Randy Monteith Interview

Thank you for agreeing to do this interview, Randy!

Tell us a little about yourself:

​​​​​​​ I first started getting serious about my art 6 years ago when friends invited me to a local event where they were selling their artwork.
I got hooked and started working everyday trying to learn and improve my skills. I like to work on creating the kind of art that I want
to see. I spend quite a bit of time creating new techniques and ideas.

When did you first begin to make art?

I created art many years ago with my old Atari computer and got into photography a bit. It wasn’t until I was talking to a teacher about Photoshop , around 6 years ago and it was then he made me realize I did not want to learn “Everything” about Photoshop but I wanted to use it to create art and to concentrate on the art and not Photoshop.

When did you first start using Photoshop and how did you learn?

Seriously about 6 years ago when I started selling prints of my artwork at local shows.I didn’t take it that seriously before that and didn’t understand its full potential. Slowly I started practicing and learning a bit at a time. I realized I had to keep at it because I would forget some of the things I had learned earlier on and needed to keep at it.
Its one amazing program and gets better all the time.

What inspires you?

Anyone trying to do something different then all the rest of the creators before. I am all for breaking the rules
and smashing the idea of ” Thinking Outside The Box ” to BITS!!! The thing with many artists is you have to check out their whole portfolio
not just one image and then it will be more clear to you that they have vision. There is much more to creating art with Photoshop then
making grungy looking art by laying a texture over of a photo. If that’s all your happy doing then you start to look like every other
artist doing the same thing.

Who are some of your favorite artists?

Hugh Syme who created all the amazing artwork for the album covers of my all time favorite band RUSH. Mario Sánchez Nevado is amazingly creative.

What is your typical process when creating a piece of art?

I really don’t start each one the same way. It depends upon what my vision is. Sometimes its a sketch and sometimes a technique I want to explore.

What is your favorite Photoshop trick/method at the moment?

Camera RAW is a powerful tool to add to your editing skills.

What is your favorite Photoshop tool or plugin at the moment?

Masks are the key to many things and are so useful. Its pretty important to start learning non-destructive editing earlier
on in your Photoshop learning curve. Its more than just using the Undo tool and saving multiple copies of your PSD files for backup.

What work of your own are you most proud of?

I got a call from the CEO of CREATIV magazine a few years back. Brad asked me to create the first print cover of their magazine. I was nervous and wondered why he asked me, after seeing that his site had thousands of amazing artists on it. I then asked what he wanted on the cover and he just replied with ” Make it Colourful. ” I created an android that was falling to pieces and he loved it. The first magazine sold around the world and Brad sent me about 100 copies. Each piece of artwork is a learning experience and a growing experience. I make tons of mistakes and and I am learning all the time.I created this dark sorcerer peice of art for my son when he was 14 called The Citadel. He loved it and I won a Hall of Fame award from Photoshop Creative magazine for it. Then I was hired to do a book cover and couldn’t really think of how to do the cover justice and then while working on another project , suddenly I was inspired and created the cover over the next week. I showed the author and she told me ” Don’t Change A Thing, Its Perfect “. I was asked to do a variant one off cover for a comic book called “Norlan: Sorceress of Light” from the creators of the comic book Auric. They printed it on Foil so the effect and detail was amazing. Recently I finished up a CD cover for an amazing guitarist that should be out very soon. That was a fun project. Last year I did my first movie poster for a movie called ” The Devil Knows You’re Dead ” directed by Lee Chambers that should be out this May. There are many others that could take up this whole interview.

What are you currently working on?

I always have so many ideas going on in my head. Probably some more CyberPunk stuff influenced by Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and Altered Carbon movies and TV shows.

What would you tell someone who is starting out making Photoshop art?

Take the time to learn how to use the tools and you will be rewarded. When I started out I got confused by how many different kinds of layers there were. But I persisted and it is all worth it.