I’m inspired by Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock, movies and books that have that underlying vein of darkness or creepiness. At the same time, I do not want any viewer to feel deeply unsettled or disturbed when looking at my art, so it’s never a prominent theme. 

Kaminski: This question is pretty typical for all the creatives I come across, but what drew you into art in the first place? Was there a pivotal moment where you were like, "Holy crap, art has GOT to happen!"?


TheMandii: This question always hearkens back to my earliest memories of art. In order to keep me from making scrawling, colorful scribble masterpieces on the wall, my mother made it a point from very early on to always keep me stocked with lots of paper and coloring books to curb my urge to throw color onto everything. When you're a small child, teachers always ask what you want to be when you grow up. My answer was always "An artist. Or a rock star. Or both."

That being said, it's such a natural part of myself that I feel like I would be doing my very nature a disservice by not making this a part of my life, even in a part-time capacity. Growing up, my family wanted "more" for me, being a doctor or anything that paid well, really. I studied hard in school and did well enough, always trying to find a way that I could make money with my art so that my parents would still approve of what I was doing even if it wasn't saving lives or making new technologies and making six figures.

TheDarkcloak: Well, most call me Sal or simply 'Cloak’. I'm a full time freelance artist going on three years now working across, as I like to say, "page, stage, speaker, screen, skin, sculpts and now polygons!", meaning I work in a variety of mediums, analog and digital, as well as visual and aural.

I'm not sure what first got me into art at a young age. I know I've been drawing and doodling since I was about three years old. From then on, via magazines like Mad and Cracked I discovered caricature, but what really drew me to those magazines was how well drawn everything was. I remember being about somewhere around seven or eight, and I'd run to the corner store to pick up the latest issues. After that I started getting into comics more seriously too.


I'd say initially comic books and animation are what drew me in the most, though later on, when I started getting into artists like Boris Vallejo & Julie Bell, Frazetta etc, that my view of art and illustration started broadening and I found it all very exciting and imaginative. When I started playing Mutant Chronicles later on when I was about thirteen or fourteen, that's when I discovered Paul Bonner's work and it all seemed very much like what I saw in my head. I would say that's what got me to get seriously into painting and pushing my work the hardest; more so than comics or cartoons did previously. I mean the Frazetta / Vallejo stuff was great, but I never really made the connection for myself as that being something I would do. Something about Bonner's work really clicked and I became obsessed with the challenge.

From what I remember and from what the family says, it seems I've always been enraptured with storytelling. I think that's what has kept me pursuing creative work in general all these years. Whether it's through the art I make, or music, or even the character voice stuff I do.

In general, though, I would say I have always been drawn (no pun intended, maybe) to making art and creative work as a whole "what I would want to do with my life" from a very young age. Which likely solidified in my person around third grade or so.

Kaminski: Sounds like Mutant Chronicles had the same effect on you that ShadowRun did on me.

TheDarkcloak: Oh yeah, man, Shadowrun is in there as well. The whole... cyber-techno-barbarism has always been an appeal to me. Same with monsters, demons, swords and sorcery.

One of my favorite cartoons growing up was Thundercats and I think they nailed that whole mix of mutants, technology, fantasy, sci-fi, etc. The implications that it's actually a post-post-apocalyptic earth? That's my jam. Both the intro and the end credits sequences from Thundercats have always had a BIG impression on me and my art psyche, in ways that I've only recently started to realize. I mean... when you look at my work you can start seeing it. It's now becoming deliberate and whole for me. Before that, I didn't even know I was doing it.

Kaminski: Finding your voice is probably the most self-satisfying thing we can do for artists (for a time at least). I'd only just recently discovered my own with Ashley kind of guiding me along the path. She has insights that I don't even know how to tap into yet.

TheDarkcloak: Yeah, there's a lot of frustration out there for that, it seems.

Most artist interviews I hear or other artists I've talked to, it seems to always come about naturally or accidentally. Like a realization of getting to know yourself for the first time. I think it's great and an integral part of self-development.

I feel like finding your voice is much like finding a relationship - it usually comes out when you're not looking.

