Teaceratops, or Heather Shepherd, is an artist, illustrator, part-time dinosaur-themed superheroine, and all round painterly designerly sort. This interview gives a brief overview of someone who draws comics and dinosaurs and elves. Heather has a busy schedule filled with enough work to pay the bills, which is pretty much the golden gates of heaven to an artist starting on a career. She also works like fury and markets herself well.

Teaceratops, tell us a bit about yourself and your work.

I know I kind of stretch myself over too many areas, and it gets a little confusing as to what I actually *do* sometimes… I used to draw comics as a teenager, then in my early-mid 20s I made computer games, and for the last year or so, I’ve been trying to get back into comics again (they’re more fun!).

Is this your living? Are you aware you may have the best job in the world
ever?

Yes, this is my living, and it has been for about 6 years now (although, I sold my first painting at 13 years old – it wasn’t that good though) I first started working in computer games as a 2D artist – which was fun, but I wanted more time to work on my own projects, and freelancing was perfect for that. I also have a few health problems, so it’s nice to be able to give myself the day off if I’m feeling rough, and work on the weekend instead. I love working on computer games and comics – my parents tried to get me to study architecture, but I’m really glad I didn’t!

Can you put what you do into a nutshell? Into a short list? Would you like a
plunger to help?

Ha! A plunger might be a good idea! I work on computer games, comics, books, and I make t-shirt designs and stand-alone prints for my online shop when I have some free time.

What sort of games? Did you do the art? The programming? Design work, plots and plans and rules?

I used to work on mostly computer games for children on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii. Now I mostly work on games for iPhones and iPad, as I’ve got the means to test the games at home (which makes development much easier!) I work on the art for the game, mostly concept art, 2D in-game assets and User Interfaces. Unfortunately, I’ve never had the opportunity to draw dinosaurs in games ‘officially’, but I did hide a few in the background on a few games.

How did you get to draw dinosaurs? Have you always liked them?

Haha! Yes, I’ve liked dinosaurs for a long time – since I was around 7 years old, and my parents took me to see Jurassic Park! After then, everything was dinosaurs. It’s only been in the last couple of years though, that I’ve realised so many other people seem to like dinosaurs too – my best selling t-shirts are my dinosaur ones.

What is your least favourite thing to do?

My least favourite thing to do, would probably involve leeches, spiders, cacti and not being able to see – but I’ve managed to mostly avoid any task that involves more than 2 of those at any one time, so I wouldn’t know.

Heather’s work is online at Dinobot Illustration with an about.me account here. Her twitter name is @DinobotTwit.