Q&A with Eric Iovino

Age: 35
Birthplace: Staten Island, NY
Resides: Boynton Beach, FL
Profession: Professionally-trained illustrator and designer, entrepreneur, business owner

Q: What motivates you as an artist?

A: The idea of visualizing a concept, sketching and fleshing it out, and then tackling the daunting task of creating the final tangible product and giving it life. I am motivated by the art and design process itself, from beginning to end.

Q: What is your favorite medium to work in?

A: I still love to draw with my trusty old graphite pencil. I do finish up a lot of my work in Photoshop however, for time constraint reasons. I like mixed media I guess.

Q: Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

A: In high school I had an extensive art program. When I graduated, I went on to study fashion design and general illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I also took classes at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts.

Q: How did you get involved in the clothing industry and fashion design?

A: I studied fashion design and illustration back in college, but then went on to pursue a career in the comic industry. I did some t-shirt design for a few companies after school, then got back into clothing design when I started the tattoo design business with my business partner Victor Modafferi. We started doing artwork for various licensing partners, including lighters for Bic. It was a natural progression of expanding the Bullseye brand which gave me an opportunity to design clothing for various licensing partners.

Q: What is your relationship with TLF® apparel?

A: I am currently doing some freelance t-shirt design work for TLF®. I have enjoyed the process thus far, and look forward to working with the design team over the next year to come up with some new killer artwork for the line.

Q: What do you think of the TLF® line and where it is headed?

A: I think it has obviously started off strong, with a great look and overall appeal to its core audience, and I see a lot of potential for further growth. TLF® has a bright future ahead of it.

Q: What other enterprises do you have going on?

A: I own several tattoo-related businesses including a tattoo design company, Bullseye Tattoos, and the Bullseye Tattoo Shop located in Staten Island, NY. We recently launched a line of clothing which is available in various stores around the country. We just released the hats and will be following up with t-shirts and deck shoes for the spring. I am also freelancing for several other apparel companies doing various clothing design.

Q: Where can someone go to see your artwork?

A: You can see my artwork and other high-quality tattoo designs at BullseyeTattoos.com, and our clothing is currently available at PlanetFunk.com and Lids.com. Allstarlife.com and Bicworldusa.com are other sites where my designs can be found.

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