Kaminski: Speaking of finding voice, was it hard to narrow focus after you'd discovered all your different outlets to art or do you prefer to be very multi-faceted? Does this help or hurt your creativity?

TheDarkcloak: Not really. Animation, comics, story-boarding, voice acting, making music, sculpting, make up, special effects, storytelling - and then of course the visual artwork stuff - to me this is all part of the same wheel. To the outside world it may look like I am multi-faceted and have a 'jack of all trades' thing going on. It's not. It's all the same house.

I have a bone to pick with this mentality of 'jack-of-all-trades-equals-master-of-none' mentality. My gut feeling is that it is a way of limiting the self. A way of imposing barriers to expression, or to strive for less. We highly revere musicians that are multi-instrumentalists, and painters as well to boot! I don't see why the other way around can't be true as well? We hold the renaissance masters in high regard, and yet so many of those guys and gals had more going on than "just being painters", you know?

Leonardo Da Vinci - need I say more?

I don't think it hurts my creativity. Perhaps at first it may have a bit? But I've come to realize over the years this was mainly due to poor time management and prioritization.

Animation, comics, story-boarding, voice acting, making music, sculpting, make up, special effects, storytelling - and then of course the visual artwork stuff - to me this is all part of the same wheel. 

In my teens, especially after discovering what goes into movie productions for example, and learning more about James Cameron, Stan Winston, and all the amazing folks who worked with them, it really became clear to me that all these disciplines not only work together, but can be harnessed as part of one whole wheel. We can call it creativity, or storytelling, or design. One of my favorite books of all time, when it comes to what really cemented this approach and way of thinking for me was the 'Making of Terminator 2' book. It is CHOCK full of everything that went into the film. From miniature work, digital effects, set design, costume design, concept art, storyboards, cinematography, practical and make up FX, pyrotechnics, props, you name it. Seeing all those components working together to tell a story and to create some memorable sequences as they did with T2, really brought it all home for me.


Another aspect of all this, something that is pretty personal to me, but inevitably comes up every time I examine all this. My sister. I'm the oldest of three, older brother to two younger sisters, and the middle sister unfortunately got Meningitis when she was about six months old... and it wasn't caught in time. It fried her. She's essentially been a toddler all her life, which meant I had to grow up very quickly at a young age, helping with the responsibilities of having a sibling with mental disabilities such as hers.

Funny story, when I was a little kid, I have a very vivid memory of watching her for a few minutes and then turning to my mom and going "You know... what if she's just faking it? She gets everything she wants. We're all always fussing over her. She doesn't have to do homework or go to a normal school... What if?" This made my mom crack up a lot, while tinged with heartbreak at the same time. We still laugh about it to this day.

Case in point: from a very young age, I learned to be grateful for having a body that works. A mind that works. Being ABLE. Being appreciative and cognizant that not everyone can DO many of the things that so many of us take for granted. In a way, me pushing myself to be the best me that I can be, not just in the things that I DO, like the art stuff, etc., but also in who I am as a person, is a way to honor and I guess make up for what she's never going to be able to do. From a place of gratitude and appreciation that I can. A big part of me hopes, that I can make everything I push be a success, so I can contribute to the family in a meaningful way to look after her in future. My parents are getting older... and it'll likely come down to my youngest sister and whatever I can do as well. Hard not to think about that.

Kaminski: That's beautiful, Sal! It shows with all of your work and communal push, that you are striving for something greater at all times. It seems like your back story and growing up really had a long-lasting effect on your person as a whole, which is a direct reflection on your creativity.

Besides your personal life, what creative endeavors would you sparked your 'AH-HA' moment? What made you want to dive into this career path full-speed?


TheDarkcloak: I kind of touched on this a bit earlier, when Paul Bonner's work on Mutant Chronicles / Doom Troopers / War Zone clicked for me, coupled with the realization of what all goes into producing a film such as Terminator 2. Further than that, though, I think it really comes down to telling stories and exploring unconventional ideas.

