Interview with Bridgeclaw

           of Darkage & Gods
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
            done by Ghandy of too many groups to mention ;-)
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                             turn page please!
Hi Henning!  Please take a seat here by me and don`t look into the spotlight..
or  if  yes  it  will kill your eyes.  hehe.  What do you want to drink?  Some
whiskey or what kind of alcohol do you prefer in cold, cold Norway??         
                                                                             
Hy  Ghandy, and thank you for inviting me, and for thinking of me...  ;) We`re
actually  having  quite  warm weather these days in Norway, almost no snow but
green  grass  and  the sun is shining, quite wierd if you ask me.  But I guess
it`s  just Mother-Nature`s way to say "This world is going down!" :D I`m quite
simple  in  my  drinking  habits...   Beer,  beer  and ALOT of beer.  I prefer
drinking "Hansa Premium" which is a beer made in Norway.                     
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
Please,  as  always  in  interviews,  boring  but  very  important:  Introduce
yourself  to  the  public.  Who are you?  What are you doing in real, what are
you hobbies beside pixeling etc.  etc.  (age, job, girlfriend?, hobbies etc.)
                                                                             
My  name  is Henning Ludvigsen, but my computer name is Bridgeclaw.  I`ve been
active  in  the scene for....  Hmmmm...  ALOT of years, I actually don`t know,
but  now  I`m  24  years old and I think i started out ACTIVE when I was about
15-16  years  old.  I`ve been a member of IRIS, TRSI and GODS.  I must confess
that  my  pixeling  days  are  over,  I  greatly  thank those who invented the
anli-aliase  engine  in  Photoshop and progs like that.  :) I also have my own
appartement  with  a little home-office where I have an Amiga, Macintosh and a
PC.  Here I also have my own mini-music-studio which I do some small songs and
stuff  like  that  just  for  fun.  I also love listening to music, and I like
bands  like:   Motorpsycho, Pixies, Barbie Bones, They Might Be Giants, Morten
Aabel  and  so on.  I work as an Art director/Illustrator fulltime, and I also
have  two  other  jobs which I operate from my home-office.I have enough to do
and  I`ve  done  a  good  living out of this.  I also use quite some time (and
money) on Star Wars stuff, because I`m a GREAT fan!  :D                      
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
How  comes  that  you`re graphician.  Which graphician or which production did
inspire you to do so?  Or if not, tell us about the start of your scene career
please....                                                                   
I`ve always liked to draw, but for many years ago on the C=64 I started out as
an programmer.  When I moved over to the Amiga I started composing music and a
couple  of  pictures.   But  I counted myself as an musician and didn`t do too
much with the graphics.  It all started at The Rendezvous party some time long
ago I competed with one pictures and one song...  The song didn`t do it to the
final,  but  my picture ended up at third place.  I joined IRIS as a grapician
and then the story goes on...                                                
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
When  you`re  doing a pic.  How do you invent it?  Do you have a clear idea of
your  motif or do you start without any idea and the picture invents a life of
its own.  Means while you`re drawing more and more details are added etc.    
                                                                             
Every professional who is planning to draw for instance some kind of human HAS
TO  use  models  or something like that to get the REAL LIFE look.  As most of
the  other  starters  I  also used other professionals as reference when I did
drawings.   Boris  Valejio  use  his  own  personal models, often nude when he
paints.   And  as  not  TOO  MANY starters know people which allow you to take
naked photos of them, you`ve got to use others work to get the REAL-LIFE look.
Hehe... One side effect of this is if the pro gets 96% of the propotions right
from  the model, and you get 80% right out from his work again, it might start
to  loose  some effect too...  So this isn`t easy.  Nowdays I am using friends
and  other people to do small (dressed ofcourse) photosessions with me.  At my
homepage  you  can  study  some of them, and I must say that pictures that are
FULLY  yours and no copy at all makes you want to do more and better pictures.
My  motto  is:   Copying is not a crime, but hell...  Invent your own for your
own  sake.   Just  for  the  notice, there are many copied pictures at my site
too...                                                                       
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
Maybe you know that many graphicians have left the Scene because it`s nowadays
nearly usually that pics are scanned from photos and retouched with tools like
Adobe Photoshop.  What do you think about this movement?                     
                                                                             
