Los Angeles Firm Inc. Magazine March/April 2016 | Page 100

LOS ANGELES FIRM INC MAGAZINE
MARCH / APRIL 2016

THE MANIPULATOR

RODNEY

PIKE
What would you say to up and coming graphic artist?
That’s a good question. The art
market, especially commercial art
and illustration is changing rapidly. There’s an enormous amount
of competition out there. There
are many people these days who
will work for credit alone. It’s
not an easy way to make a living
but I wouldn’t try to discourage anyone from achieving their
goal in life. My advise to people
who share my passion or share the
desire to learn any form of art
is to study the work of artists
you admire in great detail. Try
to emulate their work. Surround
yourself with people and things
that inspire you. Learn everything that your preferred software has to offer. Experiment
with new techniques and practice,
practice, practice. There is a
quote that I love. “The question
is not how far. The question is,
do you possess the constitution,
the depth of faith, to go as far
as is needed?” ~ Unknown author.
What animation film do you feel
that had you been involved it
would have been better?
When I was in the military and
stationed in Scotland, I often
watched a very popular TV show at
the time, “Spitting Images”. I’m
not sure I would have made the
show much better but I have been
approached by several UK based
companies looking to bring that
sort of show back. I think that
would be a lot of fun and hopefully I could add an eery sense
of reality to the slapstick humor
and animated caricatures. I’ve
always said my dream would be to
see my images take on a sort of
life of their own with animation.
Maybe one day the technology will
catch up and I’ll see that come
to pass.
How many characters have you done
throughout the course of your
career?
I really don’t have a firm count.
I would say in the neighborhood
of 4 to 5 hundred.

Where can our readers catch up
with you and view more of you
amazing art?
www.google.com/+RodneyPike/
www.rodneypike.com
https://www.facebook.com/RodneyWPike
What is it about Art that first
attracted you?
I was a shy child and art was an
escape for me. I found something
that I was good at from a very
young age. I kind of became the
school artist and t