Tony Steele Interview

     Another awesome artist who will be at Origins 2013 is the titanic Tony Steele! I just did an interview with him and wanted to let you know what to expect. Take it away Tony!

Your styles range from the odd to the downright weird. What triggered your love of art and all things weird?

I got down with the weird early in life. My Mom was a big reader and dabbled in art and got me started sketching simple pics. Also a love of T.V. and movies helped. I grew up reading MAD magazine, Eerie and Heavy Metal. The first time I saw Big Daddy Roth's Rat Fink stuff I fell in love. My brother and I would go through reams of yellow legal pads whilst watching saturday morning cartoons trying to emulate the styles we saw. In 1979 I was introduced to D&D and the monster manual and i knew what I wanted to do.

 

Which artist/creator do you admire most?

I have a HUGE list of artists I dig. Phil Foglio, Don Martin, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Norman Rockwell to name a few as well as all my fantasy art friends of now. I'm surrounded by so much creativity these days it's insane.

 

You both have varying styles and, as far as I know, have played around with 3d art elements. So what is your favorite medium to work in?

I like pen and ink the most, I really groove to the likes of Frank Frazzeta, Bernie Wrightson as well as all the syndicated cartoonists I was into like Berkley Breathed, Jeff MacNelly, Sergio Aragonés, Garry Trudeau, Bill Watterson and so many others.

 

You have both done work that has been featured in games and convention program guides. Do either of you play board/card/role playing games, and if so what is your favorite?

 I like all kinds of games.  Fluxx is always a good go to for the beer and pretzel style of thing.

 

How did you two get mixed up with that Andy Hopp fella?

We had decided to leap back into the convention scene after a few year break and so we made a daytrip to Origins to scope it out and wound up in a seminar run by Andy Hopp, Jeremy McHugh and Veronica Jones about "How to get into this thing we call show" We were the most vocal asking questions and afterwards we walked with them back to the exhibitor hall and hung out with them and met others like Nigel Sade. Dinner with Andy & Co. afterwards and that was all she wrote, we were infected.

     So there you go, stop by Origins and say hello, take care everyone!