Home ➲ graphics & iphone & mac ➲ mini Interview with Artist Louie Mantia

MacHappens . Louie Mantia

1. How do you tackle a deadline?

I tackle deadlines the same as anyone else, it’s all about priority management. I first need to find out exactly
what the client wants (when I can) and then start working on versions and checking up with them to make
sure they’re satisfied along the way. Honestly, I wouldn’t say I had too many deadlines in the past, the work
was generally open.

2. Give us a brief breakdown of your workflow on a given project.

First I’ll receive the request from the client for work, and if taken, they explain what their project is. I’ll ask if
they have any ideas already in their head before I start working. If they request sketches, I’m glad to oblige
and I move on to some comps and show them along the way (if a project is long enough) and then move
onto the final piece. Pretty simple, really.

3. Your favorite OS and why?

OS X of course, pretty silly question. If you mean between the Mac and iPhone OS X, I would say iPhone,
there’s so much interesting stuff going on, and I can’t wait to see more really exciting things happen on
that platform.

4. What applications do you use primarily to create your work?

When I’m working, I’ve got Photoshop and Illustrator open. I mostly use Photoshop right now, slowly
migrating to Illustrator. I use Illustrator now when I actually need to draw things with my Wacom tablet.

5. What hardware do you use primarily to create your work?

At work I have a Mac Pro with a 30″ display and a 20″ display. I also have a Wacom tablet on my desk.

6. Your thoughts on resolution independence?

Well, I’m sure if we get any more dense screens, we’ll be needing it. It seems messy still, and I don’t know
many other developers except Panic that have even gone to the measure of making an application
resolution independent.

7. How do you contribute/share with your community?

I’m always dreaming up icons and putting them on my website, lately I’ve had to opportunity to work on
a lot of free, fun things.

8. Who would you like to work/collaborate with?

I’ve done a few small collaboration works with David Lanham, and it’s great. I think perhaps some
collaborations with others at the ‘Factory would be great as well.

9. When did you justify to yourself that you could make a living off what you do?

Well, in the Summer of 2007 I was in talks with both VMWare and Apple, and it became clear to me that I
could create artwork for the rest of my life. Needless to say, I didn’t go with either company, and in the
Summer of 2008 I went out to the Bay Area to work at Tapulous. I was again in talks with Apple, but it didn’t
seem a good fit for me. Now I work at the Iconfactory in Greensboro, NC, and it’s absolutely wonderful.

10. Your favorite creation?

I enjoy typography a lot. I don’t think I’m fantastic at it, but it’s something I really enjoy. Apart from that, I really
like my Renaissance iPhone icons. They were so much fun to do, I really miss them.