Gary Rudisill

 Tonight we are visited by Gary Rudisill. . I thought it would be great to get to know him. Gary is currently selling his tubes at Mystical Scraps.You can visit his website to see more examples of his art. Thank you so much for talking with us Gary.

1) How did you become a part of the psp tube community?

I became part of the Psp Tube Community through a friend on Deviantart, Zindy Nielsen. Her and Lisa Ansell, were just starting Dreamscape Imaging and I
was one of the first artists asked to join. At the time, I personally didn't have a clue what a "Tube" was. Later a longtime friend of mine from Deviantart,
Freya joined the DSI team with me. I only stayed for about a year and left due
to personal situations with my father passing away. It was a great experience being with DSI, I met some good friends there. Then when Jo started PTE, I was asked
to come on with them. I really have to say, it was not my intent to get back into PSP Tube art because I really just wanted to crawl into myself and just not do
it any longer. But Jo asked me to call her and we talked and honestly, Jolene Burke really talked me through things. Jo's a good egg. Jo and I would talk on the phone from time
to time. She was good support. I also met alot of good people at PTE.

2) What does your artwork mean to you?

My art means the world to me. I do alot of different art though. My day job, is doing artwork for imprinted apparel. Where I use Adobe Illustrator/Corel Draw/ Photoshopto create anything from very simple to very detailed and complex designs, used in screen printing tshirts and apparel. For my company and many around the world. But my true love, is drawing. Pencil drawing. I am a huge fan of black and white, if it be photography, tattoos or drawings. Love dark shadows and bright highlights, and heavy contrast. I am recently getting into charcoal drawings more.
I also enjoy, pin up work. That's where the tubes come in. I love the toony style, with hard thick edges and bright and pastel colors. In the past I have
experimented with a few styles from toony to realist. but the toony style is what stuck. I love doing different layer options for the taggers, because what makes
the tube work so rewarding, is see what they do with it. I have seen some fantastic and creative things done with my pin ups. With the tube art, I get the best of
both worlds, it starts with a drawing and sometimes, I do a complex rendering of it to get the shading down and have a reference before I go to the computer. I get
to draw and then color it in the computer. So I get to do both.

3) What inspires you in creating your artwork?

Inspiration comes from the strangest places sometimes. Sometimes, music sparks it, sometimes a movie, sometimes a dream and sometimes its a suggestion from a
friend or fan. But once decided what project Im working on, I then pick music to help keep the inspiration alive. Sometimes that music is hard and rough, sometimes its
soft and sappy. A good example, when I was doing a child portrait for the local Children's Advocacy Center, I listened to Martina McBride's Concrete angel, over and over
and over then I would listen to Staind, and believe it or not some Richard Marx. Anythng that would relate to abuse, the sadder the better. There were times I was so
emotionally down with that project I would have to take a break for a few weeks to get myself back to normal. It seems crazy, but I believe in the process of creating
something that alot of yourself and your feeling goes into it and upon completion is felt and reflected. So depending on the mood I want other to feel when seeing what
I create is the mood of the music I choose. Sometimes, I even name the piece the same title or use some part of the lyrics of the song.


4) How long did you sell psp tubes? I know you are not currently
selling tubes but you have sold at a few companies before.

I guess its been about 2 years. This will be my second Christmas as a tube artist. I left DSI and PTE for reasons involving my personal life. THey were both
great companies. I started my own to help support some of my fellow artist friends, and it just didnt work out being a store owner. You have to depend on other
people due to the knowledge of the store software, the staff, the ct people, the conflicting personalities, yadda yadda yadda. In short, you really don't know
the people you are having work your store and representing you.  In short, I don't regret it, because it was a huge learning experience. But through that, I got
to know some good people again, some that were on my friends list for a while but didn't know that well. People like Jessica Reed and Myrenthia Brown, who now own
Artistically Inclined Licensing. The company I encouraged all the artists signed with me to consider when I was getting ready to close my store. When it comes
to business, I tend to think with my heart more than my head, which isnt being very business savvy. But I wanted all the people that stuck by me and supported
me through everything, when they could have just jumped ship, to have a place to be when I closed. I didn't want to just close the doors and leave them out in the
cold.

5) How do you create your artwork? Is it by hand
or digitally? What tools do you use in doing the artwork?

When creating artwork, first I break out my trusty Etch-A-Sketch. Just kidding. First I sketch, sometimes for days until I get something that feels right.
A lot of the time, the final isn't exactly what I intended and sometimes its goes in a complete different direction. Then I create a tight drawing on layout bond
using graphite pencils. Sometimes I post it up on my personal facebook page and facebook fan page, to get reaction from people. Then I take it to the computer to
add the color, shading and optional layers. The tools I use, pencils, paper, ERASER, and Photoshop.

6)Aside from psp tubes, what else do you create
with your artwork?

Like I said before, I have such a broad field of artwork. I create apparel designs for my printing company, I have some MMA clients I create all over print designs
for, I have larger companies that I do design work for along with color seperating. I was very honored last fall to be asked to create a 911 ten year annivesary
design for one of the larger print companies. I do graphite portraits. I do charcoal landscape and some gothy stuff too. I really tend to have a dark side to me
but try to keep it toned down. I am currently working with an oil paint on paper portrait dry brush stle, made popular by an awesome artist by the name of Igor Kazarin.


7) As you have developed your style and artwork, which artists
have influenced you?

The artist that influence me is Zindy Nielsen especially her portrait works. I actually own quite a few Zindy prints that hang on my wall along with an original
ACEO colored pencil drawing. I also own an original Robin McQuay as well. Robin is also an artist I admire. Her style is deep with alot of emotion. Pin up wise I
would have to say my major influences are Armando Huerta and Nicole Brune. Love their traditoinal style and hope that one day, I can break from digital and go totally traditional.

8) Does the psp community help artists become more well known
with getting their names and artwork more visible?

I would say YES the psp community does indeed help artists gain recognition and become more well known. I remember when I was first signed with DSI, I think
it was CopyRight Corner on facebook made the announcement that they signed me and all of a sudden BAM a ton of friends requests come pouring in. I was like who
the hell are all these people? LOL but I made some awesome friends with most of them.

9) What do you enjoy the most about being part of the psp community?

What I love most about being part of the PSP Community is the interaction with Fan/Friends. and you will notice I always say Fans/friends never just fans.
My fans are my friends. I love em all