Allen: Tell us something about yourself.

Tom: I am the oldest of three siblings, so I have the pleasure/pain of setting the good example for my brother and sister to follow. Whether I have succeeded is questionable. Being Vietnamese, I have never been to Vietnam as I was born here in the states (Minneapolis). So besides my uncle, I have never met any of my relatives outside my immediate family. I hope to rectify that sooner than later, however.

Allen: What schools did you go to for art training?

Tom: I didn't really have any formal art training other than the art classes I had to take growing up. I was primarily self-taught with some guidance by a couple pro mentors when I was younger. Do beginning drawing and painting classes in college really count? I had to take those because I wasn't allowed to test out and get into higher-level art classes at the time, so I really got nothing out of them.

Allen: What did you do to break into comic book industry?

Tom: Since I was about 14, I was intent on breaking into comics as an artist. The opportunity to ink over my friend, Doug Mahnke, came about when I was 19 and done with my freshman year of college. He had been working at Dark Horse for a while, but had just gotten done doing a Lobo/Mask crossover. When he and writer John Arcudi got the go-ahead to do their book, "Major Bummer," at DC Comics, they were looking for inkers for him. My cocky teenaged self proclaimed I could do his pencils justice. He challenged me and gave me a shot to try out. I did, and he and then-editor Peter Tomasi liked it enough give me a shot. I decided that it was a good move at the time because it was an opportunity for me to break in as a pro (for DC, nonetheless), and I thought I could use that as a stepping stone to achieve my ultimate goal of becoming a penciller.

Allen: How did you learn to develop your own style? Do you have Mentor who helped you with insights for your art?

Tom: As noted above, I had the fortune of meeting Doug through my elementary school art teacher--she actually had Doug as a student when he was younger! Both were very influential and encouraging to me as a young artist. Style, I find, is always something that the growing artist will struggle and fight with as they continue to get better and discover new things and techniques. I tried very hard as a high-schooler to find a cool style that would be the next hot thing. It was fun to experiment for a while, but I never found myself satisfied. I believe style will come naturally the longer you draw. I'm sure I "grab" things from other artists depending on what I draw at any given moment, and there are most likely influences (conscious and subconscious). I'm just glad I don't fret over it anymore; it comes out however it comes out. Sometimes I'll go through a cartoonier phase, and other times I'll adapt a more realistic approach.

Allen: What were some of your favorite comic books as kid?

Tom: I really liked the character Spider-Man. I remember getting all of Todd McFarlane's Spidey issues. And Jim Lee's Uncanny X-Men through his X-Men run. Those must have been when I was 12, all the way through my high school years! But I would pick up a little bit of everything, as long as I could afford it. But the Spidey and X-Men stuff were always on my pull list.

Allen: What are some of comic book companies you have worked for?

Tom: Mostly DC, but have dabbled with Marvel and now Dynamite Entertainment.

Allen: What are some new comic books you are working on at present time?

Tom: Currently, I'll provide the occasional inked cover for Green Lantern Corps over the mighty Pat Gleason. Right now I'm concentrating on doing full art for the newly-announced Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters for Dynamite Entertainment.

Allen: Who is the writer?

Tom: The multi-talented DC veteran inker and writer Keith Champagne, who is technically a man but has the face of a prepubescent boy.

Allen: When can we find books in comic book stores?

Tom: The first issue is set to hit stands in January 2008.

Allen: Tell us more about work with Doug Mahnke.

Tom: I guess together we will be best known as the art team on titles such as Major Bummer, Superman: The Man of Steel, JLA, Justice League Elite, and Batman. What can I say other than they were fabulously fun runs, and we bonded more through our work, the highs, the deadline-pressure lows, and so-forth. We haven't been doing much work together the last couple years, but every now and then we talk of perhaps doing something again together down the line.

Allen: How did idea come about for instructional videos?

