Excerpt from BackStab Magazine

BackStab: Even if an important part of our readers know your arts, some of them don't know exactly what you have already done. Could you briefly explain where you come from, when do you start drawing, and what is your background until now?

Shy: My background was never art. I grew up in Kentucky, my parents didn't get along, so I was left by myself most of the time. I would make up fantasies and carve little swords and act out adventures, it was at this time I was given the nickname Ronin that I now use as a pen name from time to time. When I wasn't playing in the forests or getting into trouble, I wrote stories. I wrote for years before I started to draw. One day I decided to illustrate one of my stories, and I think that was the moment I discovered how much love I might have for it. I have had no formal training at all in the years that followed, in fact I was removed several times from my early art classes in school for disruption. I just never wanted to do things the way I was told. I pretty much focused on training myself after I quit school. I had a lot of problems early on in my life, and art gave me a way to express myself without taking out my aggression in the real world. Later I found that I was improving, I gave up writing completely and focused purely on my craft. It's never been easy for me, and art was just one more problem I needed to deal with. It wasn't until I lost my job in the summer of '95 that I knew I had to find paying work or go broke, so I moved to Chicago with nothing and took the chance.

BackStab: What is the relationship that you get with fantasy? Is it a passion, a part of your mental landscape, or did you get involved in it by the way of your job?

Shy: To tell you the truth I hate fantasy, at least the kind that's out there. I have never really been interested in any of the traditional concepts. I don't really like SciFi either. I really just try to find my own path, and work through what has been done before and bring something realistic to it. Stains, dirt, something frightening. I love to show the body stressed to the point of departure, or breaking down in a way that brings interest. So if and when I ever get the fantasy project I want, it will be something never before seen. Fantasy purists will hate it I am sure, but it will be my vision.

BackStab: Some of your characters seems to be some kind of allegories? Do you agree with that?

Shy: I will tell you the truth, I put things inside that most people never see. Art directors tend to think I go insane, and I have had people accuse me of throwing art notes away completely. I read them and try to bring out what I feel is the character in my mind. Do they have a deeper significance? Some do. I was close with very few people when I was younger, but there was one person. Sometimes she comes back through my work, and I sometimes see her in my paintings even when I have tried to run from it. Sometimes events in my past arrange the scene. I tear away at my memories and use whatever I can to create the painting. One of the most painful paintings I have ever done was the cover to White Wolf's The Bitter Road. I look at that painting, and see something I thought I buried years ago.

BackStab: What are your influences? Are there artists (American, European or Japanese) who influence you more than others?

Shy: I would say the best artists in the world are European or Japanese. I am sorry, hands down they have broken more barriers, and pushed the limits more than anyone. Moebius, Juan Gimenez, Ryoichi Ikegami, Serpieri, and of course, Enki Bilal. Enki Bilal has been a massive influence in my work. For your work Bilal, I thank you. He has opened me up to where I am going, and his work took me on a ride when I first saw it. I can't say enough about this man. American artists seem very trapped, unable or unwilling to take risks anymore.

BackStab: In your graphic-design, which direction do you want to take yet: more realism, more color? What do you enjoy?

Shy: Realism, I want to push it as far as it can go. I want people to feel something when they see it. Anything, fear, hatred, pain or lust. The dust and grim on a girls face doesn't hide her beauty, blood lying on a floor should invoke pain, or fear. I cant do that with just pen and ink, I need more. I need to put the work inside your head, to make you pull back a little and say, is that a photograph? What did he do there? My god, that girl is beautiful. Some of the girls are real, some are memories. It is up to the viewer to decide which.

BackStab: What is for you the best work that you have done?

Shy: None of it so far. I don't think I have hit the best that I am capable of. Yet, White Wolf has allowed me to explore my work in directions that are taking me closer to where it's going than anyone else. Rich Thomas took a lot of risks with my work, and I know that a good number of fans spend a fair amount of time hating what has come out of it. Rich persisted though. I would say that The Bitter Road turned out close to where I wanted it to. Aileen Mills worked with me closely on that, she really helped me through that piece, which I still look at and feel something today. Alison's Eyes is another I think came out well, it will be published in an art book I have coming out in August from Steve Jackson games. I know that the Mage work I did brought down a fair amount of criticism, but there are a few pieces tucked away I like in those books. My best work is to come though, I am finding the path, it is just within my reach.

