The Artistic Process of FatBol Clothing Artist Series.: Bay Area Artist

Showing posts with label Bay Area Artist. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Ally Kim is making waves in the San Francisco concept art scene, Check out here interstellar styles.

It is a pleasure to introduce a Graduate School comrade Ji won Kim AKA Ally. She is both an amazing digital painter and also can paint with oil like a master. I had portrait painting with her and she made masterpiece after masterpiece and smile at the ease of it all while I would secretly watch over her shoulder and take note on just how dope she was at oils. It is awesome to see her work here and I am excited to get the chance to have her work with Fatbol on future collections!

Interview by Forest Stearns:

Fatbol: First off, tell me What to call you, Who you are, WHERE you’re from, and WHAT you do.

Ally: Hello. My name is Ji won Kim AKA Ally. I’m from Seoul, South Korea. I work concept design as a freelancer since I graduated from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco last year.

I mostly work with digital concept design. But I value foundational study of arts, such as Life drawing, painting and sculpting as well. It motivates me to improve my skill. I am an Oil painter in my spare time.

Fatbol: Where can the world go to see more of your work digitally and gallery?

Ally: I have a website www.allyconcept.com you could see fantasy creature concept design. I put concept design work, oil painting and personal stuff.

Fatbol: What is specific and unique that you plan to develop for the Fatbol project?

Ally: I have been start off with research so far from everywhere. I try to get empty mind so I could fill in abundant of the idea. I usually have fantasy theme in my works. I probably work with my own fantasy design then I will leave everything about the idea up to my hand till I get what I had in mind. Fatbol is new challenge for me. It drives me excite, curious like exploring unknown place. I hope to find enjoyable style through blending those ideas.

Fatbol: What is your favorite style and application for your own work?

Ally: Mostly I love fantasy creature design. I usually start off with original nature. Those natural ideas melt into my brain, start to transform original into various things. When my brain does not have any room for ideas, finally I start to visualize ideas that are base on the purpose and characteristic of it. Through many lousy thumbnail sketches, I finally get some good one. Then add details on it, bring it into Photoshop and getting it done.

Fatbol: Explain your own style and science of art.

Ally: My style is definitely fantasy creature design. I am a concept designer. As you know, concept design is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. I love to design some scary creature and surreal environment. I usually work with digital software such as Photoshop and Corel Painter. Also I love to use any number of traditional mediums such as Oil Painting, pencil, sculpture, markers, etc.

The science in my artwork is finding adrenaline through the darkest, surreal and bizarre things. I aim to create a level of realism with characteristic style in my design. This is the most challenging part of Coming up with a design Like a signature of my design.

Fatbol: What are three words that best describe your artwork?

Ally: Surreal, Dreamlike, and Bizarre

Fatbol: What inspires you?

Ally: There are many artists influenced me such as Craig mullins, Iain Mccaig and Terryl whitlatch. Through class and DVD lectures from those artists whom create magnificent artwork motivates me to improve my skills. And also Alphonse maria mucha, Gustav Klimt and Frederic Church. I was attracted by Art Nouveau style and magnificent colors what they had in their artwork.

There are wide ranges of inspiration. I usually get the inspiration from the original nature first and then develop it with an imagination which is base on the influence of dreams, movies and games.

Fatbol: What is your earliest “artistic” memory?

Ally: I am not sure when does it start but definitely I can say I was not born to be an artist. I think I am late bloomer. Somehow I feel little late to be an artist but on the other hand, I would like to make late artistic memory from now.

Fatbol: What is your goal in life?

Ally: I would like to follow what I want in future. It is not necessary to speak out my goal because contrary to my opinion, the world does not revolve around me. But important thing is doing my best for today, tomorrow and future. All roads will lead one place at the end.

Fatbol: Name something you love, and why.

Ally: Ocean and dolphin. I always love the ocean somehow. There is nothing but huge water and silence. It gives me comfortable feeling. Also when I see dolphin’s eye, I find unknown attractive feeling. I often imagine riding dolphin’s back, holding his fin in deep in the ocean.

Fatbol: What makes you angry?

Ally: I don’t like being controlled by emotional feelings. I get angry when I think I can handle it but I can’t because of the emotional feeling.

Fatbol: What was your favorite toy as a kid?

Ally: I was little Fabre when I was kid. My favorite toy was all bugs. I had addicted to experiment with them.

Fatbol: What is your favorite toy now?

Ally: super sculpey is very unique polymer clay. After I finish all process for the concept design, pick one that interesting me then make small sculpture with sculpey. It is fun to use different medium for same concept design.

Fatbol: What is your “dream” art project?

Ally: I plan “Ocean” conceptual design. It would be base on short story. From the character to background design, I would like to make full of my creation for the Ocean. I’ve been thinking this own project for a while. Now it is at the beginning of whole process. After I finished this concept design, I plan to publish this.

