Today we had the oportunity to talk with a great artist named Henning Ludvigsen borned in Holmestrand, Norway. At 16 years old he joined a traditional art school. He graduated and joined the advertising and after 9 years he became Art Director. In 2003 he entered the gaming industry. He moved to Greece where he worked at an MMORPG game called Darkfall Online and returned to Norway in 2011. He won lot`s of art contests and also has worked at Fantasy Flight Games, Warhammer 40k, Burton Snowboards, Eidos and ImagineFX. Let`s hear more from him in this small interview. Also view more of his artwork and tutorials at his official website.

Henning Ludvigsen Interview and Artwork

1) Before we start the interview I would like to thank you for this
opportunity. Please tell me when and how you got interested in illustration
and art?

Hello, and thanks for inviting me.
I’ve been into drawing and painting from sincem when I was a child, and I decided very early on that I wanted to do this as a living. The transition from elementary school to traditional art school and then finally to the industry went fairly seamless and natural. However, after working professionally for over 18 years I’ve realized that I’m not an artist, but merely a digital illustrator. This of course doesn’t mean that I don’t see the beauty of art in other people’s work.

2) What inspires you? What artists and illustrators do you admire?

I find a lot of inspiration from movies and TV-series. Also, listening to music helps me keep the inspiration flowing whilst working. I tend to find individual pieces of art admiring, so to me it’s more about each piece of work rather than who actually made it. If I am to mention names, I have to say that Michael Komarch seems to nail it every time he picks up a brush, hehe.

3) How did you discovered your style ?

Hard to tell, really. I used to focus on covering as many different styles as possible, but as the years went by I seem to have narrowed things down, leaving me with the visual style that I enjoy working on the most.

4) What was your greatest project ? The one you loved the most to work on ?

I’ve worked on so incredibly many great projects, and it’s hard to pull only one of them out from the masses. I’m very proud to have worked on designing 4 snowboards for Burton Snowboard’s 2011 LOVE collection, but I think I had the most fun working on the Call of Cthulhu, Mansions of Madness board game that released earlier this year (2011).
I would like to add that I’m having a blast working on my current projects over at www.rockpocketgames.com. Being able to work with what I love, and at the same time having a great time doing it is pretty much priceless.

5) Name some websites you browse everyday.

I of course check out and manage my Facebook accounts, twitter accounts, and online portfolios, but besides this I seem to find back to the following sites again and again:
www.9gag.com
www.deviantart.com
www.cgtalk.com
www.shadowness.com

6) What are your hopes and dreams?

After living 9 years in a foreign country with big hopes and expectations, I’ve learned to look at things a little bit differently. My hopes and dreams are more modest now than before, and I’ve realized that I’ve got everything I want as long as I can make a decent living out of doing what I love doing. So, as long as I can keep on doing this, and never be forced to do anything else, then I’m peachy. As simple as that

7) Thank you for this oportunity , tell something to the art-fanatics here on PSDartist.

Thank you for having me. If anyone is interested in keeping up with my projects and work, I’ve recently started a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HenningLudvigsenART
Besides this, my best tip to any aspiring artist or illustrator is to stay bold and don’t be afraid to take on project that you might think you’re not ready for. By jumping into a big task with both legs, you’ll most likely surprise even yourself how well it turns out. It might just takes a lot of time, and stubborness…. and some late nights