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.