For example, one of the first books I ever did was in the second grade, and it was a story about a slime monster that was brought to earth in some 'space rocks'. Through the course of the story, gruesome as it was, even at second grade, you basically find out that the monster really is not in the environment it needs to be. It was completely unstoppable. The army fights it, the world unites against it, and it only seems to make it stronger and bigger. No surprise that giant monster movies always have had a strong place in my heart. Anyway, finally a scientist figures out that our atmosphere and gravity are part of what was contributing to it's mutations, and the course of action from there was to capture it and launch it to the moon. That sorted everything out!

I think my disappointment with humanity set in at a very young age and I sympathized with monsters - something which makes me very keen on one day working with Guillermo Del Toro. A lot of what he talks about regarding monsters, love, humanity, innocence etc speaks right to how I view those things as well.

No surprise that giant monster movies always have had a strong place in my heart. 

Kaminski: Your love for Del Toro makes a ton of sense though. He has that aesthetic as well for your kind of work.

TheDarkcloak: Yeah, when I went to his museum exhibit it was like visiting an old friend.

Kaminski: As a side question, have you been going to cons for a long while? What are some of the ones you've done?

TheDarkcloak: Mostly local ones here. Been doing conventions for eleven years now as a vendor. Too many to count as an attendant.

Crypticon, Days of the Dead, Mars Con, CONvergence, GlitchCon, Minneapolis Comic Con, FallCon, to name a few

Kaminski: How's con life treating you? Have you ever found any ups-or-downs with doing cons for you in particular?


TheDarkcloak: Con life has been pretty good. I think I started out pretty strong, thanks to listening to hours and hours of artist podcasts and working in event planning.

The biggest up is seeing all the familiar faces and friends that end up becoming your convention family so to speak, in a way it can be a bit of a mini-vacation! Aside from that, it's obviously a great way to meet with your audience and get a grasp on what they like or don't like about your work.

The downside that stands out the most is not ever having enough time. No matter how long you prepare for, there's always something that needs doing and it seems to always be crunchtime for long hours leading up to the convention itself. Whether it's needing to restock on prints, or working on your display, even simple things like making sure you have food and drink and other necessities in your survival kit to get through the weekend.

All in all, I enjoy it though. I don't think I could be one of those folks who do nothing but conventions full time, doing sixty plus shows a year though! We talked about that briefly on one of the streams.

Kaminski: Con-vacation. That's what I consider every one of them.
I'm not there to look like an ass with my assy face on the whole time if I don't make money.
If I make table plus food, WIN!
If not, well... it did get me among "the people".

TheDarkcloak: Yes! All of the above. The assy face? Seriously, that seems to be such an epidemic.
Treat everybody who walks by as if they're your first customer of the day, even if they don't buy anything. You never know what kind of great conversation you may strike up, friendship you may spark, or what you may learn. Same goes for other vendors around you. Be friendly, be respectful, be approachable, be the kind of neighbor you want to have.

I can't tell you how many times I've sat across from other vendors who sit there buried behind stacks of merchandise, glued to their phones or books, who end up glaring over at our table when we're bantering with people and making sales, as if it's your fault they aren't selling or being approached.

Kaminski: I've also found that being a panelist and doing art shows helps to pull people to your table.

Since your very active in the art community, how do you manage to keep track of everything? Do you have scheduling software or something or do you just have specific days / times for things?
Basically... what is a day-to-day like for a Sal?

TheDarkcloak: That's a really good question! Through a combination of the sticky notes on my desktop and private note channels on my Discord to keep reminders open, cloud synced calendar apps across my desktop tablet, and phone, and some other apps to help keep things organized and scheduled, even my social media posting. Otherwise, my day to day is generally structured and balanced for work, working out and studying; promotions, answering emails and other communication, and organizing the aforementioned notes and apps. Once you have a routine down for that stuff it becomes second nature.


Usually I have Monday for studies and workshop time, not just limited to art but self-care stuff too. Wednesday is my streaming and hangouts night. Sunday morning is worship day at the Dungeons and Dragons altar.

Kaminski: Yeah, a majority of the time my desks (at home and work) are filled with notes and doodles on sticky notes to help keep things at least pseudo-organized.

