We chat to Vice New York art editor and illustrator Nick Gazin

Vice’s New York art editor and illustrator Nick Gazin tells us his ideal clients at the moment are “adult film actresses.” He once worked up some logo designs for Andy San Dimas, the US porn star, and he reckons he’d “be really into doing more art for adult film actresses. I just want to draw naked ladies.”

However, Nick’s far from discontented with what he’s already done. He says: “For the most part the people I have already worked for are the companies, bands and people that I admire the most.” And all this has been achieved from the bedroom of his apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, alongside his cat. “My space is small and full of dolls and books and records that I collect as well as my beloved cat Banjo. Banjo is my main reason for existing and I would kill anyone who tried to take him from me. He is the smartest cat I have ever met,” he tells us.

You’ve almost definitely seen Nick’s work – it’s all over Vice, of course, but it was also on one of your favourite record sleeves of 2013, the eponymous release from Run the Jewels. For us, its style felt totally unlike hip-hop illustrations we were used to. “The aesthetic is part of my general style of punky, angry, comic book-influenced illustration,” says Nick. “I was probably thinking of Gilbert Hernandez, Mike Allred and Santa Cruz skateboard designs most when I drew it.”

Nick’s writing work for Vice and his illustration work for other clients is balanced by a carefully honed technique – “doing everything in a slapdash and rushed fashion.” As well as letting him spend more time making his cat happy, this means he gets to also focus on making sure the artists he commissions for Vice are interesting, original and serve the stories they illustrate perfectly. “For the most part Vice is not about pandering to its readers,” says Nick. “I only try to discuss and present information and stories that are of interest to me because I am not skilled enough to write about or present work that I do not care about and make it interesting. What makes Vice good, to me, is that it dictates what it considers to be good or cool and the audience can either accept or reject it.”