by
Steve Lazarowitz
March 2002
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN AN AUTHOR AND AN ARTIST
Many years ago, in the early days of e-publishing- well the earlier days anyway- I had made plans to publish an illustrated anthology. The illustrations were done by an artist I'd been introduced to at the Computer Store I manage. The initial deal fell through, I lost touch with the artist and the interview I'd planned to include in the book never saw the light of day -- until now.
Just tonight, I signed with the artist a non-exclusive contract to use the illustrations electronically. This is the first time these illustrations have appeared publicly.
This is the complete interview, along with three images, illustrating some of my earlier short stories. To see more on this extraordinary artist, visit his webpage at http://www.inaspoon.com/deems/
Dmitry "Deems" Kopytyn was born in October, 1978 in Moscow. Fortunately he managed to find his way to the United States. Otherwise, I'd probably never have met him or encountered his work, which would be a pity. I can not imagine a more perfect set of illustrations to accompany my first full length project.
Deems is an unusual man. He is intelligent, thoughtful, witty and his perceptions are just a bit off. This is what makes him so valuable as an artist. His view of reality is, in a word, unique.
When I had first asked him to illustrate my stories, I had pictured something along the lines of conventional illustrations. I thought he would choose a scene and draw it. Not Deems. Instead, after reading each story, he drew the work in its entirety in a single image... no easy task, I can assure you. Especially when you consider the author!
I was amazed, yet more than pleased as each new illustration was revealed to me. Deems' work is in fact so full of concept that I found myself noticing details that I had originally missed, almost each time I'd look at one of them.
Just as my work is present here in the order in which they were written, so will I address Deems' work. This way, you can see an evolution as he became more used to thinking "Steve".
Steve: The first story you visualized was A Creative Edge. You seemed very taken with the story. What was there about it that so affected you?
Deems: I guess it was the mystery of the stranger and seeing a different world through a box. And the ending. Each time I read it, it had the same affect as the first time. I got into the writer character really deeply. It took me a long time to find the perfect visual concept for this one. I knew it had to be perfect.
Steve: There's a lot going on in this particular illustration. Would you care to talk about the symbolism?
Deems: The images around the box, represent the crazy, unknown worlds that Sandros Lefrak saw. The enlarged typewriter keys represented intense, out of control inspiration, as if he couldn't type his stories fast enough. The shadow is the shadow of the stranger, always looking over his shoulder, watching his every action. The red aura surrounding the stranger and penetrating the head of the writer, also shows the constant presence of the stranger in Lefrak's life. I placed the yellow stripe across the stranger's eyes, to draw attention to it, for I felt his eyes to be the most haunting aspect of his appearance.
Steve: I thought the concept for The Tree was exceptional. I like the two ghostly figures in the trunk. I assume that you are alluding to the spirit of the Tree and its friend, Morgan Gregory?
Deems: Actually the two figures represent the father and son. The top figure is the old man, the son, angrier, is done in red. If you look carefully, there is a third face in the middle, that represents the soul of the tree and its emotions.
Steve: Wait a second, let me see that. Oh my God, there is another face! I also like the way that the left half of the painting was done in color, while the right half is much darker.
Deems: The left side represents the life in the biodome and the colorful fruits, life and the Tree's feelings about its surroundings. The blackness is the negative emotions of the Tree, set against a backdrop of electronics, representing the cold, dead future. The fluid oozing from the fruit, half black, half red, shows the rage of the Tree next to Morgan's spilled blood.
Steve: A lot of your pictures seem to have a dual nature. Are you schizophrenic by any chance?
Deems: Yes, very much so.
Steve: Okay. What do you say to that? How about this next work, the illustration for So Many Differences?
Deems: I had a lot of difficulty coming up with the concept for that story, because I couldn't just draw a bottle of after shave. I had to find a good action scene, that also had a lot of meaning to the story. I tried to vary my style and so this picture was done in more of a comic book way. I thought that that scene was really pivotal.
Steve: And why is half the image black and white?
Deems: From Rocky's perspective, the gray illustrates a lack of senses in relation to the shapeshifter, to whom the gun is pointed. The color side shows the familiar smell of after shave, which allows the Ratman to save Ferris' life.
