then there was the internet and other artists - now mostly it’s my husby - he has this power to make me better person and better artist. He is an art director, director and an illustrator himself which makes him an artist, teacher and family all in one. And he has magic patience - that’s what makes him great wife puppet master!

If you weren’t an artist or a photographer what do you think you’d like to do?

I would sat on a stone and cry my eyes out than I would probably became a farmer. I’m pretty good with horses (not so great with cats - that’s why I have one - obviously) and I would drive a tractor all day long as I love to drive!

A few years in I realized that I wasn’t really drawing anymore, the only drawing I was doing was sketching for design comps. That kind of freaked me out because drawing was such a big part of my life. I decided I wanted to change that—and for that to happen I needed to trick myself into actually doing it because otherwise it won’t happen. So I committed to posting a new drawing, of anything Monday through Friday, on my website and Flickr at the time (this was pre-Instagram). That commitment was enough for me to consistently do it without missing a day for a very long time (12+ years). After about 1 year I started getting random commissions every now and then based on my dailies. 2 years in they were somewhat regular and I decided to pursue being an illustrator full time.

What medium do you like using to create art and why ? What’s your process?

Currently I work almost exclusively on my ipad. Before moving fully to digital I would do my line work in black ink on marker paper and then scan it in and color digitally. The drawing tools within Photoshop and some of the drawing apps have gotten so good that there’s no different in line quality and feel for me, especially with the PaperLike screen cover I use. I love that I don’t need anything else to work, and there’s no mess, no scanning, revisions are simple, no giant stacks of paper. My process is pretty simple, I do lots of sketching until I’m happy with my composition, etc. It’s funny even though I’m working digitally I still choose a “pencil” brush in the app because I need sketches to look like sketches. I make new layers and refine my drawings over the sketches like you would with tracing paper. Sometimes I do that a lot. Once I’m happy with the drawing I’ll move onto color—that’s a fluid process where I change my mind a lot—another reason why I love working digitally.

You went to art school. How did that affect your art? Did you feel you needed to go to school to validate you as an artist?

I went undergrad for graphic design. Even though I’m an illustrator exclusively now I’m still happy I made that decision. The fundamentals of design are just as important to illustration as the actual drawing itself. About 4 years into being a fulltime illustrator I decided to go to grad school for illustration. For the majority of my career I’ve taught a class each semester at the Hartford Art School. I learned about their low-residency MFA program and started to consider applying. It was ideal for me because I could continue to work since it wasn’t fulltime, in-person, which would make it so I didn’t have to take on more student loans. I was also eligible for a discount as an adjunct professor. At that point, my career was already in a good place and even though I had done illustrations for clients like Facebook, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Nike, I still sort of felt like I wasn’t a real illustrator. It seems sort of silly in hindsight but I guess you could say I partly went to grad school to validate myself as an illustrator.

Explain your experience at the Boston studio and how it affected your art and outlook on your career??

Working at Alphabet Arm in Boston was sort of like the realization of a dream. While working there I was actually designing album art. It definitely seemed like my dream job. It was a small studio, and I became close friends with my co-workers. As perfect as it was, it did help me to realize that I really wanted to be an illustrator—I just didn’t know that was a possibility.

What’s does your daily process entail? Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step?

It starts with trying to figure out what I want to draw. Sometimes I’ll have an idea ahead of time, but often I don’t. If I can’t think of anything I’ll usually just start doodling and see where it takes me. I start with rough sketches, pretty much scribbles, and then I make a new layer and trace over it refining as I go. I’ll sometimes do that a bunch of times until I’m satisfied. Once I’m happy with the lines I’ll wrestle with color for a bit, often changing my mind a million times.

What do or did you do to promote yourself? What exciting projects are you working on now?

I’ve relied very heavily on, almost exclusively, on my daily drawings. They’ve pretty much been the root of everything in my career. When new clients reach out its almost always because they had seen one my daily drawings somewhere. I think the quantity and consistency of them is just an easy numbers game. Currently I just wrapped up a giant mural for a skate distribution company. I’m working on some character concepts for a boardgame and I’m doing a custom painted motorcycle helmet for an auction to benefit prostate cancer research in conjuction with the 10th anniversary of The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride. In addition, I’ve been creating some classes for Skillshare.