Artist short profile: 
– Name: Tim Molloy
– Location: Melbourne, Australia
– Artistic style: Digital Oneironauticsm tinged with a Psychedelic Obsession with Morbid Minutiae?
– Website/s:
timmolloy.deviantart.com
facebook.com/tim.molloy.art
timmolloy.tumblr.com
timmolloy.blogspot.com
– Bragging rights(Featured work/collaborations): My first collection of silent strips was published this year by Milk Shadow Books. It Shines and Shakes and Laughs. Get it here, or at any good online bookstore!
http://www.milkshadowbooks.
I’ve been self publishing for years, and I’ve also had various things in many collections, magazines, newspapers and once a Billboard! It was great having that thing only minutes from my house. I’d go down while having a cigarette break and just stare up at it. Ben Stenbeck, (a collaborator of Mike Mignola’s) and I once produced an 80 page Post Apocalyptic, Biblical Epic, Zombie Western called ‘Over My Dead Body.’ Nobody has ever seen it though cause we still hope to get it published one day, so that’s a bit of a strange one.
My next collection ‘Mr Unpronounceable Adventures’ will be out next year through Milk Shadow. He is my proudest creation, a demented homeless necromancer stumbling luridly through a nightmare world, babbling incoherently to his shrivelled homunculus. Metaphor for life really!
Artist continued profile. Let’s get a tiny bit personal:
– What are your goals as an artist?: Can I quote Terence Mckenna here? ”The artist’s task is to save the soul of mankind; and anything less is a dithering while Rome burns. Because of the artists, who are self-selected, for being able to journey into the Other, if the artists cannot find the way, then the way cannot be found.” – As I grow older, whilst I still believe this, I shoulder less of this messianic burden upon my withered frame… I think it is enough sometimes to heave a rock into the pond of our collective psyche and let those ripples interfere with all the other noise. I’d like to be remembered, hopefully fondly. On a personal level, I’d like to just draw and grow and get better all the time. Quit the day job and draw 24-7. I promised my wife a mansion, but I’m not sure she really understands the nature of ‘the biz.’
– What do you think of Comics being made into movies?: Better then video games?
– Favourite artist/why?: Ever? Whew. Tough. Probably Alejandro Jodorowsky. Not just for his fine work in our field, but mostly for his great film – ‘Holy Mountain’, I would say this maddening, hallucinatory, alchemical epic is my favourite cinematic experience of all time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro_Jodorowsky)
– Has reading a Comic ever changed your life? Which one/why? (If yes): Changed my life? Maybe not in a soul shaking, mind destroying, paradigm shifting way… I will say that 2000ad was a BIG early influence. It made me realise that you could tell all kinds of stories in all kinds of styles, rather then just the cookie cutter Marvel superhero stuff I was reading previously. Once I discovered truly independent stuff, local people back in NZ who were self publishing, I realised that I wanted to do the same thing. So maybe, yeah, comics changed my life. For the better? Who knows or cares?
– Where there any defining moments in your life that have influenced your artistic style?: My good friend and sometimes collaborator James, James once shanghaied me at a drunken party at my house to teach me some basics that I was overlooking. We huddled under a blanket with a torch, some of my current pages and a pen.
‘You SEE? LINE WEIGHTING!’ I’ll always remember that.
Meeting and collaborating with Ben Stenbeck, that guy is a legend. He works for Mignola now on Hellboy stuff. Super impressive artist, one of the best from my home country. He’s worth copying!
I think my work changed quite a bit as I started to go more digital. It kind of veered into being quite precise and restrained. Now that I have a Cintiq rather than just a tablet, I think my work is looking quite organic again, whilst retaining the ‘perfection’ I try and attain in my drawings… (http://www.comicvine.com/ben-stenbeck/26-48539/)
– If someone created a Comic about your life what would they title it?: ‘Chimp in The Cupboard’ – The Tim Molloy Story.
– Favourite Comic artist of all time/why?: Moebius. His genius and influence is indisputable! Better minds than mine have lauded him to the heavens, so I’ll leave it up to them. Look him up! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud)
– What do you prefer to snack on when creating a masterpiece?: I am quite Monkish in my artistic habits, preferring to hole up alone in my studio for hours and hours on end. Sometimes I forget to eat meals, let alone snack! When you are in the zone, a glass of water will suffice.
– How does Freddy Kruger wipe his butt?: Barbecue Tongs and a dead kitten.
– Where do you ‘draw’ your daily inspiration from?(See what I did there hehe): Well, I am a Surrealist in many ways, so I consider everything and anything as fodder for inspiration. Once I collect everything up, add some dream-stuff, and some sleep deprivation, grind it through the spinning teeth of the subconscious – I’m left with buckets of steaming, greasy ‘Art Juice.’ Beyond that, I look at a lot of books on religion, the occult, ancient history. I’m listening to Swans all the time in the studio now. Droning, brutal, and esoteric sounding. Perfect for 4am comic making!
– If you could have any power from a Comic character, what would it be/why?: Hard one. I like the idea of being able to fly at supersonic speeds and not have to worry about atmosphere or oxygen like Superman. (it always annoyed me when they drew him with a little breathing apparatus!) I would explore the galaxy and hang out with other life forms! Although I’d probably be naked all the time ’cause I wouldn’t have a special Kryptonian suit. Weird.
– If a turtle doesn’t have a shell is it homeless or naked?: I would probably rather say, dead and horrifically mutilated…
– When did you first kiss a girl?: Let me answer that with a comic strip. I was in ‘Comic Rehab’ a little while back and I produced this strip about the experience…
http://comicrehab.files.
– Likes: Oh loads of stuff.
– Dislikes: See above.
– Favourite joke: The Voynich Manuscript.
– Any thank you’s/shoutouts?: Big respect and love to my wonderful wife Angela who believes in me like no other person I’ve ever met!
Thank you to Tim for this interview – Ness 🙂
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