March 29, 2006

Illustrator Interview: Kevin Hulsey

Meet Kevin Hulsey. I was made aware of Kevin's existence by a post from my good friend John Nack (Photoshop Product Manager) and Kevin's work is truly exceptional. Especially this illustration of a modern ocean liner, with descriptions on how he created it.

What kind of work do you specialize in?

Technical Illustration for Automotive and industrial applications.

What was the first vector application you ever used?

Adobe Illustrator is the only vector application I have used.

If you could make just one feature request for AI, what would it be?

Speed up the screen re-draws on large files.

What one thing most annoys you about Illustrator?

Slow screen re-draws on large files in the "preview" mode. Additionaly, gradient mesh sucks! This is why I do my color work in Photoshop!

What kind of design education do you have?

None. I am self-taught.

What’s your personal preference, Mac or Windows?

Mac - if you even need to ask.

What’s playing on your iPod right now?

Mostly, I work in silence. Otherwise, it would be 60s, 70s, 80s, or 90s rock.

What was the nicest place you’ve ever vacationed in?

Venice and Florence, Italy

Do you have a favorite designer? If so, who is he/she, and why?

Lynne Grigg. She and the rest of the Nissan design team at The Designory in L.A. pushed the creative boundaries in car brochure design back in the 1980s and 1990s. She gave my career a big jolt and we won a lot of creative awards together.

What one thing has most inspired your own personal design style?

A poster of a David Kimble cutaway illustration of the Star Trek "Star Ship Enterprise" in 1982. When I saw that, I said to myself: "this career is for you"!

If you could pass some advice to someone looking to become a designer, what would it be?

1. Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something. 2. In my line of work, the most important skill is also the most elusive to many people - patience. It takes a long time (several hundred hours in many cases) to create a cutaway car illustration and most people can't sit still for that long.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeh the ship is really amazing! but... gradient meshes simply don't suck!!! they just take some time to master... :D

Anonymous said...

"What’s playing on your iPod right now?
Mostly, I work in silence."
Finally!!! There IS another person who lives on this planet. Thank you!