Dystopian wastelands. Intergalactic pirates. Alien
spacecraft waging war with one another. In the
hands of Jeff Carlisle, these visuals carry an air of
awe and adventure. A concept artist and
illustrator, Carlisle has made a name for himself as
a professional dreamer of worlds and craftsman of
characters.

For Carlisle, nothing is impossible or too fantastic.
Perhaps that’s why he’s been hired by everyone
from Lucasfilm to Topps to Felicia Day’s
award-winning series The Guild. Whether bringing
familiar worlds to life or leading us into his own
imagination, Carlisle’s artwork is a headlong
plunge into wonder, spectacle, and, quite often,
what it means to be human.

Who (or what) first inspired you to become an illustrator?
Well, that is a tough question. To properly answer it, I would have to tell you the story of my life--and really, it
was a pretty boring, normal experience. I have always been drawing, since I was about three years old I
guess--when my parents got divorced. My mom saw early on that I was always drawing on anything I could get
my hands on and she began my art education. My dad liked to take me to movies and have adventures that
stimulated the imagination of my older brother and myself. My older brother was also huge influence as well --
at times he was my hero, sometime my tormentor -- and always my big brother. All of my family made it
possible for me to be the dreamer that I am today, and help me find my influences.

I was drawn to making art of things that interested me--and that was pretty much science fiction/fantasy
movies, cartoons, television and children's books. I loved fine art as well -- my mother always had a uniquely
excellent library of fine art books, but it was probably The Art of Disney and my older brother's The Art of The
Empire Strikes Back that I looked at the most growing up and copying out of.

I was always telling stories and either taking someone else's characters and putting them in new situations or
creating my own characters and putting them into classic stories. I was enraptured by Little Golden Books, and
I went to a very unique elementary school that nurtured creativity--so I started making Little Jeff Carlisle
Books and writing and illustrating them, even at the age of seven. "Pecos Bill Versus King Kong" was a smash
hit as was "See the Manatee meets the Three Billy Goats Gruff." By the time I was in high school, I knew I was
going to do some kind of illustration or writing

How difficult is it to capture, interpret, or translate someone else's idea?
It is pretty much impossible. What ends up happening is you have a dialogue between what the client wants and
what you want to do. Usually they have a vague idea of what they want and it comes into focus the more they
see your progressive stages -- sometimes they have a concrete image in their head and you are the hands they
want to draw it. But, it is your job to do the illustration to their specifications, so you adapt.

As a concept illustrator, when is a project "done"? Are you ever completely happy with your work, or is there
a nagging sense that something could be worked on longer?
Doing concept work is a funny thing. It goes back to that dialogue I was talking about. Your job is to cast a
wide net and slowly reel the idea in. It takes many drawings, many journeys down blind alleys, and lots of
revisions, but eventually you get something the client is happy with. That is when it is done, when the Client
says it is done.

I don't think there is an artist alive or dead who is happy with their work. I always notice the faults, the
inconsistencies, but there comes a point where you just have to stop. If you go any further, you could ruin it.
Well, with digital art you can always go into it, but with traditional art knowing when to stop is key. Someone
once said that art isn't finished, it's abandoned--and I have to agree to a certain extent.

At what moment have you felt the proudest about your work?
When the intended audience is looking at it, and there is a smile on
their face. Or if you hear from someone that your work really got to
them--either in person or even in an e-mail or letter.

Personally, I love to watch people when they look at my work--watch
where their eyes go, what they focus on, what they skip over. That is
the only time you know what worked and what didn't.

Illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi encouraged you to become a full-time
artist. Did this give you a sense of validation or direction?
I'll tell you a story about Tony DiTerlizzi. The Origins Game Fair
2000 where I met Tony was one of those life-changing moments that
you know you will remember forever. I had been out of art school for
about three years at this point and had been spending the last two
years working as an office temp--which is mind-numbing to say the
least.

