Artist Interview: George Bletsis

This week–our last week of Macro+Micro–we have a lovely step-by-step of George Bletsis's piece on fermentation process. George's work in general is bright and vibrant and fun, so it seems only natural that his Macro+Micro piece is an especially energetic rendition of brewing beer. Read on to find out what his process is like!

Tell us about why you chose the subject of your piece. Is it something you’re familiar with?

I chose fermentation as my topic because I loved the idea of millions of microscopic organisms working invisibly to transform a substance into one that is completely different. I've had a go at homebrewing a few times, and it always seemed like magic to find that  your mix was suddenly alcoholic, a bit like the Grimm fairy tale about the elves doing all of the shoemaker's work in the night!

Explain a little about your process in creating this illustration.

I usually start out doodling on a scrap of paper to keep my ideas flowing and make sure that my drawing doesn't get too precious, at this point I'm trying to focus on the concept rather than specifics like composition or design. Once I have an idea that I like, I start drawing little thumbnails to figure out my composition  - I usually do this digitally so that I can easily scale/flip/cut/paste different elements and work quicker than I would have traditionally. 

Once I have a thumbnail I like, I blow it up to fit my intended size and draw a clean detailed picture over the top. The painting stage is rarely the same from piece to piece, but I do like to block in all of my basic colours first before starting in with fancy brushes or textures.

Are you reading anything currently? We’d love to hear about it!

Well I've just started A Game of Thrones to see what all of the fuss is about, I'm not very far in yet but really enjoying it so far. 

I don't think I have a type of book that I'm usually drawn to, but I do like stuff that's a little surreal - Haruki Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, that sort of thing.

If you hadn’t chosen art as your career, what would you be doing?

That's a hard one, since the age of 7 I've only ever wanted to draw for a living! Before that I wanted to be a palaeontologist or entomologist, so I guess I may have tried to pursue one of those, who knows?

You were given a free science class, just for the heck of it. You even get to choose: Biology or Chemistry. Which would you pick?

That's easy, I'd pick Biology every time! I was the kind of kid who always came home with a jar of insects or some tadpoles, so Biology always had more of an appeal for me. Also I remember Chemistry involving a lot more maths, something I try to avoid if at all possible!

You can see more of George Bletsis's work on his website, or follow his work on his blog!