Fatbol: What have you been listening too while you’ve been working on your art[recently]?

Ally: I’ve been listening mostly calm music such as classic. I don’t use to listening classic before but when I get a chance to listen while I work on some painting, it makes me feel cozy and help to concentrate on work. Ironically to say, I always looking for adrenalin through painting but somehow calm music like classic help me to focus on it. Recently I am working on oil paint for gallery group exhibition.

Fatbol: If you were a cocktail on a drink menu at a bar, what would your name be?

Ally: A Dark violet Ocean

Fatbol: If you could go back in time and talk to “8 year old YOU”, what would you say to her/him?

Ally: I would say “Don’t be serious. Whatever it comes to you, just enjoy the moment. That’s all you need”

Fatbol: If you could collaborate with any other artist [living or dead], who would it be and why?

Ally: I would collaborate with two people. One is Frederic Church who was an American landscape painter. When I saw his work at first time, I was surprised by magnificent colors what He had in his artwork. The other is Stan Winston who was an American visual effects supervisor, makeup artist, and film director. He was best known for his work in the Terminator series, the Jurassic Park series, Aliens. I was inspired their work and want to follow their footstep.

Fatbol: What is the best bit of advice that you have ever been given?

Ally: “Don't let them take away what you believe”– Anonymous

“The question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or the others crazy?” - Albert Einstein.

Try again, Fail again. Fail better-Samuel Beckett

Fatbol: If you had a chance to say one sentence for the whole world to hear, what would you say?

Ally: Dear World. Get out of my way!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Sonny Wong, The Humble Wizard of Humboldt Letter Science is up!

Good afternoon world! Today we have another special guest, Sonny Wong from behind the Redwood Curtain. This guy is one of my biggest inspirations in font architecture. A true Jedi of the Sharpie. We are stoked to have him join our team.

Interview by Forest Stearns.

Fatbol: First off, tell me What to call you, Who you are, WHERE you’re from, and WHAT you do.

SW: My name is Sonny Wong. I live behind the Redwood Curtain in beautiful Humboldt County. I am a graphic designer and I own a health food store, Humboldt Healthy Foods in Fortuna Cali. On the side, I've been chasing the art life since I was a lil tyke, and still to this day, at 36, I eat, breath and manifest art everyday.

Fatbol:
Where can the world go to see more of your work digitally and gallery?

SW: I have a website, World Wide Wong (http://www.worldwidewong.com) that shows some of my stuff, but my most recent work I post on a blog with a buddy of mine named The Sheik, called SHEIKvsWONG (http://www.sheikvswong.wordpress.com)

SW: I want to bring my own personal style to the Fatbol Project. To me that is the most important thing to bring to the table, your own style.

Fatbol:
What is your favorite style and application for your own work?

SW: My favorite style is that old black and white, pen and ink shit. That is where I spent most of my developmental stages, filling up black books with sharpies. I've spent lots of time working with spray paint, acrylic on canvas, block prints, and I love all those too…

Fatbol:
Explain your own style and science of art.

SW: My style is a fusion of comics, graffiti, and historical work. I look at making art like therapy, so I will be working out things I am contemplating in my life into my art. I also try to bring humor to it, I might be painting a subject matter that is strange or serious, but I like to make the viewer get a chuckle from my own cynicism.

SW: Clean. Colorful. Controlled.

Fatbol:
What inspires you?

SW: I will find inspiration everywhere… beautiful scenery, music, the news, other artists, samurai movies, my kids….

Fatbol:
What is your earliest “artistic” memory?

SW: When I was a kid, and would be getting too rowdy or whatever, instead of getting busted or put on time out, my mom would make me draw a picture that she would chose… she would say, "Ok, now you are gonna sit here and draw a picture of the Golden Gate, I want to see a boat and the city" I was like 6 or 7, and ever since then I have drawn.

Fatbol:
What is your goal in life?

SW: Simply to be happy.

Fatbol:
Name something you love, and why.

SW: I love my kids, they are the dopest things I ever created and they amaze me everyday.

Fatbol:
What makes you angry?

SW: Hate makes me angry.

SW: Star Wars toys… specifically the AT-AT

Fatbol:
What is your favorite toy now?

SW: My Mac.

Fatbol:
What is your “dream” art project?

SW: I don't know exactly what it would be, but whatever it would be would have to be of a huge scale and have a large impact visually… a mural on the face of the moon?

Fatbol:
What have you been listening too while you’ve been working on your art[recently]?

SW: I listen to quite a wide range of stuff… MF DOOM to PINK FLOYD to reggae to dub… depends on the mood, or if I just have shuffle on my ipod.

SW: "Its A Wong Way Home" and it would be strong as hell.

Fatbol:
If you could go back in time and talk to “8 year old YOU”, what would you say to her/him?

