Tee Villain

The world of pop-culture apparel is a fickle beast. It exists in a constant state of mutation, reshaping itself to assume the form of that which the masses find momentarily fashionable. To succeed in such an immoderate industry, it takes more than merely a skillful hand to etch your mark into the minds and hearts of consumers. One must transcend the banalities of saturation and infuse a mélange of innovation and ambiguity into their work. Veteran scribbler and teeVillain Master Mind Phil Postma joins yours truly for a leisurely cruise in my airship, where we discuss heroes & villains, monster movies, and prom queens.

And now, a brief voyage into the alcoves of the mind of Minion Factory.

Your designs seem to derive from a medley of various forms and styles. How would you describe your art and the manner of which you achieve it?
I can’t really describe my art style, I keep changing it. I’ve been working in TV animation on and off for over 20 years now, mostly as a character designer and had to change the style I draw in all the time. Soon it just became habit to see what other styles I could play with and I just never stopped. I do tend to just stick with basic line art and simple colours, kinda like old comics.

Artists draw from various sources for inspiration, e.g. incantations, black magic, reality television. What are some of your muses?
Anything I can Hear and see visually, I don’t retain information for very long that I read but hearing it is OK. It’s weird and I don’t understand why my brain works that way but that’s just how it is. It’s why I have mostly art books, comics and soundtracks around, I also watch a lot of movies and documentaries.

The coalescence of frailty and fright in your “Prom Queen” design make it a poignant piece of pop-culture perfection. How do you come up with such improbable pairings?
It was just mixing “Barbie” with Stephen King’s “Carrie”, I can’t believe so many people liked it. It’s kinda hard to describe how I come up with things, I guess it’s like those “Ink Blot” tests where you see a black spatter and you say what you think it looks like. Things just pop into my head when I see an image or something in a movie, I scribble it in a sketch book and draw it out in detail later.

Is there a moment in your childhood that would serve as the catalyst for your infusion of Pop Culture into the Horror genre? In other words, what triggered such a fascination? You may lie down if you wish.
Mainly the revival of old monster movies from the Sixties that I saw on Television. I Love how bright and exaggerated everything was, it’s how old was made new again by mixing it with the pop culture of the day and the Retro art scene was born.

Given your ties to yours truly, if the SWP were to raid your art studio, what would they most likely discover?
Nothing but Books, Toys and DVD’s of every kind. My entire apartment is cover in it, not one square foot is empty.

If you found yourself to be in a perilous position, with whom would you be more inclined to side, Super Heroes or Super Villains?
 Neither, I’m more of a Watcher of History. It plays out over and over again no matter what side your on, win or lose, there is no victory just repetition.

On what Social Media outlets do you reveal yourself in true form, i.e. where can we find your work?
Mainly my Blog and Facebook, people have asked me about “Instgram” since most artist have one but I don’t have a cell phone, too expensive for my meager income.

If you could choose one figure from any category in Pop Culture to represent you by adorning themselves with one of your designs, who would that character be?
Probably Kang or Kodos from the Simpsons Halloween Specials. All they do is declare how stupid the human race is and giggle about it, just like me.

You haphazardly stumble across a time machine while hiking one day. If given the choice between traveling one week into the future, or delving one week into your past, which would you choose? Make sure to explain the reasoning behind your decision.
The future, I already know what has happened and there is no point in looking back. Always move forward, but it is only for one week and I would be doing the same thing from one week to the next anyway. So I guess it really doesn’t matter which way I go, it would be the same either way.

Please describe the soundtrack to which your life is set.
[Television] theme songs. I love them, The Flintstones, The A-Team, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Real Ghostbusters, Jayce and The Wheeled Warriors and so many more.

When it comes to interrogating your enemies, do you prefer lashings or electricity?
Electricity, I like to see them wiggle.

What would be your favorite monster movie, one that you could watch every day while wasting away in a jail cell?
John Carpenter’s The Thing.

It appears as though my fuel supply has been compromised. Tell me, Mr. Postma, have you ever gone…skydiving?
No, I have never gone *shove* skydiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…..

I would like to thank Mr. Postma for dropping by and allowing me to pick the iron-clad locks of his master mind. If you would like to contribute to his pop-culture addiction, pick up one of his latest designs today or peruse his personal online venue.