Hello Brom! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. It is a great honor to have you here. Please start by telling us something about yourself and your background. How it all started? I've been drawing monsters from earliest memory. Making little horror books out of magic markers, notebook paper, and staplers. Same thing I do today except with the help of a computer.

Q: Do you remember your firs design?
A: I loved dinosaurs. The kind that spit fire and eat people. Drew hundreds of them as a kid.

Q: Do you have any favorite artists that inspired your style?
A: Too many on to list. Early on it was horror magazines from the 70's, then cover artists like Frazetta, Corben, Jeff Jones, San Julian, then later all the Pre-Raphaelites like Waterhouse and the Brandywine school of American illustrations, such as Pyle, NC Wyeth, Norman Rockwell.

Q: How would you describe your style in a few words?
A: Absurd, gothic horror.

Q: Looking at your art world makes me feel like I'm in a gothic fairy tale. Really interesting!
A: Yes, gothic in the true sense of the word. Certainly a combination of classic illustration mixed with the macabre.

Q: Beautiful, strong and seductive women, are really eye-catching designs in your portfolio. Do you feel inspired by women's nature?
A: I approach most of my characters that way, whether man, woman or beast. I often paint characters that I would like to be. And yes woman can be very inspiring, they play the wonderful contrast of beauty and danger.

Q: Philosophically and creativity, seems like you try to blur the boundaries between the popular media and your own perceptions.
A: I paint what I see in my head and try not to think anymore about it. In a way I'm co-playing with every character I paint or write about.

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Q: Do you believe in hell, heaven, maybe after life?
A: I believe in all religions. I believe they are all going to get me and drag me into purgatory. My artworks are there to show a window into my soul, beyond that it is up to the viewer to interpret.

Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of this job?
A: To be able to share my imagination with others.

Q: Do you have a sketchbook?
A: Yes, I sketch up ideas, work them out in layers of tracing paper, then transfer them to a canvas where I put down several acrylic washes to establish the lights and darks and finally use oil paints to smooth out the textures.

Q: Do you also work on custom designs for clients?
A: Yes, working with clients can be very rewarding when giving room to pursue my own vision, but also can be very frustrating when the client wants to limit that vision.

       

Q: Are you trying to do a dark version of the old well-know fairy tales? If so, what would be the craziest art piece?
A: I have always wanted to paint Snow White having a really naughty time with the seven dwarves. Is that wrong (evil grin)?

Q: The latest masterpiece is "Krampus", the Yule Lord", which is a tale about  Krampus revenge and Santa. Is it a sarcastic story? :)
A: Sounds humorous and there is plenty of dark humor, but it is played straight, and to me that's what made it so interesting to write. Something that should be humorous told in a dark and gritty style.

Q: You published your award winning horror novels, “The Plucker” an adult children’s book, “The Devil’s Rose” which is a modern western set in Hell, and then “The Child Thief” a gritty, night-marsh retelling of the Peter Pan myth. Wow! Tell me more.
A: The Plucker was inspired by the childhood belief of toys coming to life in the land of make-believe colliding with the childhood belief of the monsters under the bed. Devil's Rose started out from a desire to paint undead on motorcycles but a curious thing happened along the way, the characters took over the tale and the book turned into a much deeper story about redemption. The Child Thief was inspired from all the underlying adult themes in Peter Pan.

Q: Do you feel that the child in you still lives?
A: I'm still attached and drawn to the same things as a child. In that way, yes. It seems I was born knowing what I was about and what I liked.

Q: Have you ever thought to change something about your style?
A: My goal is to perfect what I'm trying to do.

Q: As an artist, what are some of your greatest challenges or obstacles you face?
A: Focus - there are so many creative challenges calling me, it is easy to be distracted by other mediums, such as film and all the 3D applications, but at the end of the day I like prose and paint.

Q: What keeps you going?
A: Sometimes it is harder than other times to be in the mood to create. I don't have the luxury of waiting for my muse, so I just dive in, fortunately that is often the solution, to just dive in, let the paint take you.

Q: Art could be a great influence on someone's personality. What is the best lesson that you learned from your journey?
A: Trust your own vision.

Q: Any advice for the new artists?
A: Put in your portfolio the kind of work you want to do, as what is in your portfolio is the kind of work you will get.

ABOUT BROM:

Born in the deep dark south in the turbulent sixties, Brom, an army brat, spent his entire youth on the move and unabashedly blames living in such places as Japan, Hawaii, Germany, and Alabama for all his afflictions. From his earliest memories Brom has been obsessed with the creation of the weird, the monstrous, and the beautiful.
His career began as a commercial illustrator at age twenty. Four years later he entered the world of fantastic art by coming on board the staff of TSR (Dungeons & Dragons). He has since gone on to lend his distinctive vision to all facets of the creative industries, from novels and games, to comics and film. Most recently he's created a series of award winning horror novels that he both writes and illustrates: “The Plucker”, an adult children’s book, “The Devil’s Rose”, a modern western set in Hell, “The Child Thief”, a gritty, nightmarish retelling of the Peter Pan myth, and his latest concoction, "Krampus, the Yule Lord", a tale of revenge between Krampus and Santa set in rural West Virginia.
Brom is currently kept in a dank cellar somewhere in the drizzly Northwest. There he subsists on poison spiders, centipedes, and bad kung-fu flicks. When not eating bugs, he is ever writing, painting, and trying to reach a happy sing-a-long with the many demons dancing about in his head. If you would like to learn more about Brom’s particular brand of deviltry and future concoctions go to: www.bromart.com