Please give us a short introduction of yourself, your background and what you do.
Absolutely and thanks for the interview.
I’m an illustrator, designer and hacker, currently residing in Charlotte, North Carolina with my wife, sixteen year old son, and two dogs. Big dogs! I’ve been involved in the arts one way or another for the past 25 years.  Serving as a creative director for agency environments until I started freelancing about ten years ago.

My daily work load is usually split between illustration, design, and web development, however, i’m really in my game with illustration projects.

Can you show us your workspace?
Sure. It’s a fourth bedroom in our house that I’ve converted to a workspace. I call it a studio. Others call it a man-cave. Either way, it’s cozy, and it’s where I spend the majority of my days.

What is the favorite part of being an illustrator?
Most importantly is being able to do what I love; creating something. Each image is a story of it’s own and getting to that story is a journey in itself.  I also like the challenge a project represents. Some are obvious from the start, but others don’t show themselves until I’m in the middle of the project.  Being able to create through paint amazes me and it’s where I’m most comfortable.

Do you have any specific brands that you use? (I.e for pencils, sketch books, etc)
Hmm.  I do have some loyalties.  For sketchbooks I tend to stick with Moleskines. I have tried many other brands but like the Moleskine paper the best.  Lately, I’ve stuck with the A4 size.

For pencils I’m not too picky. I’ll typically use a few Staedtler 2mm lead holders with variations of leads.  I have an old Pentel Kerry 0.5mm mechanical pencil that I’ve used since high school. ( http://amzn.com/B0006SW6YO )  I stick with Pigma Micron pens for ink work.

I really like the Cosby piece, can you walk us through the thinking process, inspiration, challenges and realisation.
Thanks! Would you be shocked if I say that the Cosby piece was just a fluke? I had just purchased a Wacom Cintiq 12wx from a friend, and wanted to try it out.  The caricature group on Facebook was running a contest, and I happened to like the theme they were doing that week; Cosby. I did not intend on joining them, but, I just like Cosby, grabbed some references and worked up some sketches.  From there I was in a groove so I continued on, and painted him.

Where do you get your inspirations from?
Too many to name here, but I’ll give you a few. I’m a sucker for Andrew Wyeth, and Norman Rockwell.  In my early years, Guy Coheleach and Robert Bateman were very big influences, as I did a lot of wildlife art.

For my caricature work, I do draw a lot of inspiration from the likes of C. F. Payne and Paul Moyse in addition to Jason Seiler, Sebastian Krüger,  Court Jones and Peter de Seve.

I love portraits,  It’s a challenge to get them right.  To capture the essence of a person.  There’s a lot of great work being produced in that category as of late.  Two artists I watch are David Kassan, and Jeremy Lipking.

Mention a music track you are hooked on?
Oh wow.  That’s hard!  Can I just say artist(s)?

I use Rdio for music, and I’ve had two on constant repeat.  Basically anything by Mike Doughty.  You’ll know who he is if you were a Soul Coughing fan.  The second is Delta Spirit‘s album History from Below.

What type of work are you interested to be working on next?
If the project is a challenge, forces me to enhance my skills, and explore things from a new perspective;  that’s the next project I’m interested in working on!

Contact Info
Twitter: @gregnewman
Email: greg@gregnewman.org
Website: www.gregnewman.org