DALE HESSEY AKA KILLPAINT IS ALREADY CREATING WAVES IN THE INDUSTRY. WITH HIS BRILLIANT STYLE THAT COMBINES DETAILED LINE WORK AND ILLUSTRATION SKILLS WITH SOME AMAZING COLOUR WORK THAT ALMOST REPLICATES THE SOFT STROKES FROM A PAINT BRUSH. SO WE JUST HAD TO ASK KILLPAINT TO TAKE A SEAT IN OUR HOT SEAT.
LET'S START OUT BY INTRODUCING KILLPAINT TO THE MASSES. A LITTLE ABOUT WHO YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU ARE FROM?
Alright, my names Dale Hessey, and I'm from the Central Coast NSW. I finished School on the Coast and went on to study Graphic Design. I pretty much started up Killpaint as a bit of fun and a way to get my stuff out there and hopefully pick up a bit of work. Since then I've got a bunch of work out of it and met some really cool people, so it's been awesome.SO, DESCRIBE A USUAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF KILLPAINT? THEN ALSO THE USUAL 'DAY OFF'?
The usual day.. Well unfortunately I'm not making a living off this yet, so I'll either go to work, or stay home and work on whatever design I am doing at the time. If I'm designing, I'll try to wake up pretty early, and get on the net and check the email, facebook, and myspace and look at cool websites to get inspired. Then I'll get into the design and work on it until I'm tired or feel like I've looked at it for way too long. A day off will usually just consist of hanging out, maybe do some more drawing, play basketball or go skateboarding. Night time I'll usually be at the pub having a few drinks with friends.WHEN AND WHAT HELPED YOU MAKE THAT FINAL DECISION, THAT ART/DESIGN IS WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE?
I've always been drawing, since I was super young. I remember my dad used to sit and draw me pictures and I'd think it was the best thing ever, then I'd try to copy them. It's pretty much the only thing I've wanted to do with my life, so I guess I've just always known it was what I was going to do. I'm still not sure exactly what I'm doing, but I'll figure it out on the way. |
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WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON MOST RECENTLY? OR WHO HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING WITH?
Lately I've just sort of been doing a bunch of odd jobs here and there. I've just finished a whole bunch of tattoo designs for different people, and just did a little bit of work for a band called Rattlesnake Gunfight. I'm also working on a bunch of tee designs for Revival Ashore.WHAT WEBSITES (OR DISTRACTIONS) HELP YOU WHEN YOU'RE 'BORED', OR WHEN YOU'RE SUFFERING FROM THE DREADED CREATIVE BLOCK?
Again, way too many to list all of them, but I sit on the Rebel 8 Blog a lot, aswell as The Mondo Tee's Blog. I'm always looking at Ken Taylors Website because he is insane, and the Wooden Toy website. The Berrics is also a huge time waster.WHAT KIND OF ADVICE OR WARNINGS COULD YOU OFFER TO DUDES THAT ARE HOPING TO GET INTO THE CREATIVE ARTS WORLD??
Haha I could probably use more advice myself, but I guess just push your work out there as much as you possibly can. Social networking is the best thing because it can get so many people looking at your work that otherwise wouldn't. Send your stuff out to every website/company, If your work is good you'll get people's attention. Oh, also be super careful when you're doing work for people over the internet, some people are pretty sketchy and will rip you off, so be careful!ANY SHOUT OUTS BEFORE YOU ROLL?
Friends and family for all the support, Revival Ashore for giving me the opportunity to do all the work I've done for them and pushing my work out there for me, and pretty much anyone who's asked me to do something for them and paid me for a silly drawing.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR MAIN INFLUENCES AND WHY?
Wow, there's way too many to list, but the ones influencing me the most right now I guess would be Alex Pardee, who has been a massive influence on my style I think, Mike Giant, Skinner, Ken Taylor and Munk One. The linework in these guys work is amazing and it's something I definitely aspire to. I try to show that through my work, I love super detailed, clean stuff.IS THERE A STYLE OF ART THAT YOU REALLY ENJOY DOING, OR JUST APPRECIATE, YET DON'T GET ENOUGH CHANCES TO EXPRESS?
I'd love to be able to paint more/better. It's definitely something I don't do enough but really need to. It's way out of my comfort zone, pretty much everything I do these days is drawn in ink then run through the computer, so I feel like a have no control with a paintbrush, but I'll definitely get into it soon.WHAT KIND OF MUSIC PUMPS YOU UP? OR WHAT KIND OF MUSIC JUST HELPS YOU FIND THAT CREATIVE ZONE?
I'd say punk rock definitely gets me in the best mood, bands like Cancer Bats, Four Year Strong, Against Me, Social Distortion, Gallows etc. I guess it depends what I'm doing and what mood I'm in. If If I wanna relax I'll listen to more chilled out stuff like Brand new, Silversun Pickups, The Killers and Modest Mouse.WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE PROJECTS TO DATE ? WHY ARE THEY YOUR FAVOURITES?
My favourite so far would have to be the Revival Ashore Ep artwork. Those guys are really cool and good friends of mine, so it was awesome to work with them and it was super chilled out. They let me know about it months and months in advance so I had all the time in the world to do the best job I could. The job came out really well and they were stoked, I think it's the best work I've done.
FOR MORE INFO OR INSIGHT INTO KILLPAINT HEAD TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING LINKS
WWW.KILLPAINT.TUMBLR | WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DALE.HESSEY
