William Askew

Interview with
Artist Emor—

1.Who are you and what do you do?
My name is William Askew, I am a teacher/illustrator/designer under the moniker of Artist Emor. A traveling artist/wanderlust, I love people, their interest, and their challenges. My work is an embodiment of my travels and the different cultures I’ve come across.

“C. Ceci”

2. Why art?
Initially it started off with video games and science. But I lacked the imagination to construct ideas so I ventured into art and came back full circle.

“Sunflower”

3. What is your earliest memory of wanting to be an artist?
Being wowed by the likes of the Works of Yoji Shinkawa designs for metal gear solid demo, in the winter of 97’. I learned that these were the type of stories/concepts I wanted to explore with art.

“Ti Milo – Red Panda”

4. What are your favorite subject(s) and media(s)?
Portraits, life designs and conceptual modeling are my favorite things to explore.
My mediums of choice are pen, sumi, acrylic inks, gouache and colored pencils. Traditional and 3D design programs like Blender currently and of course the image manipulation programs and digital painting programs although vector programs are cool too.

“Birds”

5. How do you work and approach your subject?
Depending on the project my workflow changes a bit, but most importantly I start off with a synopsis, a series of references, drafts, followed by a quick breakdown on which mediums best suit the task is cost/effort effective… then just zone out to a podcast or an album till im done the project.

“yTaga 20-21 5hr”

6. What are your favorite artwork(s), artist(s)?
Tricky to say, art is so versatile, I really appreciate “REDLINE’‘ the animated film and OST. But my favorite artists … maybe Yoji Shinkawa, Inoue Takehiko, Ashley Woods, J.A.W. Cooper, Hayao Miyazaki, Alphonse Mucha, Rembrandt, but most of my work is heavily influenced by the wood block prints of Ukiyo-e and paintings from japan 1800’s-1900’s era.

“Baron Samdi”

7. What are the best responses you have had to your work?
Mmm… Having had someone cry at the sheer sight while being surrounded by it.
Or Earning the favor to have my mentor curate my work at her college for a solo show. I’m going with the latter.

“Queens”

8. What do you like about your work?
It’s kinda like that one Christmas song, it reminds me of all of my favorite things, no matter what point in my life I’m at. also I’m at the point where I can take a bad idea and make it terrific.

“Claptrap”

9. What advice would you give to other artists?
All things human are a complex singular illusion and are supported by the multilateral expressions of the arts, take advantage of and do as much or as little as you truly want to.

“Coffee is Life – v2”

10. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
Hard to say, I believe that it’s more important to look at where I’m stepping rather than where the height of goals are. I mean everyone has the right to change their mind at any giving circumstance.

William Askew

LINKS —

Website: https://www.artistemor.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoq1oZYjdMX9lhBO-5UGoWw
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artist_emor/
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/artist_emor