Taking a more personal look at the people behind the deviantART admin symbols.

How did you first discover deviantART?

Back in 2004, TheRyanFord was already a well known member and he told me, "you should check out deviantART and post up some of your work." So, I did and here I am 7 years later.

What was it about dA that made you want to stay?

The cool thing that I love about dA is the feedback. Every time I posted work on deviantart I always got helpful feedback, rather if it was good or bad. Also, we have great company culture.  

What is the story behind your username?

Haha, there was this family owned music store near my old college called "Bionic Records." When i was taking art/design classes and other liberal study classes, I would always go to bionic records on my lunch and buy some cd's or vinyl records. Anyway, I needed a quick design name for a business card I was making in one of my design classes and I picked bionic but spelled it with a "K"… The name stuck with me ever since.

What do you remember of your childhood in regards to art?

I remember taking a lot of painting classes when when I was a kid. My art teachers always love to brag about my paintings to the class and my parents. And yes, my parents still have one of my art piece framed on their wall at home. The main thing though is I remember meeting TheRyanFord in an art class back when we was in middle school. From there things really blossomed.

Was there anything or anyone in particular that prompted your choice of art form?

I was heavily influenced by the punk rock scene in my high school days. I always loved the grunge and distorted type fonts that punk bands would use. So I went ahead and did my own versions and the grunge style stuck with me ever since.   

Who or what motivates you to continue creating?

When I was in silkscreening class in high school, everybody in my class would always react to my designs, by saying "Wow that's so cool!" or Just ask how I did what I was doing. When I kept getting reactions like that it kept me motivated to design more and more. Plus, I always loved watching TheRyanFord design/create and it made me even more motivated to design.

Of your own work, which has the most meaning to you and why?

There are so many I have designed, in particular my bipolar poster that was successful in the deviantart community. Ultimately, I have to go with my poster design for Serj Tankian "Elect the Dead" cd promotion (bionikdesign.deviantart.com/ar…).  Back in 2007, I worked for Warner Brother Records. During my stay there I got to meet a lot of interesting people and design a lot of fun projects.  One of the projects was the Serj Tankian Stencil. After I showed the Studio the final design I got nothing but amazing feedback from everybody, especially from Rick Savage. For people don't know who Rick Savage is, he is a former dj for kroq LA and 91X SD. Just hearing him say the words "Wow this is really badass, good work dude" was very overwhelming to me.

What are the duties of your role as an admin of deviantART?

I work for the creative team here at deviantART. My title is "Graphic Designer" and my duties are not limited to building unique products for retail, (most of the community know them as "Quit work be a Ninja" and "Quit work be a Pirate"), design cool pages and news articles to announce new things here on deviantART.

What are the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of your position?

I'm always presented with new challenges every day at deviantART. Whether it be designing a shirt or design pages on deviantart. I always challenge myself to create something new that hasn't be done before. For example, "Quit work be a Ninja."

What can you reveal of projects you are working on for deviantART? Personal projects?

There has been many changes to main headers in the print shop that I have been working on along side with codenamepanther, and erickthedesigner Unfortunately, I can't disclose stuff I'm working on right now.

What would you like to achieve in the long term and short term on dA? In life?

With dA, I just want to keep designing and evolve deviantART to another level. Personally, I just want to keep building a name for myself as a designer.

What movies did you enjoy most?

I love Mallrats, Boondock Saints, streaming Netflix's b rated movies, and Pulp Fiction.

What type of music do you listen to? Specific groups/artists?

Mostly just pop punk, rock, classical, punk rock, hard rock, metal, any of those will l do. Bouncing Souls and The Living End.

Which books could you just not put down?

Any Tom Clancy books are good to read, I always enjoy his stuff.

What foods can you never seem to resist? Drinks?

Turkey Burgers, so good.

What are your pet peeves on dA and in general?

The only thing that annoys me is people who steal artwork. But, I love deviantART and everything about it.  

Something random about yourself that you wish to share?

That I'm a huge fan of Coco Puffs

What tips can you offer to better oneself in his or her art? In
life?

The only advice I can give is keep working hard and don't be afraid to let people see your work. You have your own style and art forum, keep using it.

What does ART mean to you?

Art is everywhere in my own opinion. Everything around us is art in some way, we're just not taking the time to look. If Duchamp can write on a urinal and call it art then I think all work would be accepted as art.

Is there anything else you wish to say?

That I really appreciate the time you took to interview me and I hope everybody lives life to the fullest.

Thank you bionikdesign for designing awesome shirts for deviants to wear!




BTS Archive: Please see the widget on my page for all previous editions.