My fourth featured artist is Anton Peck. Anton is an artist and web designer living in Illinois. He has a passion for both art and web and finds ways to combine the two.
I met Anton in person at South by South West in 2007. I saw Anton speak on a panel that focused on art and how it impacts web design. One of the best things I remember him saying was that he wanted to be the Bob Ross of the web. That’s an amazing goal to have, and I believe he’s already on his way. I asked him the same interview questions I asked my previous featured artists.
What are five words you would use to describe your style?
“My. Style. Is. Always. Evolving. (one, two, three.… yeah, that’s right).”
What, or who are your influences for your illustration style?
“What: Family. Music. Movies. Life. Death. Stuff. Everything. Nothing. In other words, I’m not sure, sometimes being influenced just happens. Who: Tony DiTerlizzi, Andy Park, Joshua Davis, Brian Froud, Alan Lee, & too many others to think of.”
What are your thoughts on the merging of web design and illustration?
“Totally stoked. Seriously. This is exactly the movement I’ve been pushing for for years. My short-term goal is to start strongly pushing my way into illustration for other web designers. Find a need, fill a need (a line from the movie ‘Robots’).”
Do you have any insight you’d like to share about your process of creating the artwork you did for Sushi & Robots?
“The doodle was a random seed of an idea, which (much like a plant) was nurtured until it grew into something more. The artwork itself is created with ink, gray markers, and various amounts of Photoshop editing.”
If you like sushi, what’s your favorite?
“I’ve not been thrilled with the sushi found here in the midwest so far, so the jury is still out. I just like to look at it. I consider myself more of a steak man.”
If you owned an army of robots, would they be good or evil?
“Both. One cannot survive without the other. That, and the battles would be truly epic to watch. Seriously. You know what I mean, right? That, and they would all be two-inches tall. Imagine it… a miniature army of robots split into two factions all fighting together. It would be almost too much cuteness to handle!”
One of Anton’s latest endeavors, Project 52, is a personal challenge to write at least 1 new article every week for this year. He invited others to join the challenge, and it’s quickly grown to over 500 people. I will also be joining this challenge, so you’ll be seeing a post of some form on this site, be it an article, a poem, a short story snippet, etc. Thanks, Anton, for the challenge!
