Another heavyweight has joined the ranks of top professionals featured in the STAMP Artist Feature series. Joining us from across the globe in Melbourne, Australia, Justin is one of the pioneers in digital photo manipulation using Photoshop beginning back in 1998. Forcing others to recognize the medium and style as Digital Illustration, when most hadn’t caught on yet. Not only part of this “new media” art on computers, Justin also founded one of the biggest art collectives on the internet today, Depthcore! So sit back and enjoy our conversation and be sure to retain some of this valuable info…

STAMP: Introduce yourself.  Where are you from and what is something you want
the world to know about you?
Justin: Hi, I’m Justin Maller. I’m an Art Director and Digital Artist from Melbourne, Australia. I live in Brooklyn, NYC. I am the Creative Director of The Depthcore Collective. Supermarkets make me anxious.

STAMP: When did you become interested in art?
Justin: I got my first copy of Photoshop when I was 14 (way back in 1998!). I started mucking around with it, making terrible filter pieces and abusing Eyecandy (anyone out there remember Eyecandy? Flaming Pear? Anyone? No, it’s not a dessert. Dammit.). I was much more in to theatre at the time – I didn’t start taking it seriously until around 2001 when I discovered deviantART and the online scene. It has dominated my life ever since.

STAMP: What is your medium of choice and why?
Justin: I’m pretty strictly digital. I don’t think anyone would be all that interested in seeing my drawings. My photography is pretty lousy too. I tend to stick to what I’m good at. I’m pretty good at Photoshop. Is Twitter a medium? I seem to spend a lot of time on there too…

STAMP: Did you study at an art school?  If so which one and how was that experience?  If not, do you wish you did?
Justin: No, I’m self taught. When I was deciding what I wanted to study I was in the throes of the aforementioned theatre stage, and so I now have a degree in Creative Arts, and therefore a reasonable, though by no means comprehensive, background in acting, short fiction and art history. My art skills are the result of many, many hours of experimentation.

STAMP: Did you ever work a “regular” job?  The traditional 9-5 before becoming an illustrator full-time?  If so where?  If not, why?
Justin: Yes and no. I worked in a mobile phone shop in Melbourne’s CBD for a few years whilst I completed my Uni degree, but I’ve been a full time illustrator since I quit there. I stayed on there for six months after I wrapped up my degree, working one or two days a week waiting for my career and earning to stabilize to the point where I could support myself; once I got off the ground, there was never really any reason to go back.

STAMP: When did you decide to become self-employed and make illustration a career?  Was the transition difficult?
Justin: During my final year of Uni, I started getting my first freelance gigs. I was thrilled that people were paying me to make stuff I would have been making for myself for free anyway, and became pretty enamoured of the idea of making that a career. It start to look pretty viable by the time I wrapped my degree, and six months later I decided to quit the shop and give freelancing a shot for a year – if it didn’t work out, I’d re-evaluate. Fortunately, it did, so I never had to.

STAMP: Would you suggest other aspiring illustrators take the same leap of faith?
Justin: For me, there was no leap of faith. I was pretty cold blooded about it. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t leave behind the security of a reasonable shit job until I had some recurring clients and stable income flowing in. There’s no reason to dive in head first – you can definitely commit yourself 100% to furthering your freelance career and still do 20 hours in a retail shop somewhere to make sure you rent is paid. Anyone who thinks they can’t is making excuses. Be realistic about this – you may be starry eyed about being an illustrator now, but let me assure you, it all becomes work after a while. Don’t create an unlimited supply of you until there is at least a bit of demand.

STAMP: What was your first break into the industry?  Do you mind to explain this experience?
Justin: Breaks are all relative really. I had my first proper paid job, that let me buy a newer, better computer in early 2006 (i.e. one with more than 512MB of RAM), which really helped me push my work along. The next break was probably the introduction to editors at Computer Arts, for whom I wrote on a monthly basis for some time – those tutorial commissions comprises a large part of that stable income I mentioned before, and allowed to sleep at night knowing the bills at least would be paid. My big break in to massive scale campaigns was probably the Verizon job, which came about through a wonderfully intricate confluence of events I’ll happily share with anyone who asks me over a beer, but would rather keep out of the public eye.

STAMP: A lot of artists have different perceptions of working with art directors.  Can you share your experiences work with art directors?  And any tips you can give to younger artists?
Justin: It’s funny, every illustrator (self included) likes to think of themselves as an Art Director, because essentially, Art Directors are people who will come up with the ideas. Usually, illustrators who are also Art Directors will then execute them themselves for the client, and then roll along happily in their AD fantasy. Then they bump in to real world, big agency Art Directors who are just that; Art Directors, people who tell illustrators what to do. Some people find that a little hard to accept, but it’s just a reality of the business.

I understand when I take a commercial job on that I am usually creating someone else’s vision. They may want to take advantage of my skills and ideas, but ultimately, it’s me working for them, and I’ve made peace with that. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed working with the Art Directors I’ve worked with, and I think that by and large the work we’ve ended up with has been stronger for their input.

