What motivates you when you sit down to create something?
I like to challenge myself because I get distracted or bored pretty easily. I’ll either want to create something using a tool that is traditionally harder to work with (like ballpoint pen), I’ll want to really study or master something (like how to draw a certain animal), or I’ll want to expand upon an idea I’ve worked on before (either making a bigger or much smaller version, or doing it in or on a different medium, or in color). I also love making something beautiful with leftover materials, like the last bits of paint on scrap paper. There’s no pressure, so the results are lighter and freer.
Do you find inspiration in other things besides art?
Nature and animals are my biggest go-tos for inspiration. Getting out and climbing around on boulders or kayaking surrounds me with my subject matter, my color palette, and puts me in a neutral, peaceful headspace. I’m at ease so my ideas come more freely. And animals… I honestly feel more like myself hanging out with a cat or a horse than some people. Writing and music help too. I’ve kept journals since I was nine, and I could get lost in playlists. Music actually creates images in my head, and very easily alters my mood.
Do you like to listen to music when you draw? If so, what’s your go to song?
Absolutely. I love classical music (Vivaldi, Glinka, Mozart) for when I really need to focus on technical pieces. Other times I’ll have Deftones going full blast. I think “Knife Party” is particularly awesome, though not to everyone’s tastes— you’ve got Rodleen Getsic screaming in one part, yet it somehow works with the song. It’s a great example of being unusual but creative with music, and kind of boosts my energy.
Who’s one person you admire?
I admire so many people who are very close to me, so instead of choosing one, I’ll say this: I admire people who pursue what they love and make it happen in a good, honest, way. People who get to do what they love—and succeed at it—without knocking people over to get there… that amazes me and inspires me. It’s what I want.
How has nature played a role in your creativity?
It’s everything. I grew up in Northwestern Pennsylvania in the middle of a National Forest. We had black bears wandering through our backyard, bald eagles flying by our house, and a river that I spent summers swimming in. It was heaven. Then my parents split up and I moved to the city, so I lost that easy access to the wilderness. Continuing to focus on animals and nature with my art is my way of always staying connected not only to my past and who I am, but to something I deeply respect and want others to learn to respect as well.
Could you explain your fascination with foxes?
They’re such stunning little creatures, and I’ve loved them forever. I think they’re one of my spirit animals. They have this quiet nobility to them, yet they’re funny and playful. They live alongside humans, but you rarely see them, so whenever I catch a glimpse of one I feel like it’s good luck.
How would you describe your style?
Artistically, it’s hard to. For me it all comes down to detail. I think I range from loose and sketchy to tight and technical, but I’m always aware of how lines are moving and where they lay, what textures are appropriate, the lighting, anatomy, color or shading, etc. It’s so satisfying when those elements come together to make sense, whether it be the technical outcome, or emotional feel I needed from the piece.
Do you plan to pursue art professionally?
I’m trying to figure that out. I have a “day job” at an animal hospital, but I’m happiest when I’m making art for my own enjoyment. When I get a great response to my work, it sends me over the moon and makes me want to make more. Commission-based work, while lucrative, is very restrictive and can sometimes suck the fun right out of the whole process. It’s a give-and-take situation. I’m definitely learning as I go, and I find it really hard sometimes, especially without a mentor. All I know is I’d like to continue making art, but realize that once it turns into a chore or something I dread, I need to be able to step away from it for a bit. I don’t want to ruin something that’s inherent and enjoyable. Maybe I’ll become a naturalist who takes really incredible field notes.
Recognition or just personal expression?
Both. The recognition is an added bonus to my personal expression. It makes me giddy. I’ll be honest, I always have a moment of tiny shock and surprise when people like my stuff, because when you’ve spent so much time on a piece and know where you struggled, or what parts are your weakest, you hyper-focus on it and sometimes forget the big picture. Recognition helps me see what I sometimes forget. It’s fuel to the fire of creativity.
What are your favorite colors to work with?
I’ve only recently slipped back into the world of color, and I love it. Vibrant orange, saffron yellow, burnt sienna. Those were my most worn-down crayons as a kid, and colors I love wearing. I will forever have black thrown in there though… it’s too useful and powerful a color to ignore.
Is there a certain place where you feel most creative?
In the shower or right before I fall asleep. I go through a stream of consciousness about anything and everything. The things that I think could turn into something, I write down or type up as a memo on my phone.
What makes you happy?
Getting things accomplished, surpassing my expectations, and seeing the people I love happy and successful.
Any closing comments?
Respect nature and all the creatures in it, as it’s your oldest, biggest family. And I think everyone has a creative side. Nurture it and work with it. It’ll give you a whole new perspective on life.
Thanks for reaching out to me!
