Mike Inel

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Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where did you go to school, and what extra-curricular activities did you take up? What helped prepare you to become the artist that you are today?

I'm just an ordinary artist. I went to ordinary schools and never had any subjects/courses that supported my art-related skills. (In fact, during my school days, people often found me weird for drawing too much, heheh)

What inspired or convinced you to become an artist?

Inspiration from published media, support from my brothers/sisters, and my colleagues helped me become who I am right now.

What is a typical day for you, and who are the people you work with?

Nothing out of the ordinary. I often spend my time stuck in a room with a computer. (I personally like it that way, mind you)

What are some of the things that you have worked on?

I give my coloring services to the studio I work to: Altiz-studio.
One notable project we had was designing the characters for the show Kung-Fu Jimmy Chow and And we did some assets for the browser-based MMORPG ShadowTale.

How do you go about an illustration, what goes through your mind, from start to end?

There are many possible thoughts that can run through my mind everytime I work on a personal art/project: "I want to finish this piece while the mood is still present" or "I want this piece to surprise the people with its unusual approach" or "Scribble scribble scribble..."

Could you talk about your process in coloring your art (if at all), as well as the types of tools or media that you use?

I use Photoshop in 99% of my artworks. I prefer using as many layers as I can. That way, I have full control of the colors when I want to edit them.

What are some of the things that you do to keep yourself creative?

I have no idea. I rarely force myself to get inspired. Though, I noticed that creative ideas sometimes come to my mind every time I'm doing a daily routine activity. (Like taking a bath, riding a jeepney/train, washing the dishes, before sleeping, etc)

What is your most favorite subject to draw, and why?

Anything that will surprise people, perhaps, even me. Something that's hard for them to expect. These are often seen from stories/events with twisted plots.

Who are the top illustrators whose works excite you the most?

I can't be certain with this question. It's hard to tell since most (of the) artists change (their style) as time flies.
I used to idolize Hideo Kojima and Yoji Shinkawa for their works in ZOE2 and MGS2, but they somehow changed their genre nowadays, and they're focused on the MGS series now.
I also used to adore Squaresoft for their fantastic games. Unfortunately, I noticed that SquareEnix is aiming for better sales more than better art content now.

What are some of the neat things you have learned from other artists that you have worked with or seen?

Management is tricky work, especially when considering artists as the main employees.

What are some of your favorite websites that you go to?

3DTotal, CGSociety, GameTrailers, and DeviantArt. There are many other sites that I go to, mostly news about 3d, games, and animes.

What wisdom could you give us, about being an artist? Do you have any tips you could give?

If you're aiming for public success, "Content over Quality" is one thing that you wanna try to consider.
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to make your work terrific, if the content fails to catch the audience's interest, then the possibility of the work getting popular is low.
With this in mind, it's your choice to whether go for one of these two actions: "Sell-out" or "Be yourself"

If people would like to contact you, how would you like to be contacted?

E-mail I suppose. (mike_inel[at]yahoo[dot]com) You can also note me in DA, but please don't expect a quick reply. (http://mikeinel[dot]deviantart[dot]com)

(Don't PM me via Youtube, you'll hardly get a reply from me there for various reasons.)

Do you have any of your art work for sale (comics, prints, or anything)? If so, for fans of your work can know where and when to buy it?

I don't have a lot of products that are on sale right now, sorry. But I'm planning to make some soon.

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If you were given a chance to direct a remake of a TV series (whether animated or live action)which series would it be?

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Not really remakes of anime, but there are many medias that I fantasize to direct into my own version:

An additional episode of the dreaded Endless-Eight of 'Melancholy of Haruhi' (with alternate events), 'Katawa-Shoujo' anime, 'Threads of Fate' sequel, another 'Zone of the Enders' game, 'Chaos Legion' sequel, 'Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni' game with a 'Heavy Rain'-type of gameplay, 'Day of the Tentacles' remake, a new world of 'Rockman' (Maybe 'Rockman Y'?), yada yada yada insert more geek talks here etc etc etc.

But if I'll choose just one, I'll go with 'Family Guy VS South Park Epic Showdown: Round 2'