STAMP: One of the main difficulties in being a self-employed artist is pricing for your work.  Can you give the aspiring artist advice as to how to price their work?  While avoiding pricing themselves out of the job?
Justin: It depends what stage of your career you are at. If you’re handling a lot of work for local business and personal connections, the first rule is just to not be afraid to charge. Decide on a salary you think is fair for someone of your experience, and then break it down by hourly rate. Remember, as a freelancer, these guys aren’t paying your health insurance, aren’t paying you a wage, aren’t giving you any security. They will pay you a higher salary, because they don’t have to pay you when you aren’t working for them.

If you’re working on national or international campaigns, it’s probably time to try and find an agent to represent you and help you handle the negotiations. Pricing is a bitch, there’s no two ways about it, and I think a lot of artists would be amazed at the disparity between what they think their work is worth and what the correct price for it in the context of a large campaign is. Agents know this stuff. When you’re working on a certain scale, they’re important.

STAMP: Do you feel artists should use art representatives?  Advantages and/or disadvantages?
Justin: Yeah, definitely. I’ve had an amazing experience with my agent, Jeremy Wortsman of The Jacky Winter Group. He has done a wonderful job guiding me through the last few years of my career. Even though agents take a slice of commissions they bring you, I guarantee you that they are a valuable asset to have in your pocket. Having a professional cost my jobs has enabled me to be paid correctly; much higher than I would have quoted in my naiveté. I don’t see any disadvantage to having someone help you promote your work, and handle jobs when they come in. you don’t want to get sucked in by a shark who tries to take a slice of jobs they aren’t bringing to you, but my overall experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

STAMP: How were you able to stay relevant for so many years with the new wave of artists?
Justin: I’d say my years gave me an advantage; I already had the experience and techniques to build on. I never sat back and said, “well, this is it, this is what I do” – I’ve always tried to grow and improve. I’m nowhere near the artist I want to be. There is very little I look back on that I’ve made that I’m happy with at all. New artists can come in, but it’s not like they have a monopoly on fresh ideas – if anything I feel I’m in a better position than they are, because I know what has been done, and when I hit upon something fresh and worth exploring I know it.

STAMP: What is the background of the Depthcore Collective?  How was it formed and what problem is it here to solve?
Justin: Depthcore is an art collective. I don’t know it’s really here to solve a problem. It’s a big family of illustrators that I have invited, or have applied to become, a part of. We have a lovely little parallel web where we workshop and build our themed exhibitions (we call them Chapters, a title I happily stole from the Raster Group some years back). I came across the idea of art collective’s when I first started making art, and decided to make one of my own once I had a little momentum behind my style. Nine years later, we’re still kicking on, expanding, improving and looking to grow in a few varied artistic and commercial aspects.

STAMP: Did you need a lot of capital to start it or did/do you have investors?
Justin: Nope. I started it with zero capital, and have not yet taken on investors. It doesn’t take a lot of cash to run an art collective; it’s going to take a bit to do the next phase of operations though, so we’re in talks with a few entities about a few ideas. I’m not being obtuse, I just don’t want to tip my hand just yet…

STAMP: With so many other art collective communities, how are you able to keep it relevant for this long?
Justin: Depthcore has stayed relevant the same way I have, by continually growing, improving and never settling on a standard. The bar can always be raised. We push each other to improve. I am very fussy about who does and doesn’t get invited in – we aren’t looking for people who can do second-rate versions of stuff we are already producing. I want people who are next level, artists who bring fresh, unique aesthetics to the table that will help to set a new collective-wide bar of excellence.

That’s how you stay relevant – assemble a talented and motivated roster of people, spend a decade building love and trust between them, then get them to incrementally challenge each other with every piece they create, subliminally pitting their talents and egos against each other, until you ultimately build up to an international art gang war. But that’s probably a few years away from spilling in to the streets.

STAMP: What advice would you give a young artist just starting or trying to get started in art and business?
Justin: Work hard. Practice lots. Read less magazines, browse less websites. Spend time working on your own work – the less you see, the less affected your work will be, the more unique your stuff will look.

STAMP: What can we expect in the future from you?
Justin: More stuff related to Depthcore – I’m really making that my focus these days. It’s been too many years of the same thing, and it’s important for us to make the transition from being a fun web thing in to a real world entity. We have a really talented roster of artists, hungry and ambitious people, and to keep Depthcore relevant for them, expansion is necessary. So I’m going to be throwing my weight behind a few projects to try and facilitate this growth.

STAMP: Do you agree with the overall objective of STAMP Magazine?  Why or Why Not?  And what ways do you feel it can improve?
Justin: Seems like a great magazine! Thanks for giving me the interview, enjoyed answering it!

See more from Justin at http://www.justinmaller.com/ or check out one of the best art collectives on the internet at http://www.depthcore.com/