Philadelphia based illustrator Hawk Krall works in a world full of bright colour, bad attitude and buxom women. His cartoons feature a huge cast of characters ranging from Paris Hilton to larger than life American stereotypes, whilst his illustrations have accompanied articles, CDs and hot dog stands. Notion caught up with the man himself for an insight into his off the wall imagination...

WHEN DID YOU REALISE THAT YOU WANTED TO MAKE A CAREER OUT OF DRAWING?
Well, pretty much as long as I can remember. As a kid I was always drawing nasty pictures of the teacher in the back of the classroom, making my own garbage pail kids (illustrated trading cards of messed up kids, popular in 1980's America) and selling them to my friends. When I was about 11 I decided I wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist and started drawing comics about aliens and gladiators. My parents are both artists themselves so were always supportive. My mother teaches and does photorealistic watercolours of amusement park midways, whilst my father is a gag cartoonist and worked as an Art Director for years.

HOW HARD WAS IT TO GET RECOGNISED AS AN ESTABLISHED ARTIST?
It was rough in the beginning, especially being an illustrator when you're blindly sending work to art directors who have no idea who you are. It's a matter of getting your work to the right people who will publish it, show it, buy it, talk about it, and enjoy it. I still work in a kitchen forty hours a week (think Gordon Ramsey on crack), it keeps the rent paid and is great material for comics.

WHAT DO YOU COUNT AS MAJOR INSPIRATIONS?
Everyday life, the crazy people I work with, walking down the street, people watching, old signs, small towns, Coney Island, old amusement parks... As far as art goes I'd have to say Red Grooms, George Grosz, obviously comics, especially Joe Matt and Peter Bagge because some of their stories are so close to my own life. Also old illustration, Mexican hand painted lettering, cheap design... I could go on forever. The passion that many of my friends and fellow Philadelphia artists have for what they're doing is a huge inspiration.

IS THERE A SPECIFIC FEATURE THAT YOU FOCUS ON WHEN YOU START TO DRAW A CHARACTER?
I've never thought about this before but I always start with the nose!

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE ROLE OF COLOUR IN YOUR WORK?
Pretty damn important! It helps to get the mood across in an illustration and I love working in colour, although the limitations of black and white can be terrific sometimes.

WHO IS THE HARDEST CELEBRITY TO DRAW?
It took me two weeks to get a likeness of Paris Hilton. I always have a hard time drawing female celebrities, especially sex symbols. They work hard to have almost no lines in their face, so there’s nothing to draw but lips and boobs. Drawing Ian McShane (Al Swearengen from Deadwood) was a lot of fun. People with wild unique features like Osama Bin Laden and Conan O’Brian are usually pretty easy to draw.

MOST OF THE FEMALES IN YOUR WORK ARE QUITE LARGE. WHY IS THIS?
To combat the insane, disgusting standard of beauty forced upon the world by the fashion industry and people who don't like to eat. Mostly I just love to draw boobs and butts and I have lots of inspiration for this on the streets of Philadelphia where there are big, loud, confident women strolling down the block in skin tight jeans.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL HAS BEEN YOUR BEST PROJECT SO FAR?
Illustrating Steven Wells' column for Philadelphia Weekly has been great. It's given me a chance to hone my celebrity drawing skills and publish a ridiculous, sarcastic illustration each week. It's also great to work with a writer whose sense of humour rivals my own.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU IN THE FUTURE?
I've got a six page comic in Typhon #1 and a collection of comics edited by Danny Hellman, which is due out later this year. I'm also working on continuing some of my stories, hopefully to graphic novel length. I'd like to explore gallery work as well, maybe build a small scale city street and paint the whole thing, life size big booty girls and all.

www.hawkkrall.net