Sean Dietrich is the comic book artist and creator behind the offbeat titles “Industriacide”, “Fervor”, and “Mess”. Taking inspiration from industrial music, Sean tells his twisted stories with a dark and surrealist style. He also showcases his talent at live painting performances at various clubs in San Diego, CA. You can find him on DeviantArt as schmaltz, or check out his website Industriacide.com.

Which artists have most influenced your work, and who are your favorite artists?
Let’s see, as far as influences, Norman Rockwell, Sam Kieth, Francis Bacon, H.R.Giger–my favorites include Ralph Steadman and Ed Gorey.

Describe your creative process. Do you start with images or ideas?
Usually I’m illustrating a comic or a story, so I use the writing as a basis for what I’m going to draw. I start with an initial sketch, outline with Microns, brush ink the heavy blacks, add detail work/hatching with the Microns again and then use an x-acto knife and/or sandpaper to add more textures. For my full color pieces I then go in with acrylics–no digital work, here, all freehand. For my paintings, lots of times it has to do with listening to music and brainstorming what comes to mind during a particular song. My art is more music influenced than driven by other artists I’ve seen.

What tools do you use in your work?
Microns, Black Magic Ink, x-acto knife, acrylics and sandpaper

Does inspiration come to you or do you actively seek it? If so, how?
As I mentioned before it mainly comes from music, but also from what is in the news, life experiences etc. I mainly try to take two totally different things and combine them, or look at something from another perspective. For example I’m doing a series of WWII paintings where I take vehicles such as a German Stuka and turn it into a creature. I do like reading novels and creating paintings for them as if I were hired to do the work illustrating classics.

When did you begin practicing your art and how did you learn?
I was 4 years old when I went to my mother and told her I was going to be an artist when I grew up–27 years later I’m a pro. I self published my first comic at the age of 15–sold about 3-400 copies and have been published ever since in one form or another. I learned by watching others, looking at the books and comics I read and really tried to understand how they constructed their art. Then in high school, when I got into industrial music, I took a look at my art and said “I wonder what that type of music would look like as a visual art form”–from there I started deconstructing my artwork to make it more gritty, textured, and as far away from the superhero crap that’s being pumped out.

Is there one piece that is special to you, or that you particularly enjoyed creating?
Yeah, “Gretchyn’s Afflictions” is my fav–I have it hung in my studio and will take it out to show rarely. It’s about a woman looking creature that has a body made up of all the things that are evil in this world, religion, prostitution, drugs, war, the ever expanding industrialization of the world etc. She’s got a big pair of tits with swastikas painted on them to represent war, and that usually gets a rise out of people.

Sean Dietrich will be making an appearance at the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle May 10th and 11th 2008, and at the San Diego Comic Con in July.