Exclusive interview with ZeusArts

For the New York Jets, fandom spreads far wide from just the field. We sit down with artist Duane Tomaszewski, aka ZeusArts, in an exclusive interview for The Jet Press.

ZeusArt‘s work first caught my eye via his Instagram account last season. His 20×30 canvas-sized, digital piece of Brandon Marshall circulated the app and no doubt gained the attention of many. The timely detail ZA puts in shouldn’t go overlooked, and credit should be given when it’s due, which is why I wanted to take the time to talk with the artist and allow fans everywhere of the New York Jets to marvel in his work.

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Matthew Cava: Hey Duane. Thanks for taking the time to sit with me for The Jet Press! Tell us a bit about yourself, outside of your art. And we all want to know, where did you get the ZeusArts name from?

ZeusArts: Thanks for having me Matt. Aside from my art and the Jets, I love animals, nature, my wife and two kids, and being outside when I can.  I coached my daughter’s softball teams growing up, and now I coach my son’s T-Ball team, so I get to start over with him now.  It’s exciting and a lot of fun to see them develop.  I am also a big golfer; although lately I have been having trouble finding the time to put in to my golf game.

The nickname “Zeus” came from college.  I played football up at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, and pretty much everyone got a nickname during camp.  Most weren’t as flattering as Zeus, so I got lucky.  It came from my last name, but it worked well because I was a big hitter (haha).  When I started to make designs and create my own artwork in college, I started putting a little “ZeusArts” logo on it, and it stuck.

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MC: What inspired you to begin your art, as I know you had mentioned to me you were once a Creative Director for the New York Mets?

Did you always enjoy art or did you pick up the passion as you got older?

ZA: As a kid growing up I was always watching sports and drawing pictures of my favorite players.

Kids at school would pay me a couple of bucks to do drawings of their favorite players, and in high school my teammates would pay me to draw pictures of them.

I was constantly drawing athletes, and playing sports, so I couldn’t really imagine a better fit for my career.  Other than maybe being a professional athlete!

MC: I remember last season seeing your incredible Brandon Marshall piece circulating Instagram in hopes of it reaching to Marshall or the Jets themselves – and that it eventually did! What was that like to see them reach out to you for the piece, and how important is social media for your brand?

ZA: It was funny because when the person from the Jets emailed me about buying a canvas print of the Marshall piece, I didn’t realize he was with the team until after the fact (when I noticed the shipping address was the Jets facility in Florham Park).  I think it was a few weeks later, I was packing for the trip up to Buffalo Week 17, and a person messaged me on Instagram saying that my work was on the Jets website.

Photo of Duane Tomaszewski’s Brandon Marshall artwork. Used by permission for TheJetPress.com

I didn’t know what he meant, and then I saw they had a feature on Brandon Marshall winning the team MVP award. I saw they had the piece on display along with all the engraved Tiffany pieces.  I called my wife over to look, and I got a little choked up.  It was a surreal moment where you are like “That’s it, I’ve made it to the big leagues!” (haha). Jokes aside, to have my work be given to a special player like Brandon is just amazing, especially when it was in recognition for him being the team MVP.

To answer your second point, social media has been a game changer for me. 10-15 years ago there was no way for an artist to reach this kind of audience without spending thousands of dollars.  Social media has truly leveled the playing field for small businesses and artists everywhere.  It’s an amazing tool, and anyone who isn’t jumping on board is putting themselves at a great disadvantage.

MC: As you mentioned earlier, you made the trip up to Buffalo for Week 17 last season. Quite the committed fan move. How long have you been a Jets fan? When did you know you “Bleed Green”?

