Interview with Dennis Sibeijn (damnEngine)
I’ve been lucky enough to interview Dennis Sibeijn, also known as DamnEngine. He is a digital artist who does work for many different medias, but most exclusively for the music industry. You may know his work in the form of Job For A Cowboy’s Genesis album cover along with Heaven Shall Burn’s re-release of Whatever It May Take along with several Harley Davidson tees and many others. Check his website (damnengine.net).
First off I have to say that you’re the main reason I truly began to be interested in digital ever since I saw your artwork for Job For A Cowboy’s Genesis album, which is by far my favourite and a major reason I bought their 12″ LP.
Thank you, this is one of the best compliments someone can get.
My first question is what made you become interested in persuing the career of art, specifically working in the digital medium? Also, what are your views on the sometimes artistically controversial tradition art vs. digital?
It was just a natural transition, I used to make huge pen and ink drawings and collages during my teenage years, besides that I messed around a lot with the computer we had at home, it wasn’t much of a computer compared to the systems you can buy now, but you could still do some simple graphics on it (this is like 26 years ago). When I was around 18 years old, computers became powerful enough to do more serious graphic work on it and then I simply merged my interests and at some point I went to graphic school and followed the audiovisual program there where you mainly worked with computers after the first year.
My opinion on the digital art vs. traditional art debate is that people shouldn’t judge the medium on which the art is created. I care more about a good concept and a great output than whether something has been made on a traditional or digital canvas.
When you are designing your works (specifically for album covers) do you listen to the music that band has released and/or an advanced copy of the album as a base idea or do you just read the lyrics to get a feel for how you believe it should turn out?
I always ask for some tracks and some lyrics and I often get to hear some rough mixes, so I can get the feel of the album. For me that makes it much easier to visualize it, it’s like the soundtrack to the artwork I’m making. Sometimes bands already have a concept but then I still have to hear what kind of atmosphere the artwork should have. The most difficult part is getting the cover done but once you have that down it usually all goes smoothly.
One question I’ve been dying to ask you is what has been your favourite piece to work on, and if you are comfortable answering (I won’t tell the client) which has been your least favourite or most frustrating to design?
It’s hard to pick a favorite, they all have their upsides and downsides but I really loved working on the Nodes of Ranvier Defined by Struggle album, for me it was really inspiring work. The Job for a Cowboy cover was also great to work on, I spent days on detailing that cover and it probably is the most popular work I ever did.
I never get really frustrated by work, in the end it’s work and you should treat it like that. Of course it happens that a band has a different opinion on the artwork than I have and it sometimes can feel a bit personal when you get some critics, but you have to keep in mind it’s their album and they should be happy with it (and they pay for it). I learned to put criticism behind me quite quick and just try to focus on the work, it’s a waste of energy to get frustrated.
I know that some consider what you do to be strictly called ‘design’ but others view it as art like any other. Do you have an individual opinion on this issue?
I never cared about labeling my work (or any other work) that much, I already had trouble giving it a name on my website. I ended up with calling it artwork, because it didn’t sound too pretentious to me. But whatever label you stick on it, it will still look the same anyway.
One last question before I hand this off to you: Where do you believe that digital art will go in the future, or do you think that there might be a sort of renaissance in which traditional art will make some sort of comeback, if you will, and have more of that used commercially?
Traditional art is still here and I think it will be here to stay, it just gets overwhelmed by all the digital art that’s around and that’s probably caused by the fact that it’s much easier to start with, you don’t have to go out and buy paint, get a canvas, get dirty, instead you just start up your computer and start working and everyone has a computer these days. I still use traditional techniques in some of my work, I still use paint, ink and all kind of different materials which I scan in. Digital art often looks too digital, it’s hard to get that analog feel, so perhaps that will still change more. I’m not sure where it’s heading, tools become easier and easier too handle it seems so for people like me that means I have to stand out more from all the amateur Photoshoppers. The bad thing which I already see happening, is the fact that it’s so easy for people to showcase their work that a lot of the good work is hard to find and that it’s also harder to find the skilled people; it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Okay, this is the last question I have for you now: do you have any works in progress that you can tell me about, or is it classified information for the moment?
I’m currently working on three albums for the following bands: Inquest, Three and Luthor. Besides that I’m also working on two short 3d animations for my portfolio, my new website and I’m doing some audiovisual design work for the European elections for the Dutch national news.
