Below is the interview I conducted with Jeff Finley of Go Media that took place over Twitter on Wednesday, August 27 at 1:00 pm EST. Overall it was a great interview with many questions about Jeff’s thoughts and tips for designing and illustrating. It was an interesting experiment conducting the interview over Twitter and if you read the interview live, I would love to get your comments on how it went!
More On Jeff Finley
To find out more about Jeff Finley, go over to GoMediaZine and check out Jeff’s profile. While you are there, check out all the freebies, resources, and tutorials! I highly recommend checking out Go Media’s Arsenal to find vector packs, textures, fonts, animations and more. Also check out Jeff Finley’s personal portfolio for some more inspiration.
The Interview
Took place over Twitter on Wednesday, August 27 at 1:00 pm EST.
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Vectips: Hey Jeff, how is it going?
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jeff_finley: I’m good, excited for the interview. Let’s do this.
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Vectips: Thanks again for doing this interview with Vectips! First I would like ask you some questions about Illustrator.
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Vectips: You are a master with the Wacom in Photoshop. Do you use the Wacom features in Illustrator?
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jeff_finley: I do use my Wacom in Illustrator, but surprisingly I prefer to draw in Photoshop and Live Trace my result in AI
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Vectips: Is there a benefit to using a Wacom with Photoshop Brushes over the Calligraphic Brush with a Wacom in Illustrator?
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jeff_finley: I like the way PS handles pressure sensitivity. But using brushes in AI can be awesome. Like tapered brushes for hatching
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Vectips: When you place the Photoshop file into illustrator, what is your Live Trace settings like?
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jeff_finley: Nothing fancy, I usually leave the Live Trace settings as default. My art is black and white anyway and 300dpi, so it works fine
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Vectips: In the “Bold is Beautiful” t-shirt, did you have to build the files as vector art for the screen printing?
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jeff_finley: Surprisingly no, Design by Humans took my layered PSD and somehow managed to separate it into 9 colors and screen print it.
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Vectips: Wow, that is impressive.
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jeff_finley: Yeah DBH did a great job. Vectorizing things would have tripled the workload and made it hard to get watercolor effects and such
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Vectips: Go Media gives free samples from the Arsenal Packs. Do you feel sites giving away free resources hurts the design industry?
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jeff_finley: I could talk for a long time on this. In a way, yes because it devalues the hard work that designers do. No because…
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jeff_finley: No because it can be viewed as helping new designers break in. As they grow they’ll move past the freebies do their own stuff
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Vectips: Well said, it will also push designer to keep pushing the boundaries of design.
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jeff_finley: It inspires me to do things differently. If my style is being replicated and given away for free, it’s time to move on.
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Vectips: Do people steal your artwork?
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jeff_finley: Yes, sadly, quite often. I know people steal our vector packs and such. But sometimes people steal work I’ve done for clients.
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jeff_finley: My friend @RandomEntity says to beware of the Manticores! Don’t steal artwork unless you want to get publicly humiliated…
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Vectips: If some of these people stealing your work are listening now, what would you tell them?
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jeff_finley: Unless they want to have a penis photoshopped onto their nose and sent to all their Myspace friends, they should stop right now
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Vectips: Ha! Penis noses are never a good thing.
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jeff_finley: Yeah I stopped calling myself a Manticore after that incident. Pretty unprofessional. Some Manticores can be brutal about it.
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Vectips: What is the worst thing about working for Go Media?
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jeff_finley: Worst? Gosh, probably working in a cramped townhouse with 12 people. It can be loud and distracting. Can’t wait for the new office
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Vectips: The best thing?
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jeff_finley: Best? Probably the freedom and opportunity to succeed on my own terms. It’s open ended, so every day opens new doors.
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Vectips: So what is a Manticore? Is this weird thing a Manticore? http://poprl.com/Vj. Is there any Manticore at Go Media.
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jeff_finley: Yup that’s a Manticore. But the Manticores “club” started on Emptees to promote artist rights. http://tinyurl.com/2r5pt4
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Vectips: What rights does it promote?
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jeff_finley: Scroll down to the bottom of the wikipedia article to “real life applications” to understand what it’s all about.
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Vectips: That’s great! Didn’t even know about it.
