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LAF: In your past you were a technical illustrator for Hewlett Packard and currently teach Computer Graphic Design using PhotoShop, Illustrator, and PageMaker. Did you find it hard to transition from drawing with "brush and canvas" to a drawing illustration program on the computer?
JH: I never had trouble using the computer as an art medium and my formal studies with drawing and painting came after my initiation with computers. The computer is my preferred artistic medium.
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LAF: As we both know, the business of selling "art" has become very commercialized. How do you deal with it on a personal level? How do you pick where you’re showing; and do you have an agent?
JH: I'm in favor of art being for everybody. That's why I enjoy poster art the most - it's something that we can afford to own as well as being beautiful and functional. I usually hold on to the originals or give them to the person who inspired them. Reproductions are available for a reasonable price. I believe that art should be more available and prominent in our day-to-day lives. It would be impressive to see a society that spends as much time, energy and money on art, as it does on sports.
LAF: Because you started drawing before the invention of computer generated illustration/design/art, how do you feel about today's young artist learning to draw using the "mouse and screen" instead of "brush and canvas"?
JH: I always enjoyed drawing with colored pencils. That was the only tool available at the start. Those pencil lines made it easy to move into vector graphics used for technical illustration. Now, I'm crazy about PhotoShop and enjoy teaching artists to use it.
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LAF: I know that my "soul" is that of an artist. There is nothing else that I could have done with my life and been satisfied. How do you feel about being an artist? How has it effected your life? Both in the good, and not so good ways?
JH: Artists feel compelled to create in some manner. As an artist, I notice shapes, lines, and colors all the time. I tried adjusting into more "pragmatic" careers, but never fit in. Technical illustration helped combine art and technology, both of which I enjoy. It's a curse and a blessing. Until I understood that, I assumed I was crazy.
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LAF: When did your artistic interest start; did you "draw" all your life? Who influenced and encouraged you the most?
JH: Being an illustrator seemed natural for me. Every printed project I made in grammar school was fully illustrated by hand. Book reports, spelling tests, short stories . . . they were all illustrated with colored pencils. My Mom taught me how to draw and use colors.
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LAF: I find that I am most inspired to choreograph during or shortly thereafter a crisis in my life. It seems to "outline" a story that I need to express. When are you the most inspired to create? Have you recognized the "signal" or "Muse" for your creativity?
JH: A crisis in my life will often show up in my art. Otherwise, "pictures" come to mind at any moment. Sometimes, it's when I'm asleep and other times it's something I heard somebody say that pops an image into my mind. A lot of my art is visual, associative links - like I've always seen giraffes when I see a bunch of spotted bananas.
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Thumbnail of "Shelter"
Artwork/Graphic Images
by Joyce M. Hoffman
© 1998. All Rights Reserved.
No images published herein may be duplicated, printed, or published on the internet or
elsewhere, without the express permission of the artist.
Interview by Lorien Fenton
Page Design by Hilary Kretchmer
Thumbnail of "Moon"