Interview No. 119

Interview By: @The-Great-One

Today's guest is an underrated artist here on Newgrounds. His works vary from sketch work with Love of mine to graffiti work with Are you alone?. Please welcome, @372.

Q: How did you find Newgrounds and why did you join?

A: I first found Newgrounds when I was around 7 or 8. My older cousin showed me things like the Killing Spree series by Sam Green and Rob Zombie. I've been on ever sense. I joined NG a couple years later in 2006 as MaddSkill because I was working with flash and wanted to post them for reviews. Haha I used this horrible program called Kool Moves. It was pretty bad.

Q: At what age did you become interested in drawing?

A: I've been interested in drawing for as long as I can remember. To be honest I've always been a little obsessed with it.

Q: What is the Left 4 Dead Action Flash?

A: A flash I started a couple years ago. I made a few sketches and then got side tracked. I gave up on it pretty quickly.

Q: Your first piece on Newgrounds is entitled TheUsed. You say it is fan art, so what is TheUsed and who is Alex Pardee?

A: The Used is a band I've been listening to for just as long as I've been visiting Newgrounds. Their first 3 albums have really inspired my artwork. Alex Pardee was the artist who illustrated their second and third album's artwork. The piece is just some drawings I did from the copy of the album I have.

Q: One of my favorite pieces by you has to be Love of mine. It is a beautiful picture that you drew on your school desk. What was on your mind in class while drawing?

A: Well one day when doodling in class I noticed that pencil drawings came out really nice on desks. My hot Italian teacher said she liked my desk drawings so when I had the free time I started working on nice looking stuff. I actually used a girl in my class as reference and it came out looking a lot like her.

Q: Are you alone? is a graffiti piece done by you. When The Graffiti Crew we talked about why some people use graffiti as an art form. What made you decide to use a part of the world as your easel?

A: Well I live on long island and there isn't much art to look at around here... just a lot of white walls and shopping malls. Graffiti is a great way to get the public exposed to your message. Usually when I use graffiti I'm trying to say something. It's my hope that each person who sees my work will reflect on the pieces differently and take something away from them.

Q: One thing that has always fascinated me, but is so elementary in art is the drawing of faces. Sleeping Man on Train shows off some of your facial works. What advice can you give to those who may have trouble drawing faces?

A: Drawing faces takes a lot of practice. I found studying the anatomy gave me a good foundation for drawing faces and anything living. Knowing exactly what you're drawing can help you make good decision's while you draw, and lead to an overall better looking piece.

Q: Toast-Tony, Fifty-50, and CosmicDeath, have all been past guests on The Interviewer before. Each one of them like many others have art threads. My art thread. is yours. How important would you say it is for Newgrounds artists to have an art thread?

A: Well I have a more recent art thread. 372'S Artistic Manifestations

I think it's very important newgrounds artists have an art thread. As an artist not all the stuff you make will be suited for the art portal, but that doesn't mean it's not worth sharing. A art thread is a really good way to show your studies and doodles and get feedback from other artists and users.

Q: Desk Art intrigues me. A drawn hand, drawing something. What inspiration came to you while drawing upon your desk this time?

A: Haha well I have trouble trying to draw something cool from nothing, so I figured I could draw my hand...drawing my hand. Like a M. C. Escher sort of thing. I draw my own hands a lot. It's a reference that's available 24/7

Q: One of my favorite graffiti artists goes by the name Banksy. You paid homage to him with Banksy Tribute. What is it about Banksy's works that you like and is the piece completed like Banksy's original?

A: I love the boldness of Banksy's work. He really showed me that graffiti could be more then mindless bombing. I really started to enjoy the idea of using well thought out art in graffiti. It inspired me. The piece on my way was actually sketched out and hand painted free hand while Banksy's was stencil work.

Q: My favorite piece by you holds gothic and majesty. That is A skull. What was the process in this piece?

A: Well I drew out the skull using a real human skull my bio teacher has as reference Then I drew some tree looking things and added some water color. I don't have a scanner so I just took a picture with my cell phone and upped the contrast haha.

Q: Many artists tend to use computers for their creations while you use paper and city walls. Have you used computer tools to draw? If not then why?

A: Yeah I've also worked with computer tools though it's not my favorite medium to use. I find creating with more traditional styles to be much more natural and satisfying.

Q: What is Chillin' With Satan?

A: I have a lot of free time in school that I spend in my computers class. One day out of pure boredom My friend Julian and I came up with the idea of making a flash. It's about us just trying to hang out with our favorite imaginary deathcore band "Satan": with the front man being Satan himself. It's pretty much satire of the whole music scene we have to deal with because of the music we listen too.

Q: What would you say is the definition of art?

A: That's a tough one. I guess I think art is anything you can do that can instill different feelings or ideas in a different people. Skill's like drawing and sculpting don't define your artistic ability, they only expand the ways you can express yourself.

Q: What can we expect from 372 in the future?

A: I'm working on a ton of artistic projects. I've been especially working on abstract-anatomy themed works. Oh and stencils. Lots of stencils.

372 is an up and coming artist here on Newgrounds, even though he has been a member here longer. His sketches are pretty and his graffiti artwork is beautiful. Then again that could be my bias showing in that aspect since I can't seem to resist graffiti. 372 is already quite the artist and he can only grow from here.