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Interviewed by POI
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Special thanks to Golden Boy Press for this awesome post! They asked me some great questions and showcased some of my work. Woo!
Check them out… lots of up-and-coming artists and musicians featured regularly.
(This is something I sadly learned the hard way. So I’m putting this out here for others to learn before they get into ~trouble~)
If your favorite artist posts something that looks similar to a tv show you watch, DONT POINT IT OUT TO THEM
If an artist you follow has a style that looks sorta like another artist’s style, DONT POINT IT OUT TO THEM
“But Leigh, what if Im just trying to give them constructive criticism?”
ONLY GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IF AN ARTIST ASKS FOR IT.
If an artist asks for specific constructive criticism about their style, THEN you can mention it. IF THEY ASK FOR IT.
If an artist wants to know if their art reminds you of a tv show/movie, THENyou can tell them.
Without being rude. Obviously.
Yeah so, hopefully my fellow art lovers can learn from this.
(if you’re an artist and I said something you disagree with, please reblog and correct me. I wouldn’t want to spread misinformation. Or if you want to add to what I’ve said, please do.)
Ok so I’m already drawing again, I’m either going 110% or 0% with art. But it’s a piece that I’ve started and scrapped then started and scrapped at least 5 times in the last couple weeks and it’s finally at least tolerable for me. I got mildly triggered by a fic recently. It’s fine and no one’s fault. The fic is amazing and was tagged appropriately but triggers are weird and also my PTSD is from getting severely mauled by a dog so I don’t ever expect that to catch tagging nets. Plus it was just a stray sentence anyway not even a scene. Anyway, it’s created a flurry of artistic creation but the particular sentence just keeps playing in my head so fuck it I’m going to draw it. I deal better when I just lean into it. But much like the sketch itself the color I did and re-did then did it over again until I think I settled on something unexpected that feels right. If you individualize the colors they’re quite cheerful on their own but put them together and they feel like horror, and that’s why I love color. But overall it’s a good push outside my artistic comfort zone as it qualifies as an action scene, which is something I’ve never really tried or practiced at all. My work is definitely fairly static and if I ever want to make that comic of my own someday I definitely need to expand my comfort zone to include action.
ILLEGAL GALLERY PRESENTS: Brice Marden’s Theory of Painting
“Painter Brice Marden (American, b.1938) is often associated with Minimalism and is best known for his subtle explorations of color, texture, and form in his work. Marden was born in Bronxville, NY, and attended Boston University’s School of Fine and Applied Arts before receiving an MFA at the Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1963. While still a student, Marden developed his formal style of abstract painting, and gave up his early preoccupation with figural techniques. Though his early works reference an objective creator and the purity of minimalism, Marden has described these works as highly emotional and subjective. His paintings are either monochrome or composed of different color fields that are painted in a rich but atmospheric manner. Marden moved to New York in 1963, and then traveled to Greece and Asia in the beginning of the 1970s; his impressions of the southern European landscape, as well as of antique mythology and Greek architecture, have left a great impact on his work. In the 1970s, Marden’s colors and shapes became lighter and more fluid than those of his earlier works, and the size of his paintings more monumental. Marden also profoundly changed his formal technique after an additional stay in Asia; in the works Marden created after this trip, his curved lines overlap such as Beyond Eagles Mere, creating visual parallels with East Asian writing and with the gestural brushstrokes of Abstract Expressionism. Marden has exhibited his work internationally, including exhibitions at Documenta 5 in 1972 in Kassel, as well as retrospectives at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art in Berlin. Marden, now regarded as one of the most important Contemporary Abstract painters, lives in New York. ”
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crit notes. alla 6/8.
There is something so limitless about how you’ve positioned Levi. Not standing, but maybe on the ground or a bench. Not submissive, not commanding, but definitely someone to lead. To meet the world and life head on. It makes my imagination run. Outdoors, b/c the coat. Or maybe indoors in reader’s apartment hallway. The scene is he’s about to leave but Untitled-Reader kinda falls apart a little and asks him to stay the night? SO MANY SCENES. maybe he is just sitting on the floor and being a good sport at a performance art show. either way, he has all his attention on the moment because he’s with or paying attention to Untitled-Readera kla;sdf ja;lksfda ;a;dlkf al;d SO MANY POSSIBILITIES
And that’s the coolest part about your work, is that you really dig into the essence of what makes (canon-Levi canon-Levi™️). What makes (Untitled-Levi) Untitled-Levi™️? It’s about Levi being the prettiest, most chillest boy oh my god u get me. The patch design and scar is so wild , the modern and high fashioned cravat he is a man of focus, taste, and fun. How could he not be look at those straps! OH and the close crop is nothing short of genius, it’s cropped like a photo i would take with my cell phone. Close enough to capture all the details, and far enough to put him in place, but not too far because you don’t want to be far from Levi.
