Timeouts are lightning-quick interviews. Five questions to help you get to know the players holding court at Dribbble. Many thanks to Jon for being today’s interviewee.
Who are you? Let us know where you hail from and what you do.
My name is Jon Contino (Dribbble) and I’m currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York. I grew up only about 20 minutes east of here on the south shore of Long Island, so I am 100% born and bred New Yorker. These days it seems I do a bit of everything, but currently I’m a freelance illustrator, designer, and brand consultant, and I also co-founded and creative direct the menswear brand CXXVI Clothing Co. Oh yeah, and you might also know me for my lettering work.
What are you working on?
I’m always in the middle of working on and launching lines for my brand CXXVI. Fall/Winter 2011 just launched and Spring/Summer 2012 is just around the corner. Aside from that, I’m wrapping up a few illustrations for Rachael Ray’s magazine, some branding for a new line of beer, and what seems like a hundred designs for various apparel lines.
Choose a favorite shot of yours. Why is it a favorite?
I had a tough time deciding between two shots and it turns out they’re both named “Freedom,” but as a shot, I think this one is my favorite.
For some reason, the way it’s encapsulated in that 400x300 pixel box just makes me really happy. It’s one of the few that I feel could live on its own as an actual final piece of work.
Tell us about your setup. What tools did you use to create the shot(s)? (e.g. hardware, software, pens, paper, blowtorch, etc.)
My setup is pretty basic. An HB pencil, a few Micron pens of varying widths, a kneaded eraser, a mechanical eraser, a stack of the cheapest available printer paper, a basic wooden ruler with metal edge, a Canon scanner, a 27” iMac, and of course Photoshop and Illustrator. There’s probably a sandwich and some iced tea thrown in around there somewhere as well.
I also built myself a desk out of a great piece of butcher block and it’s quickly become my absolute favorite surface to draw on. Besides that I have a few rogue items that make their way into my work sometimes, like nibbed pens, india ink, and a Dremel engraver.
Choose a favorite shot from another Player. Why do you dig it?
Even though I disputed him on the name (I thought it should be Horrorble), this shot from Richard Perez is too awesome to ignore. The lettering and the halftones give a great overall vibe and I love how simply it sits on the black background.
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