1)      Your bio says your real name is William Johns, so where did the name Nick Rose come from?

    First let me say that I am thrilled about doing this interview. When I went over the questions, I could not believe how much you all knew about me and how much digging you must have done to find out about my past.

   My real full name is William N. Johns.  When I was growing up everyone called me Nick, so that part of it stuck.  The Rose part is a very different story.  When I was a young man, in my 20's (I am 52 now) I used to draw a lot of comics and fantasy art.  My mother and family always would say something like “Why don't you paint barns, or cowboys, people will buy that” It was at that point that I started leaning toward darker things, and then my family told me they where ashamed to let people see my work.  So out of spite, I changed my last name to “Rose”  The only time since then that I have used William Johns is when I was training under Master Daniel Horne, and after that I starting using Nick Rose again. You might say it is my artist persona.

 

2)      I understand you didn’t really start drawing until you were in the army, what inspired you to do so?

       Boredom.  I took some art classes in Jr. High, but we moved out into the middle of nowhere when I was in the 9th grade.  The new school didn't have a art department, so my interest went  with Drama and Creative Writing.  I was very good in Drama, and I starred in 4 plays. I even was offered a scholarship to the NC School of the Arts. My step-father, who never came to see me In any of the plays, convinced me that I would starve to death and whined up on the streets if I perused acting. So I took my brothers advice and when into the Military. I would fine myself spending time on ranges where the new recruits trained, just setting there bored to death. So, I started bringing comic books to read and after I finished reading them, I would find a piece of paper and would try to draw the hero's the way I saw them in the books.  I fell in love with drawing then and went to the next level and  brought me a sketch pad and continued to draw at night when I would get home. I would love to see those drawings now. Back then I really thought I was doing good, but I would probably Laugh my butt off if I saw them now.  But thinking I was doing good was enough to keep me drawing.  So joining the Army is the best decision I ever made as a young man, not only did it bring me back to what I loved doing, I also have the best medical benefits that you could get. I take a lot of pills that there is no way I could afford to pay for or the health care that I need these days, so I would have been dead 10 years ago If It hadn't been for the VA.  To any young person reading this, if you don't know what you want to do with your life yet, join the Army for 4 years, when you get out, you will have the money to go to college, and you will have awesome benefits for the rest of your life. It truly was one of the rare good decisions I made.  And if you don't want to fight, you can do something in support, like being a cook, or a mechanic, and engineer.  There are tons of jobs  that don't involve having to kill anyone.

 

3)      Tell us about Spider Man.

Lol, gosh you all  know all my secrets. Excellent job on the research. I grew up on Spider-man.  He was and still is my all time favorite hero. I love the fact that he screws up a lot and is  very human. I could really relate to Spidy, and back in those days you didn't have to much on tv to keep me interested. When the issue came out with the death of Gwen Stacy, I cried like a baby and wanted Spidey to kill the Goblin so bad.  I was a regular reader up until I was around 30,  and then I got more interested in novels. But now they are making all the Marvel comics into movies, and this is a major thrill for me.  DC did awesome with the “Watchmen” and the new Batman movies.  So I am loving this making all the comics I read as a young man being made into wonderful films. I am really looking forward to Jonah Hex  all the Marvel Movies, Iron man 2, Thor and on and on.

 

 

4)      Would it be accurate to say your work is a little on the dark side?

