Spotlight On: Essorant
by Jumbles

Tek: Where do you live?
Tim:Blackpool, Lancashire, northwest England.

Tek: Where does your history in art begin? Were you a "scribbler" as a child?
Tim: To be honest, I don't think I've an artistic bone in my body. I can't sketch at all. I've always liked design though, particularly GUI design. I started on an old Acorn Archimedes which had a patch to allow you to change the interface - similar to WindowBlinds. I only started to get to grips with Photoshop a couple of years ago when I started to skin for WB.

Tek: What is your system like (hardware, memory, monitor, etc.)? 
Tim: I have two PCs - my home one is fairly humble (400Mhz, 64MB, 15", Win98), but my work one is a little more beefy (600Mhz, 256MB, 17", Win95!!) but by no means spectacular by today's standards.

Tek: Do you have a favorite program(s) you use to create skins? 
Tim: Mostly Photoshop with KPT5, but also Xara and Xara3D for vector stuff and IconEasel98 for icons

Tek: What methods do you use for inspiration,prior to designing a new skin?
Tim: Lots of things - Web design, car design, clothes design (for colours), and of course other skinners work. I also love the art of Moebius (Jean Giraud).

Tek: What is your skinning process like (do you create sketches, and develop them, as in suites, etc.) 
Tim: If I have a firm idea of the design I'll usually dive stright into Photoshop, otherwise I'll sketch something out. I usually do a NextStart theme first, followed by WorkShelf, then a WindowBlinds skin to match. Thats about as much of a suite I manage, although I have done stuff for WinAmp, ICQ+ and QuickNotes.

Tek: Is skinning/digital art your full time career? 
Tim: Sadly no. My full time job is "Web Application Development" which is mostly database scripting / HTML / Javascript stuff, although I sometimes get to do the graphics for the front end. I'd like more time to try out Flash and possibly 3D animation.

Tek: Do you have a family (kids/wife/dogs, cats)? 
Tim: I'm married to Tracey and have a son (Ben - 9) and a daughter (Natasha - 4), two cats (Monty and Hobbes) and a hamster (Fudge).

Tek: Can you tell us what you are working on right now?
Tim: I've nearly completed a new NextStart theme (no name yet) which I've a WindowBlinds skin to do for, and I'm also working on a WindowBlinds port of the 'DirtChamber' skin by Monaux as part of a project with MaNyK and Thredz.

Tek: How did view the future of skinning?
Tim:I expect that it will get more mainstream, but I expect that it may take something specific from Microsoft to add it to the OS in a skinner-friendly way (e.g. as part of 'Themes').

Tek: Do you have any any advice for us skinners? 
Tim:
- Support other skinners.
- Always try to make positive, constructive comments to help skinners do better stuff.
- Make your designs 'usable'.
- Look at professional web designers' sites for inspiration.

Please answer Fnads's Five 

What skin do you wish you'd designed/written?
Dream by Dangeruss, Sputnik by Treetog (although that includes anything by those two guys), DirtChamber by Monaux, Act2 Finale by Raj... (there are more - too many to list)

What would you like to have on your laptop if you were stranded on an island,
e.g., skins, music, proggies, peripherals, games, etc?
Photoshop, NextStart, WindowBlinds, IE5, WinAmp, a copy of Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony, a copy of Bach's 'The Art of Fugue' and a piano to practice it on (not strictly ON the laptop I know...), and a satelite internet connection.

Have there been any skins that have made you laugh? Cry? orgasm?
Only my own. (But not the orgasm bit.)

Boxers or briefs? (or, which do you prefer ?)
Both. At the same time.

List some sites you visit daily, weekly, hourly...
Deviant Art, WinCustomize, Lots-of-skins, BBC News, NextStart mailing list

Teknidermy thanks Tim for taking time out to talk to us. 
Check out his website at http://essorant.ipfox.com/