So without drawing the world of Untitled you’ve captured the story’s essence through its character and it’s such a wonderful homage. Like you have rendered the main reason and more to write a story… IDK i’ve received so much useful, encouraging, generous feedback, but i’ve never received it in an illustrated format. Thank you for reviving my love for the story and for writing for Levi fans. Thank you for being so giving with your presence, attention, and talent.
-> questions for the artist
What was your favorite part of this piece to draw or dream up?
Any particular parts you’re proud of?
What the heck did we do to deserve you?
*Pops open a carton of American Spirits, takes the most languid drag there ever was, and on my exhale, I offer you this…
1. What was your favorite part of this piece to draw or dream up?
Levi is within and without.
In the context of Untitled he is the familiar and the unfamiliar to the art world and your haunted past. Being tentatively ushered by the love of his life, but undoubtedly is the stranger nonetheless. And the best part, he knows it; this is where his wicked intellect lies. He leans in and is without fear even though he holds his suspicions on the true nature of the tangled web you weave. His astuteness has no time for that.
I wanted to express how knowingly obscure he is amidst this newfound covert collective. The fact that he simply is there, inhabiting their little world, threatens its existence and throws it off kilter. He is the honesty that they wish they could obtain through their art. He critiques Eren’s work by existing.
Eren makes work about intimacy and power dynamics, torturously holding them over your head, and all Levi can see is a fraud. What power could Eren possibly wield of entities far larger than himself that Levi hasn’t personally suffered at the hands of with one silver eye as the ultimate payment? To Levi, Eren is a child, carelessly playing with the only toys he has left from his dwindling youth: your body, your heart. And now, he’s the thief.
He could never know true power in the intimacy that he pretends to have. The vulnerability and authenticity you share with Levi is all the power we could ever want to seek as people. The courage and strength to have trust, respect, transparency. That is true power in passion.
I had to find a way to express Levi as a fixed point. Steadfast against the current that you have yet to learn to swim against even after all this time being waist deep.
To the reader, he is the art. He rivals any artificial power Eren could ever hope to obtain through greed and selfish desires.
That being said, I put him against a stark, white background like most modern galleries. Void and lifeless.
But Levi confidently composes himself in your frame and looks on, pushing through the stillness of the ivory cage. Even without direct acknowledgment, you know he’s aware of your wandering eye. He always is.
I wanted him on the floor because he suggested it with your friends, and I thought it was proper to put him there alongside his convictions.
He is humble there in repose, and somehow still exudes a timeless elegance. A challenge.
2. Any particular parts you’re proud of?
I am so proud of the technicality of this piece, the likeness captured, and that I think it successfully aligns with the source.
Levi is so hardened by this world, and yet, strives for so much beauty in his actions and the pleasures of life.
Graphite gives him that softness in the tapered line work, ghosting over every curve and angle.
His pose says it all though: I know you all can see me and I never gave it a thought.
3. What the heck did we do to deserve you?
Heckin’ heck man, I’m just some no good hillbilly ass from TX giving my last brain cell the over time of her god damn LIFE.
Hehe, the question truly is, rather the statement really, is that I am very happy to be apart of a creative community again. I was lost for a while, and I gave this a shot again after many months of not drawing and stagnating in self doubt. But y’all gave me the courage to try again, and I am indebted to this little corner of ours for pushing me to be a better artist and person really, bonding over pieces that bring us so much uninhibited joy. You give your hearts in your works, and I can’t help but do the same. Life is wild, but creating alongside such talented people makes it all worth it.
As I’ve written in the past, I’m new to markers. I haven’t posted too much marker art mostly because the pen I usually use for inking takes forever to dry. I thought then, why not use one of the brush pens since they’re actually designed to dry fast lol (next thought is there are probably pens designed for marker use).
Which then led to me using the opportunity to test out line weight! And the thing about markers (and painting, so I’m told) is that the speed you use them starts to matter, so lining and coloring with them is an especially trying time. Draw too slow and the color is too dark, or worse, the color starts bleeding everywhere. Draw too fast and the color is too light and you need to make a second pass, which may or may not be good. The bad is when the lines visibly overlap, and you’re not going for that kind of style!
Fortunately, mine don’t dry so fast that I can’t blend on further passes, but one false swipe and it’s an un-erasable (which is why I used a previous pic of the third drawing instead of the final version).
When using brush pens, the angle also starts to matter, especially if you want to vary line weights. The taper is a fun part and why pen pressure is a thing in digital art.
Still, it brings a whole new dimension to art that’s fun to play with. I also can’t say that I’m necessarily using them correctly or that the paper I’m using is the best. Maybe it doesn’t have to be so tense!