Ted, I would say that is a very accurate statement. Lol  In my early years I loved doing fantasy and Science Fiction, but life has taken it's toll on me through the years.  My imagination used to be this happy place, full of Sword and Sorcery, saving Damsels in distress and just all  of those things that make you happy.  But I am going to be straight with you, life has been a little rough on me. When I was a child I was molested by a step uncle, and no one did anything about it. It was a family secret. That messed my head up for a very long time. It seems my family and friends always found a way to hurt me. I had a family member steal my life savings for me, just to name one.  But TV is by far the worse thing.  When I see that a mother traded her 4 year old daughter for drugs, and the child was raped by the pusher and his friends, and then they killed her.  When I see a wacko religious group drive jets into the twin towers and kill nothing but innocent people all in the name of “God” and they believe they are going to get , how many is it 69? virgins. Ok, first off, if your dead and your a spirit, what the heck are you going to do with 69 virgins. I believe that the sun has baked this people's brains over there.  Religions are another thing that make me angry as heck. The typical attitude is “I have religion, so I am better than you” All of these things and many others I'm not going to mention at this time have created this anger, darkness in side of me, and these days, that's all I want to get across when I paint. I Find myself looking into the abyss trying to get a glimpse of what is really there. People always tell me to be careful because the abyss looks back. Every since I was about 5 I can remember seeing things staring at me, not knowing what there where.  But I did know they didn't belong here. My mom always said I had terrible nightmares, and that is what I saw. Maybe it was, but I still have the scare on my arm from where I bite myself in the dream trying to wake myself up. I don't' remember waking up, I just remember mom running into my room screaming “What is go on?”

      It was around this time that I was climbing a tree, and fell from a pretty good height. The brach broke, and I remember falling and I remember it knocked the air out of me, and I was scared.  This older gentlemen, dressed in a suit (which was unusual considering I lived in a trailer park) came up to me to make sure I was alright. He told me to calm down and try to breath normally.  About that time my mom came running up and was freaking asking me if I was alright. I told her the old man had helped me, and she told me there was no man there. I never saw the man again.

5)      Tell us a little about your family; how do they feel about the work you do?

That's a hard one to answer. The only “blood” family I stay in touch with is my Niece Christina.  She likes it from what she has told me. But she has a Christian background, so I am sure some of it bothers her. My older brother is a hypocrite baptist preacher, so you can imagine what he thinks. My older sister probably could care less and my younger sister, I don't know. But I don't see them and they don't come see me. My step father is about the biggest piece of shite that every walked the planet. He beats women, and greed defines him. He degraded me and my mother our whole lives. When I was 10 he would beat me so bad that I needed to go to the hospital but my mother wouldn't take me because she was afraid of what he would do once he got out.  One night he threw a glass at my face. I got my hand up just it time, but it shattered and pieces of glass where stuck all in my throat. My mother still wouldn't take me to the hospital.  She sit there with a pair of tweezers and pulled the shards out one by one, as I almost bleed to death. I was told if  I ever  told anyone that he would kill me and my mother. To this day, I still have the scars under my neck.

    My mother basically spent her days getting so drunk she couldn't stand and taking a ton of pills on top of that. She had me driving the car to the liquor store for her when I was just 12. Luckily I never had a wreck and the cops never stopped us.  One of my nieces,( I think she was 10 around that time) Robin wasn't so lucky when my mom had her drive her to the liquor store.  She run into a telephone pole, but no one was hurt, but my older sister Marsha was furious. Can you blame her? 

    Another thing is no one knows who my real father is. Dear ole drunk mom told me the man I was named after “Rabbit” Johns was my real father, but he never wanted anything to do with me. He through me and my mom out when I was one, because he was convinced my mother was fooling around with my younger sisters dad, Jack Fore.  Jack always told me he was my father but my mother all told me that Rabbit was. Hell, there all dead now, so I'll never know.

6)      Many working artists have other jobs. What is yours? (THIS IS A LEADING QUESTION, WE UNDERSTAND YOU ALSO WORK IN THE FLOORING INDUSTRY)

Things have changed these last couple of years, I am working as a full time artist now. I really had no choice because of health issues, but I was heading toward that anyways.  But for about 35 years,off and on, I installed carpet by day and drew and painted by night.  Contrary to popular belief, you don't get famous and rich overnight.  I have been doing art for about 30 years now, and just in the last 2 years have I finally started to get noticed and get some of the jobs you dream about  coming up through the field. It is a change that is hard to get used to as well. When you work at home, you want to screw off more, and of course the family and friends don't take what you do to seriously. I am lucky there, because Madison does take what I do serious, and motivates me when I need. The women is amazing, she knows when I am having a hard time with something or I wish I had never took a certain  job.  And she knows how to get me through them. To be honest, with out here, I couldn't do this.  It's not just the money she makes to keep the bills paid but her emotional support and pep talks get me through  a lot too.