Tom: My friend Jeff does video editing for television, and one day while we were bored we started brainstorming about business ventures that could utilize both of our talents. Somehow the topic of instructional videos came up, and we just ran with it. At the time, there wasn't anything that seemed well-produced, in-depth, fun, or worthwhile on the market in the genre of art instructional videos. We wanted to "raise the bar," as we would say in our ads. DVD shows more hours and demonstration, deeper instruction, top-quality editing, and of course bikini girls (at least in MY DVD, hehe). I think we did just that--"raised the bar."

Allen: How has reception been to videos?

Tom: Great! We still get emails and orders. People are always asking about it at conventions. It's cool, man, it's really cool...

Allen: How can some one get Doug and your videos?

Tom: All the info you need to order is at http://www.tomnguyenart.com/Store.html you can pay by PayPal or with a check/money order through snail mail. If all else fails, just email me and I'll take care of you.

Allen: Tell us something about your new instructional art book. Also, how can readers of this interview get copies?

Tom: My new book is called "Incredible Comics with Tom Nguyen: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Kick-ass Comic Art." It basically shows readers how to draw in the comic book style, from anatomy lessons to perspective, backgrounds, etc., to working off of scripts to draw sequential pages. It's a great primer for those who are really interested in breaking into the comic book industry. The book is available at all fine bookstores, and all over the internet. Amazon will do just fine!

Allen: How did the concept of instructional art book come about?

Tom: Actually, the fine folks at IMPACT books (acquisitions editor Pam Wissman, to be exact) sought me out. One of their people was a fan of Doug's and my work, and spoke of my DVDs and my online drawing column, "I Draw the Line," over at comicon.com/pulse. After they saw that I was a legitimate person, they were crazy enough to offer me a book deal...and I guess the rest is history!

Allen: What are your favorite art tools?

Tom: Pencil, paper, eraser, brush, and ink. That's it! The types are not generally important as long as I can make a mark. For real jobs I will tend to use Bristol board for comics. Pencil is your typical mechanical pencil that anyone can buy at your local gas station or Target or Wal-Mart, which is usually an HB-type lead. For inking, I use a Windsor & Newton Series #7 sable brushes, size 1, 2, and 5 (for the big black areas). The ink has always been a 50/50 blend of Higgins Black Magic and Koh-I-Noor Universal Black, with a few drops of plain tap water. For my paintings I start off with a pencil drawing (same HB lead) on Crescent 2200 Cold Press illustration board. I will then paint with airbrushed acrylic paint, followed by paint-brushing the finer details.

Allen: What conventions will you be attending or have attended?

Tom: The local MN shows are always a must with me: the annual Fall Con and the one-day Micro-Con in the spring. These shows are held at the State Fairgrounds in St. Paul, and promoter Nick Postiglione does a phenomenal job putting together the best shows in the Midwest. I usually try to do Wizard World Chicago every summer, and in the last couple years I have attended San Diego Comic Con. Outside of comics, I have done a couple Glamour cons to showcase my pinup art....different subject matter, different audience. Basically, if I have the time and money to do an upcoming show, I'll do it.

Allen: How can someone contact you?

Tom: Anybody can always contact me through my site email, which is tom@tomnguyenart.com . www.tomnguyenart.com

Allen: How is your weight lifting going?

Tom: It's going well, thank you. I am just about healed up from a wrist injury that occurred when I played baseball this past summer. That not only ended my baseball playing, but my weightlifting has taken a severe hit for the last few months as it was extremely painful to handle even moderate weights. Not to mention I had a bout with an illness that had me losing additional weight and strength. Really, I'm not trying to milk sympathy! But I'm currently fine from that as well, and my strength and size seem to be pretty close to where it was before all this stuff happened. I have no immediate plans to return to the stage for competitive bodybuilding, but have entertained thoughts of power lifting.

No complaints at the moment.

Allen: If you can have 6 dinner guests, 3 fictional and 3 real-life from any time period, who would those 6 people be and why?

