GamersDigArt | Where Games and Art Meet Where Games and Art Meet!

Home > Interviews > Meet Kieranoats!!!

Meet Kieranoats!!!

Ramel Hill April 14, 2009 3 Comments 631 Views

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by Robby Musso aka Rex 203

Hello again another installment from the long line of talented gamers who are artist!

Up next we have kieranoats! This was not my intentions but we have another artist from the Down Under!

Colors by Kieranoats

Line Art by Mike Bowden

Could you start with a brief bio about yourself. Name, age, where you are from and what you do.

My name is Kieran Oats, 25 years old, from a small town in rural New Zealand called Edgecumbe. I work fulltime as a comic colourist for various companies worldwide, sometimes
doing design work or web design on the side.

100% Kieran Oats!!!

What is your background in art? (formal training, school, etc.) and how long have you been into art?

I've never had any formal training, I did one class of art at highschool which ended in me getting kicked out. I've been into art my whole life, drawing ever since I was a young lad, never really took it seriously until after high school when I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. I found that I couldn't bring myself to do anything that wasn't creative. Living in small town NZ didn't help so I moved away to different cities but found that the only way I could make a living was to go international, thankfully the internet exists and has given me opportunities I only ever dreamed of.

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by Mr. Raiz

Could you name some projects you worked on that made you say wow now this is why I am glad I am artist.

Pretty much every book I do these days reminds me of how far I've come, it never gets old getting emails from companies approaching me for work, its hard not to feel good about yourself in that. Working on Magician Apprentice for marvel is a constant reminder of where I'm at, also things I've worked on that I've always been a fan of, Transformers, GI Joe Warhammer etc, all a buzz to work on.

Colors by Kieranoats

Line art by Robby Musso aka Rex 203

What are some struggles artist will face when tackling art as a career.

The two main hurdles I found getting into the art industry and establishing myself are dealing with people from the otherside of the world and trying to keep on top of finances. Luckily these days I have an art rep in the US, Paolo Belfiore from Cadence Comicart, having him handle contracts and communications with companies on my behalf has increased my workload threefold. Trying to get money that you are owed or sometimes even just making contact with people that won't reply to emails is the bane of most comic artists existence. I live with my partner of 7 years and trying to keep up with my side of living expenses can be hard sometimes because you don't have a steady income, sometimes a month with nothing coming in, then others getting paid every week, so you really need to learn how to budget properly and expect to be stuffed around by people every now and then. One of the main things I would give as advice to anyone wanting to be freelance is to save up enough money for at least 3 months living costs before trying even start the transfer to fulltime freelance. Ease your way into it.

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by Tim Seeley

Do you think an artist needs a balance of traditional and digital skills to be successful as a career artist?

I've spent the last 4-5 years focusing on digital because it fascinates me, seemingly unbound potential for images that can be produced in short amounts of time. However I find myself lacking heavily in the traditional area, something that I hope to improve on in the future, I have a huge admiration for people that are skillful with those media. It all depends I guess on what kind of art career you want to have, but I think it would be a very valuable skill to have, traditional skills translate easier over to digital than the other way around I would think.

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by Aaron Kerr

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by damon

Are you currently playing any video games? If you are which ones?(*interview was conducted back before a lot of these game came out*)

As far as video games, well, I'm a huge fan of games in general, I own a pc, xbox 360 and Wii at the moment, I primarily play my 360 and mostly lately I've just been playing Ninja Gaiden 2 and Bad Company, waiting for games like Brothers in Arms and Far Cry 2 in the coming months. I play most of the time online, like 95%, xboxlive service for me is brilliant, it works how I've always wished games would work. Oh oh oh I forgot, Gears of War 2 in November as well, I'm a huge fan of the original, played it almost everyday since it came out. I used to play a wide variety of games in past years but now my time is precious so I have to rely on games that I can jump in and out of, shooters do that for me,as well as games on xboxlive arcade, short and sweet to be played with friends. Anyway I'll stop there, I would talk all night about videogames if I don't, haha.

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by Don Walker

You are a fantastic colorist...but man your own art is amazing as well. ([link]) What made you to decide to tackle coloring as opposed to other forms of art career choices? What steps do colorist need to get to the level of professional quality?

Haha, thanks for the comments about that stuff, I love doing art for myself like that, digital paintings from scratch, just seeing where they go. I guess the reason I chose comic colouring was because I really appreciate the boundaries that are set there, almost like a sport, things usually have to be within certain guidelines therefore you can start to master certain aspects of it. My goal is to one day be a concept artists for games or film for sure, but that is a long way off. I know that I have a huge way to go before my designs and things would be acceptable for anything and I understand that. That's one thing I feel is a strength of mine, knowing where I am at and not trying to aim too high before I am ready. I have often toyed with the idea of doing even just a short story in the style of that piece you linked to, but I can never find time. One day! as I always say, but one day never comes, not yet anyways, but one day maybe!

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by Ryan Stegman

Hey, we all have that one day...

I think that it is awesome how you and your brother collab on so many pieces. What are the dynamics in working with him like as opposed to another person. Do you think it is easier to color his work or harder.

My brother and I have always worked together doing little projects for fun, we've actually been working on a 60 page GN ever since I started colouring, its awesome to go through it and see the progress from beginning to end. Hopefully first thing next year it will be done and printed, yes, that's like 12 pages a year for 5 years. That project is what got me hooked on doing comic art, I learned as I went doing that. We have plans for all kinds of different stuff in the future, but as you probably imagine, it'll take it's time.

Colors by Kieranoats

Lines by damon

Dream project...what would it be -any film/comic/television show/video game- what would be a dream project for you and why?

My dream project would have to be doing conceptual art and seeing it come alive in a game or film, something sci-fi probably. Anything with Transformers makes me happy. As far as comics go, I think Ironman would be the highest point for me because it's high profile and its all about tech stuff, which I feel is one of my strongest points, I would love to just let rip on a mini-series. Oh and one other thing, getting to work on anything like the Pixar adaptations that BOOM is going to be doing would be magic.