Well, I saw that DiTerlizzi was going to be a guest at Origins, which is the local game convention. I loved his
work and actually thought he was some 50-something crazy artist from Italy with a single Artsy name, wiry
mustache and a Super Mario accent, who would just take giant brushes and with one magic stroke lay down a
perfect image. Then I meet this guy who is only four years older than me who could be a long-lost brother, you
know? Very down-to-Earth, totally approachable, very much a product of the same generation and influences
as myself.

The irony of meeting him was I couldn't find him for the entire show until late the last day! And when I did, he
had already heard about me from people working his table--so he wanted to see my portfolio. And he is
flipping though, and I hear a couple of "wows" come out of his mouth and my heart starts skipping -- and he
says "Why aren't you working?" And the only answer I have is "I don't know." Which was true I was totally
clueless and had no idea what to do or where to go. Then he tells me that he really wants to look at my
portfolio but he has to go do his final presentation at the con -- a seminar on "how to build your portfolio."

I had no idea that famous people just walked around buying comics
or talking to artists. I met incredible people that year like Elijah
Wood (this was the summer before Lord of the Rings came out), Joe
Turkel, the great movie director Robert Wise, monster maker Stan
Winston, amazing artists like Brian Froud, Jerry Vandersteldt,
William Stout, Terryl Whitlach, I met my good friend Daniel
Falconer from Weta Workshop were...it was completely unreal.

I had no idea that companies like Industrial Light and Magic had portfolio reviews there. If I had, I might have
prepared better. But, I decided that pass or fail, I would see what they thought of my work. So, I sat for six
hours in line, slowly moving closer to destiny, and on one side of me was this gregarious comic artist names
Tom Hodges, who is a fellow Star Wars illustrator now and on the other side of me was an amazing concept
artist named Phil Saunders and his girlfriend Anne Cofell. Well, when you spend hours waiting in line, you end
up talking and looking at each other's portfolios, and Phil and I really were bonding over our love of concept
art--and Anne was familiar with Ohio since she went to grad school there.

But Phil couldn't stay in line--he had an appointment he had to go to, so after sitting for three hours he took
off. But he came back an hour later and saw me still in line--and told me that he was the creative director for a
game company called Presto Studios and they were looking for artists. And, being that he was the creative
director he asked if I wanted to consider our time in line as an interview. I said yes pretty quickly, believe me!
I was all excited at the prospect--I mean, who goes to ComicCon their first time and gets a job? But the rough
part was that my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) was offered a promotion at her job that same week and
we decided that she would stay in Ohio, just in case things didn't really work out--and four weeks later my
brother was helping me move to San Diego.

next >

Then he looks at me. And I look at him. Then he asks me to
come with him to the panel -- which had probably twenty to
thirty people in it, and we brought out two chairs, had everyone
sit close, he gave me his portfolio and I gave him mine. And for
two hours we discussed each other's portfolios in front of an
audience. People actually sat and watched us become friends. It
was surreal. And we talked about our influences, techniques, all
kinds of stuff. And at the end of the panel, we exchanged phone
numbers and he told me that I needed to go to Gen Con, the big
gaming convention. And if I went, he would introduce me to
people -- and they are people who I still work with to this day.

So, it wasn't just validation or direction, it was opening the gates
to a new life.

Can you describe the process/your involvement with the video game Whacked! for the Xbox? How
different was this project from others?
Whacked! happened like meeting Tony DiTerlizzi -- it was being at the right place at the right time. About
six months after going to GenCon in 2000, I was finishing my first professional project, which was
designing Star Wars spaceships for the now-defunct Star Wars Gamer magazine and seeing it in print --
which is HUGE when you are first starting out--and I was trying to decide what my next move was. At this
point, I was working part-time at a bank as a drive-through teller and spending half of my day as an
illustrator. I asked Tony if he had any suggestions--and he told me about the San Diego ComicCon, and all
the great artists and companies that go there. So I planned a trip to ComicCon 2001, went out and split a
hotel room with my friend Sean McKeever, who was an up-and-coming independent comics writer at the
time and has now written for years for Marvel and DC Comics and it was utterly mind-blowing.