7)      So how difficult is it to shift from such a physically challenging job to get yourself into a creative mindset?

Well, for me, not as hard as you may think. In my older days It would go something like this. I was out of the house by 7:30 am and then loaded, grab a biscuit and be on the job by 8:30. Most of the time I would have a helper or 2, and the whip came out, and we got the job done anywhere between 11 and 3 o'clock.  I paid them per job, so they would bust their tails to get it done and do a good job. I would go straight home, take an hour nap, and when I got up I had a pot of coffee waiting on me.  The nap  made the mindset change. I would go to sleep as a carpet layer, and I would wake up as Nick Rose. But through the years I did other jobs as well. At one point, I was the youngest manager of Wal-mart ever . Sam Walton was so impressed with me that he came to the store one day to meet me in person. I also managed a Pizza Inn and a Quicky mart.  My managing days lasted about 8 year, and then I realized I hated wearing a suit, and I hated the long hours, so back to carpet laying I went.

8)      Who is Master Daniel Horne? What does he mean to you?

I meet Daniel in 2001 in Roanoke VA. A small con called Shevacon had invited me as a guest, and the artist guest of honor was Daniel Horne.  I had loved his work through the years, and I accepted being a guest just so I could me him, plus I love Roanoke Va. The funny thing is that I had known him of him for all of those years, but never seen a picture of him. I was probably the first artist to show up and set up.  After I was done, I went to unpack and find a place to get some food.  When I got back, he had set up. I thought I was doing good as an artist, until I saw the work he brought. In some ways it impressed the hell out of me, because I was thinking I will never be that good, and in other ways it inspired the hell out of me.

      He had placed tables in front of the paintings so you couldn't get close enough to touch them. Well, I had left my glasses back In my room and I just had to see the detail.  So here I go sliding up on the table like a child. No sooner that I had gotten face to face with the painting, I hear this gentle voice from behind me, asking me If I needed any help.  Without turning around, I kept staring at  the painting, It was like  being a dear caught in the headlights. He said something like you really need to get off this table before you get hurt, or something along this line. I turned around to come face to face with a Giant of a man. I am 5 foot 7, but I felt like a dwarf in comparison.  Out of shear fear for my life, I go off the table and apologized several times. I thought the fellow was with security.

     He started a friendly conversation with me and asked my name, I told him and he introduced himself as Daniel Horne.  Needless to say my jaw hit the floor and I probably was drooling on myself. Right in front of me stood a true Master, a living legend and one of my main hero's.  I Don't know why but he seemed to take an interest in me. I show him all the work I had brought with me. One piece that I am going to be redoing here soon is called “Hellcrow”  He really liked it an told me that it had a voice of it's own. I gave him a print of it.  I was on 3 panels at the convention, an he came to each of them, which was really humbling. Why would a living master want to come see me and hear me ramble. He even introduced me to his whole family. Before I let the con, he gave me his business card and told me to keep in touch via e-mail.

     So I did for 4 years. I would send him every painting I ever did to see if he would make a comment, but he never did for almost 3 years, and then he commented on a painting I did for my good Friend  David Summers, and said something like” Is this an example of the work we will be seeing for you?” I freaked of course, but I was highly motivated. About a year after that he commented on a cover for a book I was doing called April Love published by Whiskey Creek Publishing. In the note he sent me his phone number and wanted me to call him. The rest is History.  For those of you that don't know about, here is a couple of links that will help.

This one is his official website  http://web.mac.com/danielhorne/Daniel_R._Horne/Home.html

and this is a link to where you can see him making his mask, dolls and painting step by step at times.http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v473/OLDSCHOOLDAN/

I could never say enough good things about Daniel and his family.  I,ve meet some good people in my life, but what Daniel did for me, well, he made my dreams come true.  I never could afford to go to a big art school and learn the things him and Todd Lockwood taught me. I owe these 2 men everything. Because of them, I am happy with my life, and because of Cheryl's help too I get to do what so many people can only dream of.

