ALEX KONSTAD
I have a lot of
interests and
things that I nerd
out on...
iMac for painting, a PC for 3D
work. He might study references at this
point. Alex uses a lot of his own
photography for his horror art.
LEARNING FROM HIS PAST ART
These day, Alex tries to focus on doing
one thing at a time, but that doesn’t
mean each piece is done in isolation.
Every piece is built on top of all the
pieces done before it, no matter how
different they appear. Insect studies
help with helicopter designs, while
drawing better mammals can mean
drawing better tanks.
For a long time, Alex kept up the
Santa Monica schedule, working on
his art 14 hours a day – or more. He
tries to take it a bit easier these days.
The artist works out three times a week
to offset the long hours at his desk. But
the hours are still pretty hardcore: Alex
wakes up at 6.30am, goes to the gym,
gets back home for 8am. He’s starts
work at 9am and is back home by
7pm. After dinner, he paints until
midnight – though he now allows
himself the occasional night off to
watch films or hang out with friends.
This is increasingly important: he’s
trying to learn when to say enough is
enough, to give himself time off, to
refill the tank.
Recently, Alex has been looking over
his body of work. He wanted to see
how it had changed over the years, but
also how it might continue to change
in the future. Where is his work going?
What might his work look like in, say,
10 years’ time?
“I’m not sure how I would describe
my work,” Alex says. “The largest
body of my work is dark fantasy or
Lovecraftian horror, with some sci-fithrown in for good measure.” For
definite, the artist would like to write
his own stories and direct his own
films. He even has one eye on fashion- particularly designing footwear.
Alex continues: “I have a lot of
interests and things I nerd out on:
other artists’ work, music, movies,
anime, nature, plants, animals... I just
try to mix them all up as much as
possible and be true to what I really
like about making art: just trying to
keep things strange and different.”
GENESIS ROUGHS
Alex’s initial sketches of
the vehicle designs that
feature in his personal
project Genesis Wars.