Interview With Don Figueroa

Stephen from They Are Among Us (TAAU) has e-mailed us once again with a short interview with Don Figueroa (The War Within)! Here's what he had to say about how the interview came up: "As a result of the continued interest and excitement surrounding Madman Entertainment's up-coming Australian special edition DVD release of Transformers: The Movie, we were contacted by the disc's producer, offering us the opportunity to carry out a short email interview with none other than Don Figueroa, the Dreamwave artist responsible for the DVD's stunning front cover."

Steven has requested that we post the interview here at TFormers.com for the fans to see, so here you go!

TAAU: What is your favourite part of the DVD cover you designed for the Australian edition of Transformers: The Movie?
Figueroa: I think Putting Unicron as a background, I always liked his planet mode more than his robot mode!

TAAU: How long does it take you to produce a finished illustration, from concept to completion? How long are you allocated/do you allow yourself for each stage, such as research, rough design/ideas, finalised concept and then complete illustration?
Figueroa: About a day. Firstly I'll sit and think about how the piece will look - which can take anything from a couple of minutes to a few hours - then, once that is set, I'll get started on the actual pencils. It will take me a few of hours to pencil the whole thing, sometimes doing two versions.
I then send a scan of the pencils for approval, and, once everything's cool, I then begin inking, which usually takes between 2 - 3 hours.

TAAU: How much of the work produced at Dreamwave is a collaboration, and how much is left to the individual designer? For instance, do you have Pat standing over you with a high powered lamp, inspecting your every pencil stroke, or are you largely left alone to produce something very unique to you?
Figueroa: They give me free reign over all my artwork. I don't work in the studio (yet), but they trust me enough.

TAAU: Do you have a favourite character which you like to draw more than others? How about a favourite genre, such as G1, Armada or The War Within?
Figueroa: In TWW, I always like drawing Megatron, Prime and Grimlock. I don't get to draw Armada much but they are always fun to do! The details on them are crazy! and G1 bots are always the best.
I also like Drawing the Beast Wars characters; they're a great change of pace from the usual straight lines of the other series.

TAAU: What we all want to know is, what's your office like down there at Dreamwave! Who do you sit by? What interesting little bits and pieces do you have strewn over your desk? What posters do you have on your wall? Do you have a window overlooking the office car park? That kind of thing.
Figueroa: I heard that they just got a newer, better office, so I'd really like to go up there one day and visit :)
Mine is formerly the Den! The Pool table is still there, but is now covered with artwork :p

TAAU: How long do you get for lunch and where is your favourite eating hole? Or are you just thrown bread and water, which, if you're lucky, doesn't get eaten by the waiting guard dogs tethered to the cold, stone walls?
Figueroa: I work at home, so I get to have home cooked meals most of the time, although I usually miss Breakfast or Lunch as I'll be drawing!

TAAU: Have you ever been to Australia? And if so, where was your favourite place?
Figueroa: I haven't been yet but I'd really like to go one of these days, I'm always up for a trip

TAAU: If I said to you, "Ah yea, stone the flamin' crows, mate," would you have any idea what I was talking about?
Figueroa: You guys hate crows eh? Noisy little buggers :)

Stephen would like to thank Don for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions, and I hope everyone enjoyed our fun little interview. We here at TFormers.com would like to thanks Stephen for giving us the interview to post!