Eugenio Negro

Name:Eugenio Negro

Website: Google+ : Eugenio Negro Comics

What do you do?

I draw comics and push them into peoples’ hands. Then I steal clutter from human’s yards and decorate the mounds in front of my warren with it.

Where can we find your work?

Isotope SF, Streetlight San Jose and Santa Cruz, 2013 SF Zine Fest in Golden Gate Park, Space Cat in San Jose

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?

Knowing other artists and having our work as a part of a bigger family scene keeps me making art. When I’m not interacting with other artists and art I just stop and wait. Every year for the last few years I’ve started all over with brave introductions, trading and trying to keep contact information. Hopefully in San Jose I’ll be able to sustain a group.

What do you think is more important, content/finished product or technique/process?

Content. Technique is only important because of limited time. The content is important because as an artist you’ve signed up for the huge responsibility of having a greater than normal influence on people’s thoughts and ultimately their behavior. Do you want to cultivate jerks in your audience, or lovers? Do you want to improve community access to the truth, or confuse people with your whining? In terms of process, if you know what you believe in, the necessary means to tell it will reveal themselves.

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?

Other “punk” or community-oriented, noncommercial artists. Also Márquez, Rushdie, Quino, Burroughs. My grandparents. Just about everyone influences me because I’m always listening.

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?

I don’t know... Yoda. He had a peaceful life. I don’t read happy stories so I don’t want their lives.

When do you get your best ideas?

Washing dishes or walking.

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?

Pens with various tips, Xacto knife, glue. Sometimes a ruler.

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?

I’m formally educated as a writer, and that shows in my work. I’m a jackoff illustrator from never paying attention or working at it, and that shows too.

What would your creative work taste like?

Dry spit from arguing for hours and laughing.

When you are not creating what do you like to do?

Enjoy life. Art is either a spiritual practice, an act of resistance or an unnecessary aesthetic luxury.

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?

I try as hard as I can not to be “creative” in terms of narrative. I’ve learned to listen rather than judge, at least for a little at a time, and just wait for people to say outrageously bizarre or true things. I write that stuff down and then try to explain where that comes from or where it’s going with pictures. When I know I have the truth, then I’m not the center of attention and I can confidently present it.

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures?

Let go of the fact that it’s hard to start. Poets write for four hours in the morning every day before they get something. You’re a lousy novice every morning and a master every night. That’s life. Keep working, forget what if and what do I get and just do it. Having your own business or thing is scary and frustrating, but not having one --just being a stupid consumer --sucks.