Richard: How did you start your comics career?

Justin: I grew up very much influenced by comics. I was a true Marvelite in the 70's and 80's as a kid. I loved the old classic Kirby, Buscema, Kane, and Romita aesthetic. I think around 12 years old I realized that I wanted to be a professional artist. I practiced drawing and inking over and over as a teenager and came to ink my first comic for a underground comic book called 'Billy Nguyen' at age 18. I went on to ink as an assistant for quite a few comics for Image, DC and Marvel. I then shifted my focus to become a colorist for a while until I finally decided that I wanted to do my own art and broke away from embellishing other people's work.

Richard: What can you tell us about "Rat", "Twitch" and "Real Stuff"?

Justin: 'Real Stuff' was my first published comic art as a penciler and inker. Living in Seattle in the early 90's I was inspired by the underground comics of Fantagraphics. I was an assistant for Jim Woodring for a while and loved works by him and his contemporaries, Daniel Clowes, Peter Bagge and the assorted artists of that sub-genre. Real Stuff had some of the best alternative artists illustrating Dennis Eichhorn's crazy real life stories and I was thrilled to be a part of it. Denny's book read like a Bukowski novel with a soundtrack by Tom Waits. It was a blast to be a part of.

Twitch was a collection of short stories that I had been toying with for a couple of years. It was cathartic to get them out and know that it was not only drawn by me but written as well. The stories went from dark to even darker and each one had a different artistic approach in rendering that followed suit. It was fun and surprisingly got great reviews. Rat was another project that I had been kicking around for a few years in the 90's. It was really fun to create but unfortunately got cut short. It was originally written to be a 3 issue mini-series but only the first one was published.

The company that I co-published with went out of business right after the first issue came out. The sales on the 1st issue were really good for an alternative comic. It was during the big comic bust in the late 90's and I couldn't find a publisher to save my life as everyone was scaling down in order to survive. One day I may go back and finish it but it's not really in the cards right now.

Richard: How would you describe your art style?

Justin: Old school mixed with contemporary, edgy and sublime.

Richard: What were your influences on your art?

Justin: Comic books, skate and album art, the classics; from Lautrec to Picasso and everything in between.

Richard: What do you do to improve your drawing abilities?

Justin: Draw, draw and draw!

Richard: Why do you enjoy drawing?

Justin: It's the only place where I can forget about everything and just get lost in the moment of creating. It's very meditative.

Richard: How did you get into doing rock posters?

Justin: I worked for a Seattle music magazine called 'The Rocket' in the early nineties. The Art Director, Art Chantry, was already known as a famous rock poster designer and influenced me to get involved in the rock and roll screen print movement. Many of the folks were connected to the music scene and I kept getting asked to design flyers for shows. I did a few and it was great to see them all over town on telephone poles and then I did a couple of screen prints and I was hooked. The large format with bright colors was so much more satisfying than the small illustrations that I was creating for local magazines. I was lucky to get in the scene when I did as there was literally just a handful of folks making them at that point and it was fairly easy to get "in". Now there are thousands of "poster artists".

Some are doing great innovative work and making a decent living but the rest are just jumping on the bandwagon to be a part of something that's "hot" at the moment. I get a lot of emails asking how to break in to making rock posters. Any given market can only take growth like this so long before it implodes. It happened to the comic market, the fantasy gaming market and the dot-com market, it's only a matter of time before it happens to rock posters. I'm at the top of my game and I'm diversifying my work a lot, mostly for personal and professional growth so it won't affect me at all but many folks will have to go back to their day jobs

Richard: Do you enjoy illustrating fantasy art?

Justin: I did quite a bit when I was doing it years ago but it was really my thing and it was a pretty short lived stint that I actually illustrated fantasy art.

Richard: What can you tell us about your toy design for Strangeco?

Justin: I really can't tell you much yet as it's being kept under pretty tight wraps at the moment but it's going to be pretty darnn fun! I'm very excited to break into the toy market, the possibilities are endless! STRANGEco is a great company ran by good people, they've really made me feel like I'm a part of something. I'm like a kid in the candy store with the whole thing! My son will get to play with my toys, how cool is that?

Richard: What future projects do you have?

Justin: I have an apparel line with PNE(Jermaine Rogers, Emek and I) that's coming out soon, I'm designing 5 different wine labels for a local NW winery, I'm working on a book project and I have a big gallery showing with PNE (Post Neo Explosionism) coming up in LA in December at the Scion Gallery in Culver City. There are also various CD covers and ad campaigns that are also happening. I'm at a great point in my career where I'm so busy I often have to turn work down. It doesn't get much better than that.

Richard: Who is the person that helped you the most career wise?

Justin: The most influential people in my career have been Art Chantry(Godfather of rock posters), Stan Shaw(Northwest illustrator supreme) and Jermaine Rogers (Pop Artist king). Art and Stan in a technical and aesthetic sense and Jermaine in a business sense. I'm blessed to be have been surrounded by absolute masters of their chosen crafts.

Richard: What comics did you read as a child and do you read now?

Justin: I was all about Spiderman, The Sub-Mariner, The Fantastic Four and The Avengers as a kid. My faves now are 100 Bullets and Hellboy. Works of absolute genius!

Richard: How can someone contact you?

Justin: www.justinhampton.com or 665@justinhampton.xom

Richard: Any last words of advice?

Justin: Believe in yourself while being open to new ideas and good healthy criticism.