(Note to self, watch more tutorials)
If you’ve read this far then I’m going to assume you have a non-zero amount of interest in the drawing process itself, so here’s a little treat. The very first marker drawing I made:
The order was pencil -> marker -> ink. You can see how initially I had a different idea of how blending works and how unprepared I was for the speed required to use the markers. I think I did small “sphere blending” tests beforehand but still I was unprepared!
Of course I meant to offer you a challenge. :) Challenges are good for artists. And it has paid off so far, yeah? He’s hot!Did you do an under-drawing on this, or just start with ink? What’s the next step: workable fixative, or will the watercolor just sit over the ink without making it run?
Yup, did a (sloppy sloppy) graphite underdrawing, then inked it with a brush, then did underpainting with a grey-ish blue. Next step is building up my actual colored washes. Luckily my ink doesn’t run, even when rewet. We’ll see how it turns out. XD
That is some magical permanent ink–! Jeez, can I have some ink that doesn’t run under watercolor washes??? Good luck with the watercolors! I might try some tomorrow myself…
ellie-valsin you probably didn’t mean to offer me a challenge by mentioning tradition art, but I took it as one anyway. ;) I didn’t know what to draw so I drew Enjolras… which pretty much sums up my entire approach to art.
(And I’m uploading a WIP (the underpainting) because I will in all likelihood screw up the colors on this painting and be too embarrassed to show the finished thing.)
Of course I meant to offer you a challenge. :) Challenges are good for artists. And it has paid off so far, yeah? He’s hot!
Did you do an under-drawing on this, or just start with ink? What’s the next step: workable fixative, or will the watercolor just sit over the ink without making it run?
Gormley’s talk was based on combining the theoretical aspects of space, and time with the physical dimensions of the corporeal realm. He explains how it is continuous and everlasting, existing without boundaries both internally and to the exterior of the human form, using it as a catalyst for reaction and interaction.
Gormley claims that his interests lie within creating a subject and collective space that usually only resides within the darkness of the human body, specifically the mind. He views this as a place of imagination and of potential, a place in which there are no ‘things’ in this 'dimensionless, limitless, indeed endless’ space. Gormley states that the most profound quality is that is is objectless, which is in direct contrast to the very nature of sculpture as it produces a proposition of materials and scale, whereas paradoxically, this space does not have any of these. It is not inhabited, influenced or touched by foreign entities.
However, as a sculptor, he works directly with real places that have intimate elemental features that pose the question 'can the dark void of the mind be mapped?’ Best shown in ’Aperture VII’ 2010 as it clearly marks out the fundamentals of the human form, but without giving it any true weight or physicality.
(I found this a fascinating notion for a sculptor, and didn’t think that his lecture would be as philosophical and thought provoking as it was.)
Using the figure as a basis, a physicality in which his metaphysical void exists in the mind Gormley claims that the body is its boundaries, its limit in existence, making a formless entity visible and substantial. He did this through the use of an external membrane, his piece, 'Learning to See' (1988-98). A lead capsule that encases the space where Gormley once stood. It’s name originated due to the purpose; an object that sees reflectively and speaks about that connection with the darkness of the interior of the body, demonstrated with the darkness that resides within the capsule.
To develop this idea, Gormley now placed the negative cast against a natural element, the horizon ’Another Place’ (1997). The piece is looking out beyond the horizon, as these surrogate bodies question the relationship between the natural and the unnatural, the internal and the external; a relation with the real body and the infinite body. It raises the idea of the interior darkness and its bodily limit, stretching out to the horizon and whatever is beyond it.
’Blind Light’ (2007) consists of light, water vapor and vast openness which materialistically and aesthetically is contradictory to the encapsulated void of the figures previously demonstrated in Gormley’s work. However, this piece is a better, clearer representation of the ideas Gormley spoke of previously.
“You disappear, to others and to the self, visually and emotionally, you are now consciousness without object, you are the dark void that could only possibly exist internally, now it is external, it is real, freed from the dimensional and measured, ambient environment, the space is actually filled with people, disembodied voices when others approach your own body that they appear to be representations, when they appear close to the edge of the box, they are representations, representations in which the viewers become the viewed.” - Gormley
Little can prepare you for the jazzily titled CCORNUUOORPHANOSSCCOPIAEE·AANORPHANSSHHORNOFFPLENTYYY, his current show at 356 S. Mission where a former warehouse is stuffed full of stuffed animals. They are arranged on wall panels to divide the huge gallery, lie along the edges of the floor and are suspended from rafters. Their little button eyes stare, their stitched mouths smile, their rounded, happy bodies invite cuddling.
To read the full review and to listen to the podcast, click HERE
