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Acidtwist Acidtwist is the brainchild of Tavish, a designer with Scottish and Taiwanese heritage who lives with a "quiet goldfish" (is there any other kind?) somewhere in the centre of Montreal. A graduate of McCill University with a degree in Art History and graduate certificates in Publishing from NYU and Digital Design Art from Concordia, Tavish is responsible for a series of paintings of exotic young women and he hardly watches any TV. Overcome with curiosity to find out more, we tracked him down to the pot-smoking capital of Northern America...
 Okay, we know that you live with a quiet goldfish somewhere in the centre of Montreal; can you furnish us with some more details about your life?
Hmm I really don't know what more there is to say that's of any interest... I listen to a lot of music, mostly rock and electronica, I have an inordinate number of magazines lying around my place, and I also work as a freelance art director, which occupies much of my time. Oh yes, and my girlfriend is the proud owner of a nail dryer.
Were you always creative, and was it pretty much a foregone conclusion that you were going to be an artist of some description?
I think I started drawing people regularly at age 11, and my parents originally met at an art gallery - so it was pretty much forgone.
Who or what is your inspiration?
Anything can be an inspiration, but I enjoy taking a good long walk and just looking around at people, places, and signs... that and listening to music is always great. Also, I can't overlook the inspiration my relationships, past and present, have given me.
Who floats your boat creatively these days, illustration or otherwise?
Actually I'm in a phase where I'm going back and looking a lot at modern painters. While the way I draw people is obviously influenced a lot by comic books and animation, I've always admired the way artists like Manet, Renoir, and Cezanne captured form and colour with such loose brushwork. Obviously I also love Egon Schiele's drawings, like seemingly every other contemporary artist and illustrator. Mondrian is eternally a favorite for the simplicity of his work.
As for contemporaries... I really like Ashley Wood's newer paintings, Jeff Soto's creations are amazing, Trevor Brown's art is shocking and I love him for it. Someone emailed me about a year ago and referred me to Katsuya Terada's work, which is excellent and along the same lines as my own work. Then there's Tank Girl and Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett, Takashi Murakami's art and sculptures are amazing, Kaws has done some really fun stuff, and Graham Rounthwaite has to be one of my favorite art directors (I like his illustrations too).
More along the art direction angle, I love stuff by Build, Non-Format, and Work in Progress. I'm also constantly looking at fashion photography, but the names just don't stick in my mind.
 A recurring character in your artwork, is the mysterious character Lichen. Did she dye her hair green because of her name, is Lichen a nickname because of her hair colour, or is it a happy coincidence?
I think this goes in the "I happen to like that shade of green" category. It's a little more complicated, since I came up with the visual for the character first, then gave her a name I had first considered using back in university... It is appropriate, though. Oh, and she doesn't dye her hair, it's a wig.
Is she your female alter-ego?
It's funny how this is the sort of question that always comes up... In some way, I'd say everybody I draw is in part based on me, or at least my tastes. But no, she's not my alter ego, just a lot of characteristics I like mixed into one character. More like my imaginary muse, really...
What's the method you employ to do your graphics? Do you use Photoshop or Painter?
I scan in my pencils at 300 dpi and then do all the painting directly in Photoshop. With a mouse. The mouse thing surprises a lot of people, but I find it comfortable and never really considered switching to a tablet. As for Painter, I tried it a few years ago and decided to switch back to Photoshop because I found it very limited - but I've recently heard that it's improved a lot, so it may be worth another look.
 Do you use models or do you sketch out ideas from your mind?
Most everything is done from my head, although once in a while I'll reference some photos in a magazine or book so I know what sort of personality I'm going for. I don't like the whole idea of using models, I'm trying to create work that is completely disconnected from reality - artificial art. For the same reason I find painting digitally really fascinating, because not even the paint is real...
There are not many males in your illustrations; is this because you have more of an interest in the female form?
Yeah, that's a nice way of putting it. When I was younger I actually drew almost as many guys as girls, but then I started to lose interest. I also became fascinated for a time with 1950's American pinup art, and guys just disappeared from my sketches. I suppose I have the same sort of fascination with girls that artists like Mucha, Klimt, and Schiele had.
The Asian influence from your Taiwanese background is easy to detect in your artwork; how does the Scottish/European influence come in?
This goes back to what I mentioned about painting - if there's a lot of eastern influence in my figure drawing, I think I have as much western influence in the way I paint. Although a lot of people notice the manga stylings in my work immediately, look closer and you'll see the influence of European painting, American comics, and a lot of the artists I mentioned earlier. Of course, if you look at the history of what we consider 'manga style', you see that it arose due to the influence of Disney animation. When I was growing up, I watched Disney features, read Marvel comics, and visited chinatown a lot so I could flip through the Hong Kong and Japanese comics. Everything comes around...
 Canada is often portrayed as being a safe, possibly even boring, alternative to the country below; what are your views on Canada and Montreal?
I don't know, I'd say you have to visit and make up your own mind. I grew up in the prairies, and I'd have to say that Montreal is infinitely more exciting than where I grew up. The nightlife is great, it's relaxed, and yeah, it's safe. No qualms about walking home at four AM, the chances of being mugged are close to nil. I lived in New York for the better part of a year, and realized that the biggest difference between the two cities is pace. NY is all energy all the time, while Montreal is really relaxed. The most telling thing is probably that coke is the drug of choice in NY while everyone in Montreal is a pot smoker. You're not nearly as stressed in Montreal, but sometimes you get the impression that you're not doing much. Montreal is fairly small (so is Canada, in terms of population), so it has all the drawbacks that come with that, like limited opportunity. On the other hand, I think the artistic community here (and across Canada) is fantastic, perhaps the long winters help exercise our imaginations.
How do you see your artwork progressing?
It's hard to say, I'm experimenting with my style right now, and it changes from day to day. I think I'm getting a bit better, but it's a slow process. It's going to either get more stylized or more realistic or both, if that's possible. Certainly I'd like to furthur explore my ideas about artificial art... perhaps tackle some classical mythology...
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