Switching gears: When you get bored of your work, whats a way that you find yourself getting back on track? What coping mechanisms can you dole out to help deal with a lull in creativity?

TheDarkcloak: This is a tough one. I rarely get bored with my work, unless it's in the stage where you're basically just rendering and rendering, sometimes that can get a bit dragging. In those cases I'll switch over to something else I've got on the burner to refresh my approach. Since I get into quite a few different things, sometimes that will help break the monotony up too. For example I might tackle a sculpt, or some music. I sometimes find that I can come back to the piece with some new observations and thoughts as well. Same goes for any of the other creative work.

As far as creative lulls? Well, what I find usually helps is doing some art ABOUT the creative lull or block. Maybe representing it through a creature, or personification of it. Or get completely silly and do something really random, either based on something or some combination you find funny, or a random suggestion by someone else.

For example, I once ended up drawing Wolverine juggling chickens because I joked about it when someone asked me to draw something. Same with a pole-dancing Hulk.

Otherwise, there's also the squiggle challenge things I've been doing on my streams. I ask people to submit random squiggles or scribbles which I then turn into stuff. I also keep a sketchbook full of squiggles that I have my friends do with a wide light blue Copic marker, which I then turn into things with black ink. It's kind of become a bit of a ritual when I go out with friends or to play Dungeons and Dragons, where I have folks make those squiggles in my sketchbook and then I problem solve and noodle the shapes and blobs into things.

Kaminski: Sweet! So many creative solutions to common-place problems!
Speaking of many different projects that you're juggling: do you have any specific one that you'd like to talk about or promote?

TheDarkcloak: Well, there's a few that I'm working on right now, some personal, and some in collaboration with others or as part of a studio effort. More updates on those as they develop!


The most public one I'd like to talk about is a video game by Lonely Egg Studios, founded by Jessica Fong and Mark Biundo, called 'In the Keeper's Shadow'. We recently dropped the trailer for it and they'll be talking it up at this years' GDC and other events.

The other major ongoing thing that's been going on, as you well know, is The Anvil - Art Forge. Which is a group co-founded, co-admined and run by me and a few others focused not only on development of craft and technique via critique and resources, but also of mind and self, geared very much from everyone to the beginning artist to the established professional or long time veteran.

It's a small but very focused group and it's been around for just over a year and a half, only more recently going public as a 'closed' group.

Kaminski: Yeah, that's actually how we were initially introduced, via Jen Waldon (she was part of the interview series, #6).

The last two questions are typical final questions for the interviews:
What goals do you have set for yourself for the immediate? And the long term?






Kaminski: Final question: what's the best piece of advice you've received OR what's some advice you could give fellow artists?

TheDarkcloak: There's just so many great moments and conversations and pieces of advice that I've gotten from people across the various arenas I've had the honor of stepping into, and even through the stories I've read, watched, or heard over the years. Artistically speaking, I think it usually all throws back to the spirit of what the great Frazetta said: Don't be a second rate Frank Frazetta, be a first rate You.

A lot of the advice I give and have gotten that I have found to be the most helpful really boils down to simply that.

We put a lot of pressure on meeting or exceeding assumed or imagined expectations, or expectations we created for ourselves that become overbearing to the point that we forget what gets us started on this road to begin with... We forget that we did that in the first place, created the rules of the game so to speak. The irony of it all is that getting out of your head and out of your own way seems to be the most authentic path to being a First Rate You. By my observation it seems like most artists hit their stride the strongest when they hit on this idea or path, and my impression is that it paves the way to the most satisfaction overall.

Other than that? Little things and phrases like:

Play. Work. Balance.
Plan your work, work your plan.
Say what you mean, mean what you say.
Own your sh*t.

Kaminski: Hell yeah! Espeically that last piece of advice.
Well, Sal, it's been an absolute pleasure! You are definitely an incredibly busy guy, and this interview, the longest to date, should attest to that.

Kaminski: With your background of works - mainly delving into the fantastic art realm - what drew you to this genre? Was fantasy something that was always particularly appealing to you?