Steve: I think you did a very good job of showing the despair of humanity in Music to My Ears. The more I study that area, the more I see. I really only have one question about this particular picture. What's the deal with the feather?
Deems: It's easy. The feather represents comfort and softness to which he's turning, because he can't deal with the sorrows of the world.
Steve: Okay. I can deal with that. Now we come to one of my favorites, As Luck Would Have It. To me, this particular painting looks almost like a tarot card. I get chills just looking at it.
Deems: This is my favorite story in the whole anthology, so I put a lot of soul into it. Daniel's head is bowed in sorrow over the death of the priest and his dying father. The reason he's drawn so large is that he has overcame the mountains and returned. The herb is leaking the blood of the priest, which turns into the medicine necessary to save his father. The blood coming from around the mountains is also the blood of the priest, which affects even Daniel's home. Even the black dead tree, represents the sorrow of his home where is father is dying, as does the single light in the window. Above him, Darien is still with him in the form of a lucky star.
Steve: This next picture, Virtual Confusion, is in my mind, the strangest picture of the set. I think it's pretty self explanatory.
Deems: I thought of the wild background colors as the quickly changing realities. They change so fast, that it melds into one mind-warping view. Also a lot of my work is done in psychedelic style and I wanted one of the pictures from the Anthology to show that.
Steve: You really are schizophrenic, aren't you?
Deems: Sometimes.
Steve: Another story that you particularly loved was A Breath of Fresh Air. Interestingly enough, this is the story for which I have received the most emphatically negative professional rejections.
Deems This one just had to be insane. I just think of the whole concept of a person being inside a single room, in a world where everything is done by computers. It's a very trapping feeling for me. His features were rendered intentionally, to show him as faceless. Even his eyes are just computer images. His body is totally eaten by cables and captured by the walls. The darkness in the corners just adds to the sense of claustrophobia, closing in on him.
Steve: Flame Angel is also pretty self explanatory. Initially I thought it was quite humorous, until I really thought about what it dealt with.
Deems: I wanted to show the irony of protagonist's pain. It's such a funny situation, but at the same time sad. If you get into the head of the main character it actually seems nightmarish.
Steve: Finally we get to The Adventures of Alaric Swifthand. This story also posed a problem for you.
Deems: Extremely complicated. I knew from the beginning that the ghost children would have to be in it, but I wanted to adequately show the pain of both characters. Until one day, I tried to take a different view of the whole story. I actually had to get into the heads of the characters and the thought of what was happening was so sickening to me, I had to show that the spirits were actually in their heads. The doll represents that people are just toys to the passengers. The dagger is the assassin's dagger that Alaric found by her body. I thought it was an important aspect of the story. It was very mysterious.
Steve: I like the way that you drew the passengers as sort of daggers themselves.
Deems: It was done that way, because I felt as if the passengers were stabbing Alaric's and Theona's minds with their actions.
Steve: The final illustration is almost not to be believed.
Deems: I seriously thought it would be impossible for me to do this. I sat down and thought ohmigod. How am I going to get all of the those stories into one image? Then it just started happening by itself. All the ideas just started coming in. The idea of the writer at the bottom represents you. I wanted to make you a mystery yourself, and show that all of these ideas emerged from your pen and looped back into your head.
Steve: And you've succeeded in placing concepts from all nine stories into that single piece. In this case, I think we should let people wonder about what image was from which story. We can't give everything away.
Deems: I totally agree.
Steve: All in all, an impressive array of work. What are your plans now?
Deems: Well right now I want to devote time to my new ideas. My next project will be called Strange Images, so keep an eye out.
Steve: Do you have any images that are not strange?
Deems: To me, my images don't seem strange, but the reason I decided to name the project Strange Images is because these WILL be truly strange.
Steve: I can't even begin to imagine. I'd like to thank you for your fine efforts here and wish you luck with all your future projects. Hopefully, we'll have a chance to do some more work together.
Deems: Thank you, Steve. It's been a lot of fun working with your stories. I wish you luck and hope that all of the people reading this really enjoy what we've done here and possibly take inspiration from it.
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