Interview: Eric Fabbro – Pen and Ink Illustrator

Tell us about yourself, who are you, where are you from, and what do you make?
“My name’s Eric Fabbro , I’m an artist who majored in Illustration Design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. I mainly work in pen and ink and love to produce highly detailed drawings.”

What’s your inspiration?
“There’s a wide spectrum to my influences. As a kid I was heavily influenced by cartoons like Rugrats and Dragonball Z, I would constantly print out pictures of characters and copy them in my sketchbook. As I grew older I drew influences from a lot of skating art by artists like Ed Templeton. I’ve also taken a lot of inspiration from children’s author/illustrators like Edward Gorey and Maurice Sendak. Even some of my friends that I had met at Art Center have been direct inspiration.”

How would you define art?
“Oh boy, there’s a lot to that question. Art is such an abstract concept but I feel like it needs to be something that’s tangible. I don’t necessarily mean that in just a physical way. I feel conceptually art is something that brings some form of entertainment or education in a creative way that can span almost any kind of media. I feel like when I see or hear good art something internally has changed me; if something has the power to do that I would consider it educational. Who says entertainment can’t teach you something?”

What does your typical day look like?
“I normally wake up around 6 – my turtles will violently splash around until I feed them, every morning… it’s like clockwork. I normally work during the day and play music as well. I prefer working on my illustrations in the afternoon into the evening, as I feel like I have a clear headspace and the events of the day may have had some kind of influence on what I may be working on. I used to be accustomed to my art school schedule and would go to bed around 2 or 3, but now I’m much better about my sleeping schedule and try to be in bed no later than midnight.”

How have others responded to your work?
“It seems to have been positive, a lot of friends and family have been very supportive but once I started actually selling my work it felt like there was a merit to what I was doing. I’ve always been terribly shy about my work, but I’ve had a handful of people who have lit a fire under my ass. I’d say that that has been a good thing since I’m doing this interview with you!”

How do you keep motivated? What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
“I keep motivated by looking at my other friends and seeing the amazing things they do. It could be a looked at as a friendly competition, but its more of an inspiration angle if anything. The best advice given would be that you shouldn’t tell yourself what you’ve already done is enough.”

Any words of wisdom to aspiring artists who want to pursue a similar career?
“Don’t be afraid of being social. I was for too long and I’m only now reaping the benefits of being a more involved artist in my community. These days you can’t afford to be the “elusive and mysterious artist” you need to get yourself out there. If anything I’m still working on it.”

What are your thoughts on art school?
“I honestly think its a good thing. It really depends on not just the school but the professors themselves. Because art is considered a subjective thing you’ll be getting a lot of conflicting ideologies but that is a good thing for a budding artist and I feel that gives you more of an idea on what kind of artist you want to be.”

Have any future aspirations that you’d like to share?
“I ultimately want to have a children’s book published. I’ve had a few ideas and made a few dummy books but nothing I’m 100% confident about anything yet. It takes time to flesh out these ideas.”

What’s your dream project?
“My dream project is to be commissioned for an absolutely enormous pen and ink drawing. Maybe something I can just work on for a few months to a year and just see what kind of world I can create with a big canvas.”

What art supplies do you use?
“I generally use a crow quill pen with Higgins waterproof ink. Occasionally I’ll use a Rapidograph pen. Generally I’m attracted to tools that give me fine line quality.”

How could the art industry become better in your opinion?
“I feel like it’s always difficult for up and coming artists to make a living. I have no direct solutions to that, every one needs to pay their dues and I still am.”

Any other artists that you would like to recommend for others to check out as well?
Check out these guys: Jimi Martinez, Jon Lau and Angela Li.

I hope you enjoyed these incredibly detailed illustrations by Eric Fabbro. If so, be sure to comment and share!