Stawicki: I think my earliest influence and interest in fantasy would probably go back to when I as kid. I loved superheroes, and still do! The Superfriends on Saturday morning were a weekly event and a must see. Drawing from comics is probably the earliest ‘fantasy art’ that I created. Also Disney movies. Sleeping Beauty is a standout for me because of the wonderful dragon that Maleficent becomes. In fact that scene would later be a huge influence on my painting ‘Dragons Lair’. On to movies like the Wizard of Oz, which was on TV only once a year and was an instant favorite. And then, wait for it … Star Wars! If I didn’t love imaginative stories and characters before, this drove in the last nail. I was hooked.

Kaminski: Oh, how interesting! I've been openly influenced by RPGs such as Dungeons and Dragons and ShadowRun. I've even went so far as to make a very bold proclamation about how much Baldur's Gate attributed to my love of portraiture. When we all start out I think that we draw what we know first - so I would assume that's what got your first steps into this crazy art world.

When you first started out, what would you say gave you that ultimate 'moment of clarity'? What made you go from simple hobbyist to full-blown professional?

Stawicki: I think I knew in high school that I was going to go for career in art. I didn’t know at that point exactly what that meant. I knew I could draw pretty well and liked to draw realistically. I liked the art on some the album covers that had fantasy oriented subjects. Specifically, the covers done by Ken Kelly for Kiss were great as well as the covers by Derek Riggs for Iron Maiden. There were others but these stand out to me as a ‘ I would love to do this’ kind of moment. At that point I still really wasn’t aware of the professional market, just that someone drew or painted these.

Then, when I was in college a friend gave a Boris Vallejo calendar. I was just blown away by it and the more I looked into Boris I realized there was a real market for this type of work.

Kaminski: It seems like your style was already somewhat pre-established, what with your influences revolving around realistic fantasy and sci-fi fare. And with your influences, I think you stand up on your own right with them!

Switching gears: your media fluidity (what with the current 'Media Wars' that seem to plague art schools as of late - Traditional artists vs. Digital artists) seem to be something of particular note. If you had to choose on in particular to mark out as your favorite, which would it be, and why?


Stawicki: I guess I would have to say that in a perfect world, everything would be an oil painting. However, for me the painting process is a pretty slow one. This not only made it tougher for me to make a living, because you are being paid by the job, but it also meant doing less art. I love painting but the simple fact is, going digital speeds everything up.

I started working with Photoshop and Painter in ’97. I had been painting in oil exclusively for the first six or seven years, so when I started working digitally my goal was to make it look like an oil painting. The aesthetic I was after didn’t change. I was able to do more work and in the process learn more simply because I was able to produce more. Now I use both. The digital allows me to take jobs that I may not be able to paint within the clients timeline. I also do almost all my preliminary work digitally now because of it’s boundless flexibility.

Kaminski: It's actually pretty amazing how much our approach to digital art parallels, because my reasons are almost exactly the same. With the one addendum being the space limitation. I haven't been able to approach much by way of oil painting because of the space required for a larger oil painting to dry. Not only that, but it's impossible to let a painting dry when you have the small toe-beans of cats lurking around.

I would assume that your ability to switch between medias helped a great deal when choosing which clients to shop for. When you were initially digging your heels into the ground in you career, what kinds of approaches did you use to gain a following or clientele?


Stawicki: Ok, let me see if I can make a long story, short.

When I was in my senior year of college, I did an internship with Western/Historical painter Ken Laager who was doing mostly book cover work at the time. After a successful internship and graduating, I assisted Ken on and off for the next year all the while working on sample book cover paintings of my own. It was under his tutelage that I really started to refine my painting technique and my book cover portfolio. In time, Ken introduced me to his artist rep Sal Barracca, who took me on. Sal really knew the market and had a great reputation, especially as a fantasy book cover rep. He also had an interest in helping to develop new talent, which was/is unheard of from an artist rep. He was representing or had rep-ed several artists that I admired. In no particular order, Daniel Horne, who had also been an understudy of Ken’s at one point, Keith Parkinson, who had just left the agency to head out on his own and Tim Jacobus, who for many years did all the Goosebumps art, are all of note. In addition to myself, he took on several other young artists around the same time (’92-ish). Among them some young guy named Donato, who blew us all away! (I wonder what happened to that guy) Slowly, I started doing book cover work. I would say Sal was a big help in securing and guiding some of my earliest professional work.

