With clean minimalistic line work Kiel has a knack for fluidity in his art.  Not the overly detailed and heavy art that a lot of the current artist are doing.  It’s refreshing to see good use of negative space and art that is clear of unnecessary clutter.  With some recent work for Savage Dragon (issue comes out this month), hopefully we can expect more from Mr West.  Without further ado I present Kiel West:

A bit about yourself?

My name is Kiel West. I have a wife, son and 2 cats. Most of them are small and blonde—unlike me.

Your medium of choice?

Comics and comic-like illustration. If you mean supplies, I finish my art by inking with a brush or nib usually.

What are you into currently, your influences?

Since this is such a loaded question, I’m gonna try to make a brief map that starts when I was about 4 years old:

1. Superheroes & Saturday Morning Cartoons - everything from Muppet Babies to X-men.

2. Anime - nothing specific, just the style.

3. Indie comics and film -  got real snobbish and rejected all the fun stuff from my childhood.

4. Currently letting all the childhood adventure and humor leak back in. At the moment I’m juggling Naussica (Miyazaki), Finder (Carla Speed McNiel) and Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing. I’m also watching a lot of Sergio Leone movies and listening to 70’s reggae music. I’m having a lot more fun than I used to.

When not being artistic you like to?

I’m a comics/movies/music junkie, but I think my appetite for new foods may exceed my media cravings. I like to take lots of walks and showers and smoke cigarettes also. This paragraph reads like a tombstone, I think.

Any advice for the up and comers?

I don’t think I’ve even reached the status of up-and-comer yet, but here’s something I realized this morning that might help others: It doesn’t matter what is perceived. It only matters what is.

How did you get your start?

Mostly doodling when teachers or preachers were talking. I was also the kind of kid that was playing pretend way past the acceptable age—walking around with a sword in my belt loop and muttering to myself.

I was thinking about this in the shower this morning, and realized that when I was socially forced to stop pretending, I started drawing comics and making up stories to fill the gap.

Whats on the horizon for you?

I’ve got a small comic slapped on the back of July’s issue of Savage Dragon.  I’m currently working on a superhero comic book using an unauthorized DC character. It’s for an anthology. Also, might be doing character design for an animated feature soon. That’s as far ahead as I can see.

If we want some of your art swag where can we get it?

The only thing worth mentioning is the Savage Dragon issue. That’s supposed to be out in a couple of weeks.

Where can we find you on the web?

This is something like a website:

http://flavors.me/kielwest

And I’d love it if people would follow me on livejournal and discuss things with me. I like to converse.

http://westival.livejournal.com/