BackStab: Role-playing stuffs - Do you play role-playing games? If yes, what kind of RPG do you like?

Shy: No, I do not. I haven't the time, or interest. My work and my son consume most of the hours I have free.

BackStab: What is exactly your involvement in the creation of All Flesh Must Be Eaten?

Shy: Ah. All Flesh. It goes back to a phone conversation with George of Eden's Studio. I am a shareholder in Eden's, a kind of group effort so to speak. He had called me to tell me that Eden's wanted to do a horror game, a Zombie game. He had a pretty good idea of what he wanted. Being a Zombie fan of George Ramero's work we both flew into a frenzy on the concept and how we would like to see the art look. Much of the credit goes to George, for he pushed all of the games aspects, which I had little interest in, except one. The name he had chosen was terrible. Something like Hungry Dead. I suggested All Flesh Must Be Eaten, a reference to a joke with an old Friend Christian Gustofson in Chicago. George was resistant, but I convinced him.

BackStab: An important number of artists draw covers or painting (for trading card games, such as Magic) : Brom, Paolo Parente, Bradstreet, Van Fleet, Paul Bonner. It is the kind of work that you appreciate? And do you think that the role-playing game illustration is a good field for drawers who want to learn their job, or experiment new techniques?

Shy: Bradstreet would be the only artist on that list that I would have a connection with. I learned my pen and ink style from his work, and I know for a while I was known as the poor mans Bradstreet. But I did and do love his work. It is different than I anything I do now, but he is an illustrator who broke how art was viewed in RPG's. Do I think it's a good field to experiment in. Yes. RPG's, White Wolf in particular will let you explore your abilities, and praise you for.

BackStab: You have a really particular drawing technique. What kind of tools/techniques do you use: roughs, inks, computer, software... ?

Shy: I paint in PhotoShop exclusively, using sketches to overlay everything on and keep the design. I have a photography studio, so about half of what I do starts with traditional photographs. I overpaint heavily, starting with the raw plate, then smearing and painting on the computer overtop. Sometimes I will overlay a number of compositions on top of each other and look at what starts to emerge, and overpaint on top. A lot of times I will print out a copy, then paint a bit on top then scan that back in and finish the work on the machine.

BackStab: Do you draw an important number of roughs to obtain the character or the composition you want, or it is something more instinctive?

Shy: It really depends on the piece or how specific the job is. For the prints I have been completing for my site, I have been a lot more freeform. Exploring my ideas along the way and taking chances. I do have sketches and originals of most of my earlier work, so you can see the transition from black and white to color. I try to finish any given piece as quickly as I can in one sitting. Some take an hour, while others can take days. In the end I just try to get it down before I lose the idea or feeling. Once something sits unfinished too long it loses its self so to speak, it never really finishes the way you had wanted it too.

BackStab: What do you think about digital coloration? Does it give you the liberty that you need in your work, and what are the limits of this technique?

Shy: This is interesting, and I think in some ways that myself and Van Fleet may have a similar thought on this. I have always been an admirer of vintage photography, turn of the century work and the techniques they used to color old photographs. I studied these in detail for years, looking at how they overcame the limitation of the time. The subtle tons in a nude where they brought out the flesh tones and how the photo had aged. Working on the machine does give me the advantage to duplicate some of these processes, and pay my respects to this type of art. I think the only limits have been self-imposed, the machine can push pretty far, and there have been times when I have had to explore creative ways of duplicating a hand technique. In any case if I felt unsure I would experiment, and if that failed I would just do it by hand.
I love to color on the machine, but it is much more than that. It is the ability to bring out colors and textures that would otherwise take days to create. I would like to think the machine gives an artist an edge he has never had before. I am sure many would argue that. That doing it in a traditional medium is the better way. This is the future of this work, and it has not been pushed far enough. This is not about photo manipulation, it is about being able to translate your ideas exactly the way the minds eye sees them.