How did you get into art?

I'm not sure exactly... it feels like I've always been into art in one form or another. Certainly I've always made things. For a long time I predominantly made music, although I don't really do that any more. As far as visual art is concerned, I've always enjoyed it and I've always been impressed by people who could consistently produce art that I liked. But my appreciation and enjoyment of visual art has hugely increased in recent years. It's only in the last 5 years or so that I've been making pictures myself, and that definitely has a lot to do with it.
I was always drawing, but my stepdad mofaha got me into computers, which progressed to using Photoshop, which lead to what I do now.

How do you get inspiration for the pieces you produce?

Probably three main influences inspire me to produce things. The first is a desire to capture and convey a certain mood or emotion. The second is curiosity to explore a given technique. Mostly it's a combination of those two influences that go into producing the pictures I make. The third inspiration is more to do with humour, stuff that pops into my head that I think is funny or absurd, and that's what leads to the 'humorous' pictures I make for b3ta.
I look around me. I draw my favorite musicians, because music is a huge part of my life. I put my emotions into my drawings, like therapy.

What has been your best creation to date?

Well, that depends very much on how you define 'best'. Certainly my most popular creations have been the first kittin animation, "APPTILS AND GRAVY"; the "top kittin" cards which are still very popular, judging from my server stats; and that damned Zidane head butt animation which went viral (I made the one where his head flies off and the blood spurts);. In terms of my own satisfaction, "APPTILS AND GRAVY" is certainly up there, since I think it successfully combines all three of the inspirations I've listed above. But as for what I feel is artistically best, I honestly don't know. I make a lot of pictures, and when I look back on them later my feelings about them can change dramatically. What seemed ok previously can suddenly look like nothing, and vise versa.

That's kind of a hard one, but I think that it was probably the I Write Sins Not Tragedies (Panic! At The Disco song) rotoscope I made, which I've sent in as one of my Top 10 Pics.

How much do you think hype affects the public perception of what good art is?

I'm not sure, partly because I don't really know what kind of hype you mean. What I can say is that I come from the UK originally, where popular newspapers are often very scathing about new art – for example, the Turner Prize nominations regularly get held up for ridicule. The unspoken inference is that there is "proper" art out there somewhere, though I'm not sure where... probably locked up in museums? I don't know how much this kind of negative hype really effects public perception though, since I think it often feeds into already well-established prejudices.

I don't think it does too much.  You could say, "Oh yes, that's a Monet piece. Isn't just B-E-A-utiful!?!?"  but that doesn't mean I'm gonna like it. If I don't like it, I don't like it.

B3ta seems to attract people with a certain sense of humour?

I think there's a certain 'b3ta style' of humour which it's possible to loosely define, and that definition would refer to both the subject matter and the graphical style. And certainly a lot of the humour on b3ta is fairly puerile, as The Guardian has helpfully pointed out. But there is a huge variety of different kinds of humour represented there, all the way through from dreadful visual puns to genuinely surreal imagery. Plus of course there are plenty of people there who make and appreciate pictures that are not intended to be funny. B3ta is a very liberal place in lots of ways, and almost anything that gets posted there will be appreciated by at least some of the people. That's definitely part of its huge appeal.

I think it attracts people who are immature. We think potty jokes are funny. I mean, come on, they are though, admit it!

Last CD you bought/downloaded/shoplifted?

Victorialand, by The Cocteau Twins. I owned it years ago, and suddenly thought of it again recently so I bought it. I still really like most of it, but there's a hint of Dido about it that makes me uncomfortable. Some of the ideas that sounded cutting-edge when it first appeared have since been assimilated into the mainstream and have become overdone and tired. The album itself is great, but it's a little hard at times to separate it from those newer, unpleasant associations.

Umm...I got Fall Out Boy's new album Infinity On High before it came out via SendSpace, but I'm planning to actually go to a store and buy it, too.

When did you you realised that art could make you some money?

