Tease of the Month: Sebastien Millon
You might think you’re really weird or special because you personify animals in your head. Well one thing you’re not is talented. Talented people can do wonders with their imagination. Like our Tease of the Month, Sebastien Millon here.
An artist from Phoenix, Arizona, Sebastien Millon is a name that perhaps everyone who appreciates quirky illustrators are obsessed with. Me being no exception. So last year, when I discovered this man on Facebook along with the wonderful Drunky Bear and Carnivorous Rabbit, I could do nothing but fall hopelessly in love with him. What else could a girl do when she encountered a website that unabashedly admitted “Sebastien Millon’s work lacks truth, vision, and sadly, any artistic integrity”? Funny, cute and ridiculously violent, little do fans know that Millon studied oil painting and hoped to create realistic, obsessively detailed representational paintings. But however, “One thing led to another and I ended up drawing ‘cartoons’. I’m very happy to be where I am at today, as the silly, humorous drawings are much more representational of the kind of person I am,” smiles Millon.
Inspired by the likes of Bill Watterson, Pascal Campion, Li Chen of Extra Ordinary Comics, and Nedroid, Millon’s juxtaposition of the cute and the violent rises from his quirk that makes him throw opposites together and play with them. With Loony Toons being one of his favourite childhood companions, it perhaps isn’t surprising to realize his love for the absurd and the funny! “I think that influenced my humor a lot. I don’t do the cute/violent as a commentary, it is not as deep as that, but it can sometimes serve as a good metaphor for certain situations. I would like to keep developing themes and getting better at nuance/subtlety of the humor I do, because while I like doing the cute/violent, I’d like to get better at doing a greater variety of jokes,” explains Millon while talking about flipping opposites together and of course the undeniably cute and violent. No surprise again when Millon states that Carnivorous Bunny is his favourite creation and he takes great pride in making him mad and psychotic. “He is totally insane. And probably not in a good way. Also I like drawing cute creatures that are dangerous. I find it pleasing,” he admits with a huge grin.
A faithful adherent to the belief that life is absurd, crazy, difficult, scary, our man here is quite an optimist as well!
Like always, here are some excerpts from our conversation with Sebastien Millon:
ST: You are what you draw, would you agree or disagree with that statement and why?
SM: I think I would disagree, but not wholeheartedly! My goal is that hopefully people enjoy my drawings, but I would enjoy it if they did not even know about my art but they just like or enjoy the kind of person I am. But it’s true in many ways, an artist’s work is inextricably linked and woven with their ideas and makeup as a person.
ST: How do you deal with creative barricades?
SM: This is always a hard one. I usually get creative barricades when I am tired. The main thing I try and do is take it easy and rest, try and not put pressure on myself, and keep looking at a lot of other art, comics, visual imagery for inspiration. I also try and sketch everyday, even when I don’t have ideas. It helps to maintain a consistent discipline.
ST: Plagiarism is an issue that plagues all, have you faced instances where your work has been plagiarized?
SM: Intellectual property and theft is an issue I’ve thought a lot about. First off, I am thrilled that people enjoy my work enough to share it on many different sites, I think that is very cool. Sometimes an individual will use an image I’ve created and try to sell prints or tshirts with it. It’s annoying, but that worries me much less than if a large company like Urban Outfitters or Target ripped off my designs, with no credit or financial compensation to the original artist. So it is large scale theft I’d be more worried about. Also, sometimes people crop out my info on the image before posting it on their site or humor sites, this doesn’t actually bother me too much, as #1 I’m glad the work is being shared, and if people like it enough and want to find out the artist they can google the stuff in the drawing and hopefully track down my site.
ST: Why bikeparts? What is the story behind bikeparts?
SM: Ohhhhhh. For a long time I was very much into bikes, and that was the username I decided on when I first created an account on etsy to buy stuff. So years later when I created an etsy shop, since my username was bikeparts I think at that time your shop name had to be the same as the user name! So totally random.
ST: According to you, what three comics/graphic novels should be read by all comic enthusiasts?
SM: Gus and Isaac the Pirate by Christophe Blain: Basically anything by Christophe Blain, I love his style, and he mixes in great humor with adventure in his stories. Also his series Quai D’orsay is really magnificent.
Yotsuba: Lovely manga that captures the fun and sweetness of childhood.
Cucumber Quest: Ongoing webcomic printed in book form now, very fun and beautifully drawn young adventure story.
ST: With so much of art on the internet, do you think the bad overshadows the good and why?
SM: I love the internet. It has allowed so many artists, creatives, from all over the world to share their work with each other and with the public. The more art the better, that’s what I say. People can share their work whether they are professionals, beginners, hobbyists, anything really. Plus I’ve discovered so many amazing artists because of the internet.
ST: Wise words for our readers.
SM: I don’t know wise things but try to be nice to people. In spite of the fact that my work can be violent or mean, I am a big believer in human kindness and compassion.