Tom: Real: Hajime Sorayama--favorite illustrator, so I'd like to pick his brains Dave Mustaine--because I can't stand Metallica. Hugh Hefner--so I can party with him. He’s a legend! Fictional: Optimus Prime--to see what makes him tick Megatron--to see what makes him tick that E-surance girl with the pink hair--is she just as hot at the dinner table when she's not trying to sell me insurance?

Allen: If you could go into any time machine, what year would you stop at and tell us why.

Tom: It would either be 1980 or 2058. 1980 because (assuming I can go back with the knowledge/abilities I have now) I can try to be a child art prodigy and see if I can get filthy rich with it. 2058 because I want to see if I'm still alive, and if the government will have acknowledged any cool UFO cover-ups.

Allen: What TV shows, movies, cartoons do you like?

Tom: I don't watch too much television. I tend to listen to it when I work, but never actively pay attention. And whatever I'm listening to is never consistent. I really got into "Curb Your Enthusiasm" for a while. I tend to listen to a lot of National Geographic and History Channel nowadays, because you don't have to watch documentaries to get something out of it. I did get into the last few episodes of "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels" on VH1. I did enjoy the Transformers movie quite a bit this summer. In fact, I may buy a HD-DVD player just so I can watch the movie in Hi-Def!

Allen: What books do you enjoy?

Tom: I don't read all that much anymore, although I'm in the middle of "Game of Shadows" about the Barry Bonds steroid scandal, and "Leonardo's Notebooks"--a giant book of all of Leonardo DaVinci's sketches and notes. Both are bathroom reading material, so that's why it's been slow getting through them.

Allen: What comic books do you read now?

Tom: Sad to say I don't have much time to read comics anymore. I'll pick up the ones that fellow comic pro buddies (writers and artists) have done and read them when I get a moment. But outside of that, I don't have time to read much anymore. I'm already battling too many deadlines to slack off and read!

Allen: Tell us something about your pin up art.

Tom: its fun stuff...something I truly enjoy and would do it for nothing for the rest of my life if it came to that. I work with a bunch of wonderful and gorgeous models to create these paintings that show them off in a glamorous light. It's a great creative release, the girls get a kick out of it, I get a kick out of working with them (who wouldn't?!). The attention and published works from it are a bonus. It gives me a way to flex the painting and airbrush skills so that they don't rust, and it's a welcome break when comic book art gets too boring and tedious. Lately I've been incorporating more comic-book elements into my pinup work. It's kind of like killing two birds with one stone (i.e., the Wonder Woman and Super girl paintings).

Currently I am a prize sponsor of the Mrs. Minnesota, Mrs. Wisconsin, and Mrs. Iowa pageants--meaning I have to paint the winning queens of each state. Its great publicity and I love working with pageant winners; they're kind of like the modern-day princesses to me. I have a list of models waiting patiently to get theirs done, so there is never rest there, either. Thank God.

Allen: What gives you your creative energy?

Tom: I love seeing creative photographers' works, and great artists' works of course as both can be very inspiring with ideas and techniques. In a strange 180-degree way, I also enjoy seeing horrible works from those who are getting a lot of attention because it drives me to compete and better myself.

Allen; Are you working on composing any new books?

Tom: Believe it or not, I just signed a second book deal with IMPACT books! This time the subject matter will be entirely on how to draw sexy females! Look for it in early '09 at a bookstore near you!

Allen: Thank you Tom for doing Jazma interview. Is there anything you would like to say to people attempting to break into industry as artist?

I've always believed that if you want it badly enough, then you will take the right steps and put in the amount of work necessary to make it. In fact, this applies to most everything in life. Throw the excuses away and just draw. Shut up and draw. :) Ask questions, learn, and draw some more. Go to conventions, get your face/work out there, and network and meet the right people. It is VERY important to establish exposure and some kind of presence with your art--otherwise, how are people going to know about you? You art doesn't pimp itself! This interview has been a pleasure, Allen, thank you!