I  can`t say why pictures that are retouched can be in the same competition as
the drawed ones.  Hell...  Do a seperate Retouch-competition...  If I competed
with  a  "faked" picture I can`t say what was the purpose of doing it.  When I
do  a  picture  that  I`m satisfied with, I want to show it to the world...  I
wouldn`t  respect  myself if it all was a fake!!!  If you can`t draw, at least
don`t  fake that you can, try doing music or something else.  But I still have
to  say  that getting inspiration from others is a "must", this words was just
for  the  ones  who are "painting over" a scanned photo!  I do my own research
these  days,  I  take photographs of people I know and get my inspiration this
way!                                                                         
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
Some more of your drink??  (don`t get drunken though!) hehe                  
                                                                             
Keep`em comming kid...  I`m a pro`!!!  Juh Scheid?                     
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
How  did  it  come  that  you  began  to  combine  raytracing  backgrounds and
handpixeled motifs?                                                          
                                                                             
Hmmmm...   I`ve done some studying in Raytracing as well...  This is something
I  usually  use  sometimes  at  my  work  and  as  I`m  aware  that  I`m NOT a
raytracing-guru,  I`ve  just  kept  it  at  this level, but this technique has
helped  my  in many ways at work.  There are so many great 3D-modellers out in
the world, so I just don`t bother doing more of it!                          
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
I  heard  that  you`re  in these days a bit disconnected from the Scene.  What
happened?  Aren`t you in touch anymore with the Gods members?                
                                                                             
Hmmmm...   Work, work work...  I worked for about 8-15 hours each day 7 days a
week,  so  that`s  the  story  about  that.  I`m in good contact with the Gods
members,  and  I have done some pictures now and then.  But I guess I am going
to  show  something  in  near  future  as  I`m  planning  to contribute at the
Gathering  in  both  graphics-  and demo-competition this year (2000).  We are
working as we speak with our new demo which I just KNOW you`re gonna love!   
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
Rumours  told  us  that  you`re  drawing with an Apple Macintosh.  Why?  Which
things  are  better  with programs from a Mac.  Which advantages does it have,
and which disadvantages?  Which programs do you use on Mac?  (and why)       
                                                                             
I  do most of my pictures on the Mac these days, but some are also done on PC.
I  like  Mac  because  I`m used to use it (plain and simple) and I also use an
ArtPad  for  much  of my work.  This to get away from clear computer generated
graphics  and  to  make  my  pictures  more dynamic and lifelike.  I have beed
passed  some  personal  tips from Boris Valejio himself from someone who knows
him...  He had alot to learn me about getting the REAL LIFE look...  As I work
with  design,  illustrations, web-sites, multimedia, preproduction and so on I
use  ALOT  of  programs,  but  for  the  creative  part  I  use  Photoshop and
Illustrator  on  both platforms.  I have no big disadvantages for the mac, but
for the PC I just HAVE TO hate Windows which I really think stinks!  Sorry for
all you Billy-fans out there :)                                              
Is  there  any second slideshow planned for you after "A few good men" back in
..mhh..   was  it 1994 (???) Beside, what are your future plans.  What kind of
jobs  are  you  planning  to  do  in  real life abd what are your scenerelated
projects?                                                                    
                                                                             
I don`t have any plans for a second slideshowm but who knows...  Maybe it`s in
the  mailbox  someday?   My future plans is to concentrate on my fulltime job,
and  do  pictures  at  my  "spare  time"  which  will  be used in scenerelated
productions...   But  I  don`t have any GREAT plan written down, so we`ll just
have to wait and see.                                                        
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
                                                                             
I can strictly recommend to visit your homepage.  Any news with it?          
                                                                             
Hmmm...  The only thing I can say is that it WILL BE updated within shortly, I
have  some  new  stuff  to  show off...  But the present version is quite old.
Please     bookmark    it    and    check    it    from    time    to    time.
http://members.xoom.com/bridgeclaw                                           
Last  but  not  least:  Would you like to send out some greetings?  Then do it
now!!                                                                        
                                                                             
I  would  like to thank all the other GODS members for having patience with me
(I don`t always deliver gfx to the deadlines they want, upps).  I don`t have a
complete list so I did this the old fashioned way, ok?                       
                                                                             
Bye, bye then!!!  Bridgeclaw wrapping off                     
                                                                             
                                                                             
Reach Bridgeclaw at: henlu@online.no and henning@sprakett.no.  And if you want
me, do it under Ghandy@Scenet.de!                             }