- You have been in the VFX industry for 11 years and you already have an enviable career and a stunning portfolio. What motivated you to be involved in visual arts? When you look back to your childhood, what do you remember related to your process of discovering your talents?
 
I guess I’ve been drawing before I was even being able to walk, I think when I was very young it was some kind of adherence of things that I couldn’t possess.

I remember being this 5 year old looking up at the way too high rack at the news stand in the supermarket, seeing those Heavy Metal covers with breathtaking artworks by famous artists like Richard Corben, Enki Bilal, Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri and the like. I was too young to get my hands on those mags at that time, so back home I would recall what I saw and draw it. I think those glimpses at the covers of adult comics had some kind of impact on me. That and of course, Star Wars. I had only few of those toys at home, so I had to observe the robots and space ships at the toy store really careful, to draw and in that way “conserve” them at home. My favourite where the bounty hunters, IG-88 and 4-LOM, I fell in love with their unusual design. I also remember that my father went to art museums with me, when I was still very young.  At that time I was already fascinated by the impressionist paintings, looking messy when I was standing close to them and surprisingly natural, realistic and three-dimensional as soon as I stepped further away from them.
 
- Without any art or design education, you've built an enviable career in a short period. You're a great proof for the statement, 'Art cannot be taught'. What would be the first thing that you say to your students, if you were a lecturer in an art college?
 
It may depend on each one’s personality what would be the best way to learn, but I can highly recommend to try training yourself as much as possible, without any direction from a teacher. Gathering all the inspiration from different artists and nature on your own, without having them filtered by the taste of someone else seems just more honest and natural to me. I believe that my art would be much more generic if I hadn’t chosen this way. It’s important to keep the rough edges I guess.
 
- As a character designer, you worked with Tim Burton for his stunning project 'Alice in Wonderland'. Your artworks look absolutely outstanding! Tim Burton's magic cannot be visualized in a better way. How do you feel about the movie? Can you tell us about that experience?
 
Thank you very much! It was actually the most stunning experience to work on that movie, Tim has always been one of my favourite directors and his “Nightmare before Christmas” designs were always a big inspiration. Being part of something that big was more than I could ever imagine. The experience was quite a contrast from the way I’ve worked before, sitting in my studio in Berlin and doing Sega covers and stuff. After several months working on the Alice designs from home I found myself in Tim Burton’s Office in London, met Ken Ralston, and since then I worked very close to the set first in Plymouth and then in LA. I’ve had the greatest time, and I really can’t wait until the film’s release.
 
- Now, you are working on 'John Carter of Mars', another huge project from the extremely talented director and writer Andrew Stanton, whom we especially know from Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Wall-E. Can you share some clues with us about the movie? What are you exactly doing for it?
 
I didn’t expect to get onto the next project so quick after Alice, but Ken Ralston, who was always very supportive introduced me to Andrew, and I moved to the Bay Area for 5 months to work on John Carter, doing character designs. I’m not able to reveal anything about the movie, but it was certainly more than inspiring sitting next to Ryan Church, he’s one of the greatest artists in the film industry today. I also learned a lot by getting comments directly from Andrew Stanton and Nathan Crowley in the art reviews, very cool and visionary guys by the way.
 
- From Corel Dream 3D to today's breathtaking visual technologies, you experienced many applications and innovations in your career of 11 successful years. An artist, especially a digital artist, should always follow the trends and the developments, for sure. How do you evaluate the future of fine arts, when you consider the dramatic effects of digital technology to the field? Do you think hand made pieces will be more valuable, or are they going to disappear?
 
In my opinion people nowadays rely too much on these advanced technologies, they spend less and less time with developing a fundamental understanding of art and the creative process in general.

Some may think that making concepts and sketches in a 3d space like ZBrush replaces the need and skill for drawing, but it doesn’t. It’s just the simplicity of the process that makes it still unbeatable, it’s just your brain, hand, pencil and paper, no buttons, no interface, no complication, nothing that distracts you from the very initial process of cranking out ideas.

Building up a complex and highly realistic 3D model of a character is much easier and stress-free if you start with a good sketch that serves as some kind of a map for the journey through the endless spaces of possibilities that all those advanced digital technologies present. That being said about art in the film industry, where people tend to become almost hysteric about this and that new 3D tool and forget about the very origins of creating imagery, I guess there will always be a co-existence or better: a dialogue of traditional and digital art, the invention of photography wasn’t the death of painting, right?
 
- Imagine that you have a limitless budget to build a place for showing your artworks to the public. It can be a museum, a huge wall, a mobile gallery, or whatever you dream of... What kind of platform would you choose to present your creations?
 
It certainly would have to be a place that the visitor can experience both physically and virtually, in a real space and at the same time in a virtual space, accessible via internet.
 
- It's usually been told that artists have the mission of walking one step further and guiding other people. German painter Georg Baselitz thinks the opposite. He says; 'The artist is not responsible to any one. His social role is asocial, his only responsibility consists in an attitude to the work he does.' Where do you stand in this argument? How do you define being an 'artist'?
 
If Mr. Baselitz created art that inspired younger artists and therefore helped their career, his role became already social, even if it wasn’t his intent. Since I’ve never had any formal art school training, I’ve had the best lessons just by studying the work of the artists that inspired me, maybe that’s why I don’t really like to give classes and to write tutorials, I rather want to inspire through the work and the quality of the work I’m doing, not by telling someone how to draw.
 
- As a person who is deeply involved in comics and fantasy world, have you ever dreamed of creating a new, unique graphic story or do you have a personal movie project for the future?
 
I’d rather like to say that I don’t prefer any genre like comics or fantasy art in general, like I wouldn’t say I prefer electronic over classical music. There’s things that strike me from all kinds of sources, and I also never want to restrict myself in what I create, so there’s plans in continuing my work in the fine arts field, doing oil paintings and experimental animation, as well as several ideas for short film projects and even a movie project. My success in the film industry here in LA is certainly good for financing my own projects, so I’m really looking forward to take some time off to realize them.
 
- Theme of the 15th issue of Bak Magazine is 'Love'. What does this word mean to you?
 
Above all, I have to think of my wife, without her love my life would certainly lack a big amount of inspiration. My hint for the readers: Always strive for the things you love to do, and think of the difficulties that may arise as just another of many lessons.