9)      Do you think the combination of Kennedy’s assassination and your young viewing of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” had something to do with your creative mindset? (WE’RE NOT SUGGESTING THIS AS A NEGATIVE, IT JUST SEEMS TO POSSIBLY HAVE SET SOME THINGS IN MOTION)

To a point, but a lot of other things had happened to me in my childhood as well. Lets explain the Kennedy/the Day the earth stood still thing first.  When I was in the 1st grade, President Kennedy was assassinated. I believe it was on a Monday. I remember them letting us out of school very early. Heck we're just a bunch of kids thrilled to be going home. I don't remember any of the teachers telling us about the President.  I remember my mom meeting me at the bus stop, and making me go home.  My stepfather was hope as  well, which was rare, he always worked late. I remember sitting there for the longest time watching the news, until finally they let me go into their room and watch TV. Back them, we had a total of 2 channels. One of the channels was showing “The Day the Earth Stood still”  I turned on just as the flying saucer landed on the baseball field. I was glued to the set. The news people keep breaking in with special announcements, but they did show the whole movie. I didn't understand what was going on with the president didn't really understand what it was about, but I loved Gort and the Flying Saucer.  That was the first Science fiction movie I can ever remember seeing. I guess the message of the movie did stick with me though and to this day I understand that we are responsible for our actions, and they are billions of lifeforms just on this planet that we keep wanting to play God to, an we not have the right to take the lives of any creature, no matter how big or how small they are.  We only have the right to defend ourselves.

   Around that time is when the original “Outer Limits” came out. Of course I was forbidden from watching it, but I always found a way..The I saw the episode with Robert Culp where he volunteered to be made into a monster in hopes of scaring the human race to work together against a common enemy.  I remember that make the creature so scary, they put one of those black stripes across it's face so people wouldn't panic. I had nightmares for weeks, lol

10)   What’s it like being buddies with Clyde Caldwell? Do you guys still keep in touch?

Back in those days it was quite a thrill. I owned a comic book store out of Charlotte NC, and he would frequent it. I would sell prints for him.  That was when Heavy Metal first made the american scene an he was doing covers for them, which to me was a huge dead. If memory serves me correct, he was the first american artist to every do a cover for them. For a couple of years we where very tight. We would do cook outs, I would babysit Kelly  for him and Susan (His first wife) Hell, Clyde was my idol, I even posed for many of his paintings. More notable as John Carter in a calender he did for Heavy Metal, as will as some of the monsters. Those where some magical days for me.  Then he got the job working for TSR (which is now Wizards of the coast) and the funny thing was I hooked him up with that job. I knew a designer named Jack Pentes In Charlotte, NC and I would visit him once a month. One one of my visits he told me about this new company who where looking for fantasy illustrators, and the company was TSR. I told Clyde about it, and I put him in touch with Jack, and the rest is history. I had the same chance, but I was to young and stupid still.  I think once he got to Wisconsin, I got one letter from him. I tried to call him several years later, and he never had time to talk to me. It was just another brick in the wall, and the room got a little darker.  He was at Dragon con a few years back, and I asked him in a letter if he wanted to get together for lunch, my treat. He told me “You know, your like a bad penny that keeps coming up” After that, I told Daniel about it, and I want repeat what Daniel said, but I haven't written to Clyde since, and I never will. When we friends, he was the best person I knew, but once he got the job with TSR, well, It's just my opinion.

11)   It seems there was a dark period in your life where you hated doing anything artistic at all. How did you overcome that?

That would have been from 1995 to 2000.  The internet was just making its mark, and I was very computer illiterate. I didn't see the possibility of the computer. My biggest enemy was that I lived in NC and I was always hooked up with some woman and her kids that I had to take care of. I never had the means to go to NYC and meet with Art Directors one on one. I did ship some art, and that did me a little good, but usually when I got it back it would be broke, bend, or tore. It was very discouraging. I was doing good at commercial art for several years, but then the computer killed that for me too. So I said the hell with it, and packed all my art stuff out, through most of it away. I didn't want to portraits or barns, so I just quit, and started drinking very heavy. I was ready to die. I just didn't care anymore. I felt like the horse with the apple dangling in front of him, just out of reach.  I felt like I was just a jester for life to laugh at. I don't even remember much about those years except I was drunk all the time, and I married some woman I hated. She always told me how evil I was , and she was going to cut  a certain part of my body off while I was a sleep, and let me tell you, it sucked waking up in the middle of the night was a whacked out woman standing over you with a knife.  Our last year together, I had started drawing again, but a year after that I left her a year later. It took me 8 years to give up the drinking after that and get my act together finally.

