Niklas Sundin Interview

First of all, we would like to know how did you start being interested in arts and illustration and how did you end up being a professional graphic designer.

It's hard to say when the interest started, but for as long as I can remember I've enjoyed drawing. I guess that most kids get a pencil put in their hands at some point, but for me it just stuck. While my classmates were busy with stick figures, I tried to apply real perspective and shading (with dubious results, but still...) to my dinosaur drawings. When getting involved in the underground metal scene in the late ’80’s, I started making demo tape covers and flyers for bands, which often just were favors or done for free in a “support the scene” mindset, but it was a good starting point. I then studied art at the university for a while before getting involved with web design and after a while I started taking artwork commissions on the side and found myself being "professional", at least in the sense of getting paid for designing, ha ha!

Sean Yseult Interview

Besides being a respected musician, you have also been involved with photography and design. When did you start being interested in those subjects?

As a child I was always drawing abstract designs; our parents surrounded us with abstract coloring books and psychedelic rock posters, so it seemed normal. In high school I attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, and received a scholarship to stay on campus for the fine arts department. I clicked with photography immediately and had a great instructor, Michael Avedon. From high school I received a scholarship to Parsons School of Design in NYC. This is where Rob and I met and started White Zombie – we were both attending Parsons, as were our first drummer and guitarist.

What are your memories about your first days as a designer and as a photographer?

For photography, it was just exciting to create scenarios and put exactly what you want in the frame. I delved into infra-red film for quite a while too, and always loved the ghostly effects. For design, I loved creating the design, and then seeing the finished product, but loathed the whole business side of having to sell product.