ZA:  I remember it well.  It was 1981 and I was sitting in my living room drawing all the NFL team helmets on a sheet of paper.  My dad came in and said “Who’s your favorite team?”. At this point, I didn’t really have a favorite team. Most of the kids at school were Giants fans, so I said “I don’t know, Giants I guess.”  He immediately said “Nah, I’m a Jets fan, you should be too.”  That was all the encouragement I needed.  From that point on I watched every Jets game that year.  I remember crying every time they lost, most notably after a heartbreaking loss to the Bills in the playoffs.  Jets were down like 21-0, battled back to within a score and Richard Todd threw an interception at the goal line in the waning seconds to lose it.

Photo of Duane Tomaszewski & Darron Lee, used by permission for TheJetPress.com

MC: Ah, I think we are all right there with you on the heartbreaking moments with this team. Let’s spin it positively – what is your favorite Jets moment?

ZA: I have a few.  Beating Jacksonville at home in the playoffs was a great game to be at back in 1998.  As was the 2002 blowout win over Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.  But my favorite moment had to come earlier that year, when we went into New England and beat the Patriots on their own turf in a huge, must-win scenario on Sunday Night Football.  That was an amazing night.  I was very vocal and not sure how I made it out of there in one piece!

MC: What are your expectations for the upcoming season?

ZA: I am feeling fairly optimistic for this season.  I really think the team was a lot better than their record last year, which is funny to say about a 10 win team.  But I feel like the defense underachieved last year, and will be better this year after a season under their belts with head coach Todd Bowles.  I am a huge Ryan Fitzpatrick fan, so I really want to see him back leading this team and building on the success the offense had last year.  If not, it will be interesting to see what Geno Smith can do in Chan Gailey’s system and with these offensive weapons.

Photo of Duane Tomaszewski & Darron Lee, used by permission for TheJetPress.com

MC: Do you have a favorite piece? *We hope it’s a Jets one!* What about the piece stands out the most to you?

ZA: It’s hard to pick a favorite piece, but one that comes to mind is probably the Curtis Martin digital painting I did back in 2011.  It was one of the first digital paintings I had ever done.  Whenever I look at that piece, I think to myself “I really like that style… maybe I should try to get back in that direction a little with my next piece.”  Another one that stands out in my head was a George St. Pierre design I did in 2009.  That was something that kinda represented a transition for me as an artist, because it marked a point where I started to look at the computer as a way to create digital art, as opposed to just doing graphic design work.  I think it helped me as a graphic designer as well as an artist, because I started to loosen up and develop a personal style, which is important.

MC: Care to share any recent and future projects you have lined up?

ZA: I just did a huge 4-ft commissioned piece for Willie Colon, which was awesome.  To have a player contact me directly about creating artwork for them was pretty cool, and it never would have happened if not for social media since that’s where he saw my work.  I’m also in the process of working with a couple of players on t-shirt designs, which is exciting.  Especially since I’m going to be producing all my shirts in-house going forward.  I felt like it was important for me to do it in-house so I can better control quality and timing, for better customer satisfaction.  I look at my shirts as pieces of art, and I want a high quality product and first class customer service.  Over the summer, I will have signed artwork up for auction in the Marty Lyons, Victor Green and Joe Namath golf tournaments, to help raise money for their charities.  So that will be some good exposure and a lot of fun.

Photo of Duane Tomaszewski’s t-shirt design for Matt Forte. Used by permission for TheJetPress.com

MC: That all sounds awesome! I’m sure our readers would love to see some more images if you have any to share.

ZA: Of course…

Photo of Duane Tomaszewski’s Lorenzo Mauldin artwork. Used by permission for TheJetPress.com

Photo of Duane Tomaszewski & Darron Lee, used by permission for TheJetPress.com

Photo of Duane Tomaszewski, used by permission for TheJetPress.com

MC: I really appreciate you taking the time to answers these few questions. Where can readers follow your work?

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ZA: My website is www.zeusarts.com, and that has everything from my professional portfolio with a lot of work I have done over the years.  I also have an online shop where you can purchase prints and T-shirts.  I am very active on social media, so readers can follow @zeusarts on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook.  I’m always posting on Instagram, so that’s probably the best place to see what I have going on.