 

12)   Do you still drink? (YOU DON’T HAVE TO ANSWER THIS ONE AND WE DON’T HAVE TO INCLUDE YOUR ANSWER IF THE SUBJECT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE)

Brother, I am here to tell it like it is. People want to know where the darkness comes from, and I am not going to sugar coat it. I gave up drugs over 12 years ago, except what the doc tells me to take. I quit smoking about a year ago, and I finally gave up drinking several months ago.  At first I kept it to a 6 pack on a friday night, then I just went cold turkey, and I am proud of that. My body feels better, my memory has improved and most important, I feel like I can kick some ass now, and I have a ton to kick. I've got some serious plans, and now I feel healthy enough to get the job done.

14   Are computers evil?

No, not at all. People are evil. Computers help me everyday. I work traditionally and digitally. It also lets me stay in better touch with my business associates, clients, and loved ones better that ever before.

15)   What is your favorite convention?

I don't have one yet. It would probably be a medium size  horror one within a 10 hour drive of Detroit.

16)   What did Todd Lockwood teach you?

  Todd taught me to have a thick skin for one, but the most important thing would be the basics. I was never able to go to a decent art school, so like every other self taught artist out there, I didn't understand the basic's of how an why things where done. Daniel taught me the teaching of America's first Master Howard Pyle. Those things you don't learn from a book. I am still studying and practicing them. In time I will have them down and then I will take on apprentices.

 

17)   Are oil paints evil?

Oil paints are the most wonderful medium ever made, and the easiest to work with. If you make a mistake, all you have to do is take a rag and wipe the paint off, and as long as you did an underpainting in acrylics, your ready to go again. I love the smell of the paint and linseed oil, it's hard to explain, but it's very romantic.

18)   What is it about Suzi Lorraine? (note the spelling of her name please)

Suzi is one of my best friends. I meet her through Daniel when I was training, and she provided me with a lot of photo's to use for reference.  She has always been that ray of light helping guide me through the darkness of the path I walk. A few years ago when I created and started the Dark Angel project, all my so called friends that I brought into the project stabbed me in the back,  When the smoke cleared and my world had crumbled around me, and so called friends where calling me and telling me what a Loser I was, including my Step father who had stole my life's saving because I gave him power of attorney. A voice and a hand reached to me and gave me hope again. Suzi. More about Suzi in a couple more questions.

19)   If your life were a book, what chapter would you be on?

I would be around the half way point.

20)   If you could have lunch with anyone in the world (living or dead) who would it be and why?

President  Clinton, because I think he is a hell of a man. I would hope to learn from him. I almost said Obama.

21)   What are you working on right now?

I can't say a whole lot about that for now, but I will tell you some of it. Outside of the normal publishing work, I have a new project called “”The Deadly Dolz” In some ways it is what I tried to do with the “Dark Angels” except no one is running it but me and the 3 ladies involved.  No family, no friends, no investors, you name it.  The first 2 girls are superstars in there own right, first up is Spooky.  She has her own TV show. It is bizarre and spooky and funny as heck.  You can go here and see lots more about it, and pictures of Spooky  http://spookyd.com/    and the second lady is  none other than supermodel, movie star in over 50 movies, Miss Suzi Lorraine.  You can go here and see plenty of photo's and movie shorts.

http://www.modelsuzi.com/  Well be announcing the 3rd DD'z in a couple of weeks. We are going to have tryouts and whoever wins this will not have to worry about the future anymore. There is even going to be a reality TV show that features the ladies and me every once and a while.

22)   What does the future hold for Nick Rose?

Lots of surprises my friends. One is going to called “The book of Rose” and another book will be called, “What I learned from the Masters” plus a book on digital art.  I am planning on starting my own publishing company as well unless someone makes me a very good offer.

    I do have an agent now, and he will be handling my work starting in Sept.  Hopefully he will open some new doors for me as well