3DTotal: Having been browsing your Gallery in awe, I’m totally in love with the “life force” that you manage to capture in every single one of your images. Even though the characters that you paint are quite clearly anime in style and therefore our brains don’t instantly perceive them to be “real” (in realistic terms!), there is a sense of life behind each character that is completely undeniable. In a way, you actually manage to paint situations and characters in an even more “real” way than if they were painted hyper-realistically! What elements of characters, and the situations that you paint, are “key” in making sure you capture this sense of life? For example, is it all in the eyes...?
Jason: I’m glad that you feel this way! That is another thing that drew me toward Asian art: I found that even though anime and manga did not look realistic, it was somehow able to express more emotion than realistic western art was able to. 

3DTotal: Okay, so do you have to get into a specific frame of mind for each piece that you create, and literally throw yourself into it? Do many of your artworks actually represent your own personal thoughts and feelings, or are you able to adopt the mindset of your characters to be able to feel your way through a painting? That also makes me wonder: do you find that you can give as much emotion to a digital painting as you can to a traditional one, or is there a certain distance that the monitor creates?
Jason: Yes, if you want to create a successful painting, you have to be giving it 110%. This can be tricky when you are working professionally, as you are most likely not going to be working on things you enjoy all of the time.  When I run into this problem, it’s all about finding something in the image that I can find some fun in and just concentrating on that. It can actually be really rewarding to take an idea that you are not too fond of, or even dislike, and turning it into a piece of art that you are satisfied with.

My personal work is usually jump-started by something – either an emotion or an idea - but I tend to play it up beyond what I really feel, just for a stronger effect. Sometimes the emotion in my work is not really something I’m feeling, but just something I want the viewer to feel because I believe the painting will be stronger that way. Working digitally does not make this too difficult for me. In fact, I find it easier to do this in digital work than in analogue work because I am free to adjust my painting in lots different ways that are both much quicker and non-permanent.

3DTotal: Your understanding of anatomy is clearly demonstrated in all of your artworks and I notice from your bio that you studied life drawing at art school. Do you have any advice for artists out there, who perhaps don’t have access to life drawing classes but would like to learn? And how do you keep “topping up” your knowledge on a day-to-day basis? How important do you find an understanding of anatomy to be in today’s CG industry?
Jason: You must understand anatomy. Period. You might not need to know the names of everything, but you should have a pretty good understanding of how it looks and works. Get some books. I have a number of anatomy books and specific anatomy books for artists. There are a lot out there and most of them are pretty decent. Study from those; learn the names of the muscles and their functions. Draw every image in that book multiple times until you know the human body like the back of your eyelids. It’s a lot of work but it’s got to be done if you want to be able to draw people. To keep yourself “in shape”, you can sketch in public. I take a train to work everyday and I always have a small sketchbook with me so I can draw people I see.  Draw at a cafe or in the park. There are people everywhere, so it’s not hard.

still do a big reference search before starting each new piece?
Jason: I still like to use references. I don’t always use models or anything, but I do gather references for inspiration. For example, if I’m drawing cars in my image, I will need references of cars so that I understand how they are made and how light and colour reacts on their surfaces. I might not draw the same car, but I learn something from my references that I can apply to my image. If I am drawing people, I might find references of people with features I want to include and just use those ideas as reference.  I only take specific photo references for complex poses that I have trouble drawing or picturing in my own mind.

3DTotal: Wow, I never would have guessed that you struggled with composition - all of your images seem extremely well composed. It’s good to have something that makes you work hard though. What steps do you take to help improve your understanding of composition and do you have or use any “golden rules” that you might be able to share with us here?
Jason: I just spend a good amount of time on this step when I can. I try to come up with new compositions that are more interesting and dynamic than things I’ve done before, but most of the time I find myself falling back into a safe composition. I’m still working on it. Many of my compositions rely on the rule of thirds and just central or pyramid compositions.

3DTotal: Finally, after thanking you for this lovely interview, can I just ask: if you hadn’t discovered manga and anime, do you think the western approach to art would have eventually dampened your desire to draw? Or is this art in your blood and would have found its way through to paper/screen somehow or another?
Jason: Oh, of course not! Although I love art from Asia, that does not mean I don’t enjoy Western art.  My style might have been a bit different, but my love of art would be just as strong.