1. Let's begin with telling us a little about this artist from Sweden.

Where to start... I'm 28 years old, born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden.
Due to my work I lived in some other countries such as Italy and England but Stockholm is my favorite city and where I feel truly at home.
I've worked professionally as an artist for over 10 years now but I've been playing around with various 3d applications for almost 15 years, starting out with 3dstudio R4 for DOS.
Over the last 10 years I worked at a lot of different companies, such as Framestore CFC and Lionhead and freelanced with companies such as Blur Studios, Eden Games and The Aaron Sims Company.

When not working I spend a lot of time in the Gym and out running. I love to exercise and I think its very important to keep in shape when you sit in front of a computer most of your days.
Other than that I spend a most of my time with my girlfriend and friends, watching movies, sharing a good meal (I love to cook!), and maybe a glass of red wine.
I also write, mostly screenplays, although very few gets to read them! :)

2. How did you get into computer graphics? What inspired you to get into this field?

As long as I can remember Ive loved drawing.
Back in the late 80s my father worked at companies such as IBM and WANG and therefore I had computers at home very early on. Somewhere along the way these two interests combined and I really liked the possibilities that arise when these two medias came together.
Around the same time movies such as Jurassic Park and Aladdin was released too and really opened my eyes to what would be possible in the future and really inspired my to continue learning.

3. Each one of your pieces is amazing in its own right, where do you find your inspiration? Music? movies? or just pure imagination?

It really depends.
I do get inspired by music and movies, not to mention all the good art available on Internet.
But I also get inspired by nature, all these funny animals, insects and plants... nature sure is great for inspiration!
Before I start a new project I usually browse through my huge reference folder, looking at hundreds of images and hopefully finding some that inspires me.
I then sit down and do some sketches on paper. These sketches usually look awful but since they are just for me it doesn't really matter!
I used to spend more time with pen and paper but these days I feel its not necessary and rather move on quickly mocking something up in 3d and then sculpting it in Zbrush or Mudbox until I get the shape I want. These tools have advanced a lot the last couple of years and really feeds your imagination, it feels like nothing is impossible to create anymore!

4. On the subject of your artistic style, who influenced you to start and who influences you today?

An artist that deeply influenced me was Alvaro Tapia, I still rank him as one of my favorite artists.
I worked with him on my very first job after school and I learned a lot from him, colors, compositions, volume, you name it!
He is a traditional artist and sadly there is almost nothing available from him on line, but he made all the Harry Potter book covers for the Scandinavian market.

Others I worked with and who also inspired me are artists such as Jon Foster and Tim Bradstreet, both very talented artists with unique styles and also very nice people!
Then there is Brom, Frazetta and loads of other great artists that inspire and influence me, not to mention all the great 3d artists around today.

5. What tips could you give to aspiring artists, traditional and digital alike?

Well, digital artists are always being told to train traditionally with pen&paper, clay etc and I do think that working on your traditional skills are very important if you want to improve your digital art.
Nowadays though, with some really nice new 3d applications available, I would also recommend traditional artists to give the digital world a try.
Not long ago I thought creating something organic was really hard in 3d and liked how fast you could try out different designs using pen and paper, now I almost feel the opposite!
Programs such as Zbrush really sets your imagination free and its very simple to try out different designs quickly.
Also, get a good camera and photograph people and places that inspires you and put them in your reference library for later use. Observing your environment is very important and key to improving your art.

6. What are your tools/programs of choice?

It depends a bit on who I work with.
Usually I use 3dsmax or Maya as the base application. For personal works I almost always go with 3dsmax though. I have used XSI in production too but that's a long time ago now.
For detailing I use both Mudbox and Zbrush. I tend to start out in Mudbox and the take the model over to Zbrush for the finer details. Photoshop for texturing, of course.
I've tried a lot of different renders over the years but mentalray is still my favorite choice when rendering.

7. I saw your creation of the The Incredible Hulk over on CGTalk, Unbelievable !....how long does it take you, to do a piece like this?

Its really hard to say since its a personal project done on my spare time, so a couple of hours here and there over the course of more than a month.
I would guess somewhere around 1 week for the modeling and 1 week for shading/texturing if I could work full time on it.

8. What are your plans for the future?

I've been freelancing with my own company, FrostBite Studios, lately.
Its been loads of fun and I had the opportunity to work with some very talented people on some very high profile productions. However I do miss being part of a larger team and working closely with other talented artists so this September I will start working at DICE (EA Games) here in Stockholm. I will still accept smaller freelance projects on the side though, from time to time.
And I will always continue working on my personal projects!

9. What do you like or dislike about the online art community

I really like the online art community!
People are mostly willing to share there knowledge and experiences and there are some very impressive digital art being created and shared all over the world today.
What I would love to see more of though is collaboration between different artists on personal projects like short films.

10. And finally, if you were shipwrecked on a desert island, what 5 things would you wished you had taking with you?

Hmm, now thats a tricky question!
Am I allowed to bring a person? In that case Nr1 would have to be my girlfriend!

Nr2. Pen and Paper, Id bring my TabletPC but I guess theres a shortage of electricity on this deserted Island.

Nr3. While I'd like a good book, like Alex's Garlands The Beach, it wouldn't last very long so Id go with a typewriter instead and write my memoirs or something.

Nr4. My running shoes.

Nr5. My music collection, and a unlimited supply of Ipod batteries... :)

11. Thanks for taking part in our Interview Jonas, hopefully you will pop in one day ?

Absolutely!
And good luck with your site in the future!