Kaminski: Good god man! That's quite the roster to be along side of! You were definitely in better company than most anyone I know of in terms of breaking your teeth in the industry. I'd assume that being around that talent not only pushed you above and beyond, but most likely pushed you to challenge them consistently. Another interesting thing to note here is that most of them were primarily illustrators for book covers and game covers (again, all in the fantasy and sci-fi genre). It's no wonder that you pushed into the same direction!

I'm sure you're always under some sort of non-disclosure agreement (NDA), but that being said, do you have any personal projects or recently released projects that you'd like to talk about or promote?



Stawicki: I usually seem to have a book cover or two floating around most of the time, as well as contributing to worlds of Monte Cook Games on a regular basis. In the last few years I have doing more and more private commission work. I do have a few bigger Stawicki projects on the horizon, but what I can say now is that I will be releasing my 2018 Fantasy Calendar soon on Kickstarter!

Follow me on Facebook for the latest on those projects.

Kaminski: I'm sure you consistently work on a TON of projects in tandem - client-based or otherwise. In that vein, do you have any advice on juggling personal work on top of commissioned work, or even just a multitude of projects at the same time?

Stawicki: There is definitely a certain amount of multi-tasking you have to get used to in this business. It is crucial that you be on time if you are going to illustrate. What is important to remember is that your art is not the final product. There are other people and schedules that are all depending on each other to get the job done…and done on time! Someone told me once that, the best painting in the world isn’t worth much if it’s not there when the client needs it. So to that end, I would say try and judge your time fairly. I would suggest even trying to build in a ‘little time cushion’, in case things take longer than you think… and they almost always do.

As far as, doing ‘personal work’ goes, what I would say is, personal work for me usually fills some kind of void that illustration can’t or won’t fill. In my early career I did personal pieces to showcase things that I wanted to do, but maybe wasn’t getting the chance to in the projects I was getting. This was because my portfolio did not include it. In illustration, most of the time, you need to show a client that you are skilled at a certain subject before they will hire you. A client is going to hire you for the work you are showing or doing well. So if there is something else you want do try your hand at, sometimes even a different approach with the same genre, you will need to do samples of it… remember a picture is worth a thousand words!

Personal work for me now is not as related to illustration. I try to take more chances with composition and I am more aware of things like brush work and technique. As I mentioned before, more and more of my work every year seems to be private commissions. In those cases the painting is the final product and will be hanging on someone’s wall, hopeful to be looked at and enjoyed up close and personal for years to come.

In short, I think doing personal work is important. It can be draining to always work on someone else’s project or ideas. I think everyone has things they want to get out. At this point, I try to work in one major personal piece a year. Notice I said ‘Try’. I also do smaller little studies and sketches, usually in acrylic, at the end or beginning of the day. They’re all not pretty, but they ARE fun!

Kaminski: 'A picture is worth a thousand words'... well played, sir, well played.

I've done quite a few projects myself that I would consider as my 'one-day' kind of projects, the bad thing is that I tend to use up my creative energy on them from time-to-time instead of focusing on the important commission or personal piece. Projects such as #junicorn, #robo-june, or even #inktober were ones that I did recently that really pushed above and beyond quickly. It seems that the more frequently you work, the more you find yourself with more ideas to work on even more! It's stupidly cyclical, but that's my take on it.

I'd say, because of this potential cyclical treatment, everyone seems to get burned out from time-to-time. When you feel uninspired, what are some methods you have to rekindle that art spark?


Stawicki: When my eyes roll back in my head and I just can’t take it anymore, I simply have to stop and do something else. I like wood working and tinkering on my house. I have also been playing guitar for many years and find that it is a great way for me to clear my head from the art scramble in my head.

Kaminski: Video games are my typical go-to. That and watching movies, of course. I'm an entertainment industry junky, what can I say.

What goals do you have for yourself in the immediate? What about the long-term?