Inteview with Prowler

found inTypeAuthorYear
downloadExcess 1Diskmagazine
AGA Chipset required - interviews
MadWizards
3d Addict - Acid - Arp - ...
a10/97
        Interview with Prowler
            by 3d addict,
    re-edited by Ctp/Mawi^Link124
--------------------------------------

(3d) - 3d addict
(Prow) - Prowler/Scoopex


3d  -  Tell  me  a  little  bit  about
yourself.

Prow   -   My   real   name   is  Klas
Benjaminsson.   I live in Sweden, just
outside  Goteborg,  the second largest
city in Sweden on the west coast.  I'm
21   years  old,  and  I'm  right  now
studying to a master of science degree
in   engineering   at   the  "Chalmers
University of Technology".  Most of my
time  is spent here, the rest is split
up   between   my  girlfriend  and  my
hobbies.   The  way  things  are right
now,  I  don't  seem  to have any time
left for anything.  But I'm happy it's
not the other way around.

3d  -  Please  describe  yourself as a
person.   Are you a cool type of a guy
or  more  funny one?  Do you take life
seriously  or are you more relaxed and
live  the  life  without thinking much
about the future?

Prow   -  I  think  that  most  people
consider me as a rather unserious guy,
but  I take serious things serious and
the  rest  as it comes.  I think a lot
about  the future, making up big plans
for  everything,  but  mostly I end up
with something completely different.

3d - What was your first computer, and
what  computer do you use now?  Do you
also miss the the good old days of c64
and A500?

Prow  -  Well,  I think it all started
back  at the Nintendo "Game&watch".  I
was just crazy about those little toys
and  used hours trying to complete the
different  games,  also admirering the
game design that was put into them.  I
guess  I didn't think of it back then,
but  I made some drawings of own games
I  wanted  to design when I "grew up".
Later,  I got a old Luxor TV game with
2   different   games:    Pong  and  a
Arkanoid  clone.  This was just great!
In  1986  (I think) I got my C64.  The
graphics and audio was stunning, but I
just  played  games  on  that and made
some games in Shoot'em-up construction
kit.   I  also  liked the tunes by Rob
Hubbard,  Jonathan  Dunn  etc., that I
recorded  tapes  with  SID's  (it  was
about  now  people started to wonder).
In  1990,  I got my first Amiga, and I
sort of grew up with Wild cooper, Star
duo,  Shut  Berlin,  Vortex 42, Plasma
force, Red sector and so on...  But it
took  a  long  time  before  I  got in
contact  with  real  scenepeople.  The
first  group  was  a small game team I
and  my  friend Martin Dahlbom started
on  the  Amiga.   We  made  one  game,
"Seawar",  which  took  one  summer of
REAL  hard  work on AMOS and DPaint (I
don't think I ever have worked so hard
since that).

3d  -  How  and  when  did  you become
involved in the scene and when did you
start drawing?

Prow - The first contact was made with
a musician called Quant of Extacy (NOT
the  PC-extacy).   I started to draw a
lot of logos for their group when they
changed name to Hysteria.  Nothing got
ever  released  from them, and I never
joined  their group, but it was a good
start.   Some years later I went to my
first  party,  a  halloween  party  in
Herning, which was a real mess.  But I
loved it!  I met people like Electron,
S.  Duvan, Puh, Probe, the Reflex team
and DuffE.  Later I joined Reflex, but
quit together with the productive part
and  founded  Pointless.   We released
one  musicdisk  and an intro (Songs of
Infinity  and  Illtis).  1994 I joined
Passion and now it's Scoopex.

3d  -  Which  hardware/software do you
use  for drawing, and where do you get
the inspiration from?

Prow  -  I  use my old A1200 (original
chipset) and a PC for all my graphics.
Programs    used   are:    Dpaint4AGA,
PPaint,   My  own  AMOS-coded  palette
fixer,   Photoshop4,  3D  Studio  MAX.
Inspiration comes from everything.  To
rank   things   that  brings  out  the
inspiration  in  me:   Nature, things,
people,  art  and  last  but not least
music!

3d - How many hours a day do you spend
in  front  of  your  computer, and how
many of those hours are used on making
gfx?

Prow  -  Most of my time (like I said)
is  spent  on the school, but in front
of  the  computer  I  spend  maybe 1-2
hours  a day.  Maybe half of this time
is  spent  on  making  graphics, but I
spend   more  time  than  that  a  day
painting/drawing on paper.  I think it
will  be  a lot more this summer, as I
got  a  job  as  graphic artist at the
lokal  TV  station  here.   There will
also  be  a  lot  of  web  design with
Electron.

3d  -  When  drawing,  do  you  have a
perfect  vision in your mind or do you
draw  more  freely,  by  letting  your
image evolve in whatever direction you
may  feel like it.  Please describe in
steps  how do you create an image.  Do
you  start  by  making  an  sketch  on
paper,  or  is  everything done on the
computer.

Prow  -  Mostly,  I  work on an idea a
long  time  in my head before I do the
first rough sketch.  This is often the
most  interesting  and exiting part of
the  whole  creation  of  the picture,
watching  it  grow on the paper.  .  .
If  the  third or fourth sketch result
in  the  image  I  wanted,  I scan the
sketch  in  high  resolution and works
from  that.   Otherwise,  I just start
pixelling  the shapes in DPaint.  Then
the shapes are beginning to get ready,
I  start  to make some rough colouring
to  check  the  different  ideas  I've
thought  of  while drawing the shapes.
I mostly do this by using aquarells on
paper  or photoshop.  When the colours
are  selected and the shapes are good,
I  start adding shadows and highlights
where   necessary,   and   also  start
thinking   about   reflections.    The
lights  in  the  picture  is  also  an
important  part,  where shadows casted
different   can   make   a  very  cool
impression  without  having so much of
an  object.  This is a great advantage
the  3D-artists  have,  as the shadows
always  get  correct.  I sometimes use
quite  easy  methods to create a depth
in   the   picture,   as   in  Oepir#3
titlepic,  where  I  just  made things
father  away more darkblue and smooth.
However,  this  is  just  on  the idea
stage  yet.   When I got a pretty good
idea about the picture and how it will
look,  I  start  on  the real picture.
And this is when the hard work begins.

3d  -  I  know  from my own experience
that  it can take days and often weeks
to draw a good picture.  How long does
it  take  to  draw  a good picture for
you,  and  what are the most important
aspects of making a great image?

Prow  -  It changes quite much between
each  picture.   Sometimes I just feel
like an obligation to finish the piece
once  started.   In  those  cases, the
picture  could  take more then a month
to   finish.   In  other  cases  (most
cases,  I  like to think), the picture
gets more interesting as it grows.

3d   -  What  do  you  find  the  most
difficult  to draw, and which phase of
your   drawing   do  you  enjoy  most.
Personally  I  like  mostly making the
finishing  touches  when  the image is
about 95% complete.

Prow - Yes, I would like to agree, but
most compo pictures are "finished" one
minute  before  deadline.  As a matter
of   fact,   I   have  runned  to  the
information desk at every party I have
participated  in  the  graphics compo.
Things   I  like  to  draw  is  mainly
fantasy  creations  that  reminds  the
viewer of something he or she has seen
in nature.  Therefore, I like to start
drawing  the surroundings and give the
scene much new graphics.  .  .

3d - Thanks for interview, pal =)

Prow - Ok, bye for now!