[Interview] with AJ

My friend AJ has always been the creative one of the group. Back in school he was the guy with the long hair, baggy clothes, beatboxing (his rapper tag is Truze) and sketching whatever crossed his mind at the time. He's always been into comics, anime, manga and the artwork behind it all. He'll often have long, complex and in depth conversations that turn into arguments regarding DC versus Marvel.


 I sat down with him and some of my friends over some bacon, eggs and coffee one Saturday morning to get to know more about where his inspiration lies and what draws him to the comic world. This was my first interview and I'm still trying to get on top of the processes so please bear with me. 

AJ has joined me as a Tshirt designer with his take on the Marvel character, Deadpool. Inspired by a plush toy and a limited edition statue (170USD) purchased from Japan, the sketch has been coloured on Photoshop and Illustrator. 

If you'd like to purchase or check out the Deadpool inspired design on a Tshirt go to www.limitlesstees.com. Fully Australian owned and operated, you can also design and make your own tshirts, hoodies and aprons. AJ's helped out with the logo and design of the website and will hopefully be a regular contributor to the site. If you would like to get on board and create and sell your own tshirt or clothing designs feel free to get in contact with us:)  

AJ is currently working on a sketch of a girl inspired by the Khalesi blond girl from the Game of Thrones television series. I suspect this is due to the fact that she is semi naked for most of her screen time. A current challenge is what he's going to clothe her in and whether there will be dragons mounted around her. If you grab his uni sketchbook you’ll find it filled with random doodles and sketches inspired by his ‘stimulating’ and ‘engaging’ psychology lectures. 

His inspiration has been anime and comic books since high school- mainly Marvel characters especially Spiderman. He went through a mad anime phase that inspired his earlier stuff. He likes to mix and match Western and Eastern styles. According to AJ- sometimes it looks good, sometimes it looks odd. He goes through phases depending on what he is watching or reading at the time. 

Most of his work is still on pencil and paper but in 2005 he upgraded to Photoshop and a tablet to help give him more control with colouring and shading. He has been a regular contributor on deviantart.com and has received positive feedback from other budding and upcoming artists and comic book lovers. Check out his page at http://truze.deviantart.com/ for more of his colouring and unique artworks. He's never had official lessons but has learnt most of his craft from the deviantart community and the instant support networks he's found there. 

(We broke the conversation to welcome a friend into AJ's house and for a tangent discussion about how Albee's Kitchen satay and Malaysian is pretty good.)

The rest of the interview time was spent taking photos in his room and checking out the numerous art books he's accumulated over the years. AJ's fascination with Deadpool and comic book characters stems from the complex stories and characters along with the amazing artwork he aspires to. Apparently Deadpool is one of only two comic book characters to break the '4th Wall' and knows that he's a character. Personally I'm not sure how this makes him that much better but I guess it's cool... 

I'm looking forward to seeing what else AJ comes up with and maybe get some free career counselling (if you're interested he's currently doing some placements at UNSW as part of his Masters in Psychology). 


Check out the rest of the photos from the interview and if you're keen let me know what you think :)