That's still sinking in for me. I had this realization just last year; that the stuff I produce to please myself could potentially please my clients more than the stuff I produced with them in mind. Before that I was kind of restrained about what I offered to clients, trying to 'play it safe'. I can understand why I did that, but I'm increasingly feeling that I don't need to. It's a good feeling.

It's a good and bad thing. I almost feel, like, if I sell my art, I'm selling a piece of me. That can be a nice thing, cos then it means someone likes your art enough to buy it, but I want to keep all the pieces of myself, too.

Why do so many people spend money on music yet so few buy art?

Ah, that's a huge question. My very short answer is, music appeals to more people on a immediate emotional level than other forms of art do. We're hard-wired to respond to rhythm and the human voice.

Art can be pricey, sometimes. But I consider music to be an art form, so I think everyone spends money on art in some way.

Know any jokes?

My favourite joke remains, "What's long, brown, and sticky? A stick."

Pepper and Mushroom are walking down the street. Pepper says to Mushroom, "You going to Cucumber's party?" and Mushroom's like, "Wait, Cucumber's having a party and I was invited!?!?" "Ooh, sorry..." says Pepper. And Mushroom goes, "I don't geddit, I mean I'm a Fungi..."

What makes you happy?

Friends. Family. Animals, cats especially. Natural beauty. Making stuff. Finding out that something I've made has given someone else pleasure, or inspired them to make something of their own.

Umm...music definately makes me happy. And drawing. And...umm...Tiaras, Birthdays, and Tea Parties. And hanging out with my best ever friend in the whole, wide, world, Emily.

What makes you sad?

Cruelty. Intolerance. The steady destruction of the planet, and my own inability to change that in any meaningful way.

Math. Math makes me sad. And...umm...Hollister and Abercrombie.

Sex, drugs or rock n roll?

Everything has its place and time :)

ROCK N ROLL, BABY!

Last book you read?

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Read it, seriously. It's an astonishing piece of work on so many levels.

Pretty Things by Sara Manning. But now I'm about to finish Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult. It's REALLY good.

Tell us a secret?

Don't undervalue the things that come easily and naturally to you. They're often your strongest and most unique assets, although they may seem like nothing to you. Isn't that really a piece of advice, rather than a secret? No.

Umm...Gosh...I don't know...OH! I know! I am a major geek. Like, I reign superior over loads of people in my school who claim geek-dom.

Quote us your favourite song lyric?

"Does the body rule the mind, or does the mind rule the body? I dunno." From Still Ill by The Smiths.

The tombstones were waiting, They were half engraved, They knew it was coming, Just didn't know the date- -Bang The Doldrums by Fall Out Boy.

What time did you get up?

Around 6:00am , and then again around 10:00am... I kind of drifted back to bed for a while. I don't usually get to bed before 2:00am, so I'm entitled to an occasional extra drowsy time I think.

About 6:15 so I could back to my Mom's house and still catch the bus to school. *Yawns* :)

Any close encounters with the law?

A few, nothing very major... the last time I was stopped was for speeding along with a couple of other traffic violations. The officer kindly let me off completely after a few stern words, I still don't really know why.

Nope. I play by the rules.

What else do like other than art?

Travelling, photography, reading, music, and of course the internet, which is fantastic.

Umm...music, computers/gaming, and most of all, hanging out with my best friend in the whole wide world, Emily.

Any regrets?

Yes, a few unfortunately. Nothing I can really share though, sorry.

No, I don't think so. I've only had 14 years. I don't really manage any huge regrets in that amount of time.

Final thoughts...

As things stand, I believe this is something of a Golden Age for the internet. In its current form it presents opportunities for sharing work in ways and numbers that simply haven't existed before in human history. My feeling is; enjoy it, contribute to it, and make the absolute most of it while you can.

I hope your site does really well. I'm rooting for you, okay? :) Oh, and if anybody wants to commission a picture, they can get in contact via my site, Killerkitti.com. ;D

Interview - Mr. Burrows 09/02/07