I’ve produced a lot of different types of illustration, but the genre from which I derive the most satisfaction and for which my work is best suited is horror. This is because it demands a high level of audience participation. Without audience there is no art.

For me, the object with horror is not so much to frighten as it is to disturb. I couldn’t frighten you with my work if I tried, but I can take you to places in your head where you will frighten yourself.

I have collaborated in photography, painting and drawing (both fine art and Illustration), mixed media, sculpture, writing (short-shorts, short stories and novels), book design, book proposals, radio plays, and interactive CD-ROM. When I collaborate with someone, a new artist is created, one with more experience, technique, etc... I learn a lot from being a part of that artist.

I was going to produce art whether any of it ever sold or not.
Some artists fear becoming locked into a commercial thing, as if they'll take a job and be so good at it that that is all anyone will ever hire them to do, or that once they do something commercial, they will have compromised their artistic vision to the point that they won't be able to see their way to return to what they love, or they will become blind to the commercial curruption in their work and become a failure, living out their lives as broken, wasted imaginations.
I came into my work by doing just exactly the sort of commercial work I saw publishers accepting and only began to insert my vision strongly after I began to get work. It is art, but I never loose sight of the fact that this is a business and to survive in a career in which you get to do much of what you want, you have to occassionally make sacrifices, compromises, and often work harder than people who go to work every day. It is easy to come up with a glowing picture of what it is to work for yourself, but the reality is that it is as tough or tougher than any other job -- and job it is, love it or not.

- Alan M. Clark