I wanted to learn how to paint rather than just doing black-and-white work

I was lucky enough to be given books that weren't top sellers; books that were kind of under the radar

So cartooning, for me, is an honorable thing. It's pushing the envelope. It's the truth of something through exaggeration

Like Godfather, you look at a movie like that, or something that James Gray has directed, a film with minimal or pin lighting as opposed to everything being lit bright and flat, where everything is evident

I still love a lot of the guys who just paint

I wanted to learn how to paint rather than just doing black-and-white work

If somebody can inspire me, it feels really special