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jeff_finley: When word gets out a design was stolen or another designer ripped off another, members would attempt to police the situation.
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jeff_finley: Read more about manticores on emptees http://tinyurl.com/62z8nl
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Vectips: I’ve read you are a movie buff. What movie or director would you associate your work with?
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jeff_finley: My fav directors are Werner Herzog, Mike Leigh, Andrew Bujalski, Harmony Korine, Alan Clarke, Dardenne Bros, Lukas Moodysson
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jeff_finley: Their style of film is real, raw, gritty, honest, and sincere. That’s how I want my work to be, but I’m not sure if I’m there yet.
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Vectips: What aspects, if any, of your designs reflects part of your personality?
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jeff_finley: The subject matter, the details, the technique – I feel it reflects my personality and my interests in music/film. Tough question.
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Vectips: We are nearing the end of the interview. Got anything you want to say, products to plug?
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jeff_finley: Awe too bad. I feel like there are a lot of questions I could answer but not enough time in the day. If you think of any more lmk.
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jeff_finley: Some plugs: we’re converting all our vector packs into Photoshop Brushes, should go on sale this week. More apparel templates soon
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Vectips: I would love to keep going if you want. I have more questions, I just don’t want to take up too much of your time.
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jeff_finley: Yeah keep em coming. like i said, bring it on!
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jeff_finley: Also I can take user questions if there are any…
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Vectips: What is your best website resource for inspiration?
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jeff_finley: I really like http://www.ffffound.com
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Vectips: From dickieadams: Have you tried inkscape as an alternative for your original sketches?
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jeff_finley: I’ve tried it once, but I have Illustrator so there is no reason for me to use Inkscape. Although Manga Studio is up and coming.
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Vectips: You say you have a knack for generating “buzz” around products. What is you most useful online tool for generating this “buzz”?
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jeff_finley: Well, it’s our blog first off. Twitter is working its way up too. Social Media is still king of generating buzz, esp in design.
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jeff_finley: But generating buzz is never automatic, building real relationships with people is the best way and it takes time.
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Vectips: From betterthanhuman: Speaking of inspiration, what other designers do you consider your influences?
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jeff_finley: As always Aaron Horkey and Horsebites r big inspirations. I also like Cristy Road, Alex Trochut, John Baizley, and Vania Zouravliov.
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Vectips: From StellasEmpire: What gives you hope to carry on a project if frustration is high, deadlines are freaking out and you could tell everyone to fuck off?
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jeff_finley: Sometimes when all that stuff gets me down, I find something I believe in and donate my work for free. Makes me feel good
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jeff_finley: I like punknews, collis, and to be honest, most of my fav artists don’t have twitter, or not that I know of.
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Vectips: How is the Designer Help via Twitter going for Go Media?
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jeff_finley: Good, a little awkward cause multiple staff use it. It can be tough to catch questions when following hundreds of designers.
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jeff_finley: But we’re enjoying the experiment. We can filter to see only tweets directed go_media. surprised we’re not getting more questions.
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Vectips: What do you do if you are not feeling creative?
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jeff_finley: Surf for inspiration on ffffound or get away from my desk for awhile. maybe take a nap.I go through phases of on and off.
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jeff_finley: I have time for 2 more questions and I should get back to work 🙂
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Vectips: What is you worst habit as a designer?
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jeff_finley: Probably doing too much at once. I’ve constantly got a dozen windows open and feel overwhelmed and distracted.
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Vectips: What is you single best accomplishment in your design career so far?
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jeff_finley: Being featured magazines is nice. But my career is made up lots of small accomplishments. But moving into our new office is nice.
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jeff_finley: We move in next month, so that’s going to be a BIG accomplishment for all of us.
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Vectips: Well, I will let you get back to work. Thanks again for doing the interview!
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jeff_finley: Sure thing! I had a good time. And just for kicks, people can subscribe to the GoMediaZine blog’s RSS http://tinyurl.com/687vz8
I really appreciate Jeff and GoMedia for all the great stuff they create! Thanks for the interview and keep up the good work!
Nice interview, and I think the twitter involvement was a great idea. I have been a fan of Jeff for years, good luck on the office move!