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Richard Minino<br />
I’m 31 and go by the name Horsebites. I’ve been doing this for about 6 years. I<br />
sort of fell into it by accident. I was just doing art for my own band (New Mexican<br />
Disaster Squad) and I caught the attention of some of my other friends’ bands<br />
like Strike Anywhere and No Trigger. They wanted some art so I did it more for<br />
the fact of just being excited to do some merch for a<strong>not</strong>her band except for<br />
mine. Later my friend at Fueled by Ramen Records asked me to do a shirt for an<br />
“up and coming” band called Fall Out Boy and I got it approved. After that it was<br />
easier for people, including myself to take my art more seriously. Soon after, I<br />
quit my job of delivering pizzas for almost 10 years and the rest is history.<br />
My Breakthrough Moment<br />
It was that Fall Out Boy shirt and also the Strike Anywhere layout I did. Doing<br />
the FOB shirt opened the doors to bigger named acts and Strike opened the<br />
doors to more of the underground scene. It was good to have my wings spread<br />
over such a huge playing field.<br />
THREAD’S NOT DEAD • Jeff Finley<br />
My Inspirations<br />
I had a lot of inspirations and the list grows every day. It started out more with<br />
lowbrow artists such as Ed Roth, Jim Phillips and other artists involved in the<br />
skate/surf/hot rod scene. Others include plenty of early Disney animators, Camille<br />
Rose Garcia, James Jean etc.<br />
Be Yourself<br />
My strategy has been strictly to just be myself. It’s as easy as that. If you open<br />
up yourself to people, you build a personal relationship with them and they see<br />
the real things that inspire you and also the things that piss you off. Being real<br />
instead of some over-inflated robot is way more endearing.<br />
If you meet people that like you for who you are then they will say good things<br />
about you. This takes a lot of time and if you’re impatient, this is <strong>not</strong> the career<br />
for you. Don’t get into this field with hopes of making a lot of money. Think of it<br />
as “if I really am an<br />
artist, then I would<br />
do this regardless<br />
of money.” Art for “My strategy has been strictly to<br />
art’s sake.<br />
just be myself. It’s as easy as that.”<br />
There’s a bunch of<br />
trends that pass<br />
—Richard Minino<br />
and come back all<br />
the time. I try <strong>not</strong><br />
to pay too much attention<br />
to them because I don’t want to be overwhelmed about whatever is new<br />
at the moment. It just makes me want to go against the grain anyway.<br />
Don’t Take Anything for Granted<br />
As a designer you should never take anything for granted. You have to look at<br />
your situation as “I’m getting paid to create art.” If that’s <strong>not</strong> the craziest thing<br />
you’ve ever heard of as an artist then I don’t know what is. The ability to use<br />
your creative talents and share with the whole world no matter what medium is<br />
such a rare gift and privilege that rarely anyone gets to experience. It’s easy for<br />
me to get sidetracked and look at it as just a job but I have to slap myself in the<br />
head when I get like that.<br />
Case Studies & Interviews 101
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