#common genus

When did you make your first zine or art piece and what was it about?

i'm sure i was drawing on walls when i was a little dude, so i'll guess it was a dog or cloud in crayon on a wall in the house we were living in.  the first zine i made was in 2010, it was a collection of drawings that i had made over a year period.  mostly grandpa jokes and comics about trees...

What kind of zines/art do you make now?

my art now is very much like the zines i put out.  layers of puns with a wide variety of characters and settings.  trees still.  in two years, i've published 21 zines and a coloring book for kids/adults/me...  i love it.

Name three things that have influenced or inspired you in your work and how you’ve applied that into your zines/art.

i don't think i'd be doing anything of this sort if it wasn't for skateboarding.  it taught me to be persistent and it certainly changed my view of the world around me.  there are plenty of skate references in my work and it's still my main inspiration, even if i spend more time drawing than riding nowadays.  new and old friends are just as inspiring now as they were when i started putting ideas onto paper...  without them, i'd be a hermit with no one to give zines to.  mathematics is a major part in my thought process, and although it sounds odd, i'll have to give credit to the dead guys who got that ball rolling for us... euclid, euler, gauss, fermat, ramanajan, galois, etc.  every now and again, i'll sneak in a math joke... 

Does your life outside of zine/art making affect what you do artistically, if so, how and why?

it's hard to say my life exists outside of art or zine making.  i'm always jotting down ideas in a sketchbook if i'm away from my desk.  i don't know how to separate the two, and i wouldn't if i could... a good amount of my sketchbooking occurs when going out with friends where i am "that guy" who draws all night at a bar or restaurant.  i am perpetually bored when i'm not holding a pencil or brush.  or skateboarding.

Website Links: 

http://blog.commongenus.com/