SW: I'd say "follow your dreams and work hard at that and you will be happy as hell young'un"

Fatbol:
If you could collaborate with any other artist [living or dead], who would it be and why?

SW: Paul Gauguin, I just love his paintings, and the idea of living on a tropical island just doing your thang.

Fatbol:
What is the best bit of advice that you have ever been given?

SW: My dad told me when I was a kid, "marry a woman that you meet while you are doing what you love, because if you marry someone that starts doing the things you love after you meet, it won't last." That was the smartest thing he ever said to me.

Fatbol:
If you had a chance to say one sentence for the whole world to hear, what would you say?

SW: Treat others how you want to be treated. The world would be a kinder place instantly.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Straight from the East Bay, ELROD is shining with style!

YES! I am Pleased to introduce the queen of glitter, Leanne Rodriguez, ELROD for those who know! She has become a beacon in the East Bay art scene, but holds true to here LA background. Welcome to the family.

©Leanne Rodriguez

Interview by Forest Stearns.

Fatbol: First off, tell me What to call you, Who you are, WHERE you’re from, and WHAT you do.

LR: Hello friends and appreciators of the creative world. My name is Leanne Rodriguez, but please, call me ELROD. I’m from the sunny valleys of Southern Califas and I am currently the den mother to 40 masters-level students at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. When I am not tending to my cubs, I am at home in Berkeley throwing glitter on paintings of topless mariachi girls and hanging out with my harem of Chihuahuas.

Fatbol: Where can the world go to see more of your work digitally and gallery?

LR: Well, if one were so inclined, they should check out the digital gallery at mexakitsch.blogspot.com, or they could go down to Amor Eterno Tattoo and Art Space in Oakland. I will also have some NEW NEW paintings up in Oakland’s June Art Murmur at Classic Car west 411 26^th Street, Oakland and the show is an all female lineup of bad ass artists and vendors called the “Femme C[art]el”.

Fatbol: What is specific and unique that you plan to develop for the Fatbol project?

LR: I wish I could tell you- I haven’t gotten that far yet. A lot of my current work focuses mainly on Mexican themes, custom car culture, and sparkly stuff, but that’s not all I can do. I had to sit down and take a nostalgic trip into my old sketchbooks [“wow, I forgot I drew that!”] to remind me that I shouldn’t express myself as a one trick pony with nothing but some glitter and pin up girls. I’m taking a moment to break away from my comfort zone and flesh out some ideas I have running around in my brain, but I’m also afraid to lose my “voice” that I have been developing over the past few years. This is my predicament and I am both excited and determined to meet the challenge because Fatbol is such an inspiring collective of creative minds and fantastic concepts. I hope to AT LEAST add my personal mexi-flare and incorporate my style [and maybe ONE..or two… hot girls] with the Fatbol vision.

Fatbol: What is your favorite style and application for your own work?

LR: I love to paint pictures that look flat, graphic, contrived, stylized, kitschy, seductive, sparkly and eye-catching. To achieve these attributes, I choose to work mainly on wood and use acrylics, glitter, various mediums/gels, spray paints, air brush, gaudy fabrics [like velvet and lace], wall papers, and any shiny little objects that work with my vision. In my opinion, it’s kind of hard to walk into a room of paintings and not be immediately drawn to the hot pink crushed velvet picture with a bullfighter pin up girl on it who’s costume is covered in swarovsky crystals. Well, it’s hard for ME to not be drawn to something like that.

Fatbol: Explain your own style and science of art.

LR: My style, like I mentioned before, is very flat and graphic. There is no sense of “painterly” qualities whatsoever, and I like that. I don’t like shading, but I enjoy rendering my work by placing solid colors in order so the eye blends and renders the object for you. It’s the juxtaposition of colors that I enjoy to play with the most. I really enjoy watching colors react with one another. The science behind my work is all in the layering. I use a multitude of mediums, and I don't actually use the same application more than a few times. Because of this, each painting is like an experiment and usually involves a lot of praying and pants-shitting. It’s both fun AND scary. I think I might be addicted to the adrenaline that pumps through me while I’m waiting for a piece to dry.

Fatbol: What are three words that best describe your artwork?

LR: Sexy, sparkly, prideful

Fatbol: What inspires you?

LR: My culture [both the Hispanic and the American], the rhythm of a girl’s hips as she’s walking down the street in some platforms [yeah, you know what kind of girl I’m talking about… No, not a hooker. The girl that wears whatever the hell she wants, and bitch WERKS it ‘cuz she don’t give a F-], the way a single speckle of glitter catches light, a ’64 Impala with a lace/flake paint job, channeled and slammed. My family and friends. The view from my house.

Fatbol: What is your earliest “artistic” memory?

LR: Well, I don’t remember this, but my mother always tells me the stories of how, as an infant, I would remove my diapers and use my ELROD brand “bio paint” on the walls of my Mother Goose nursery [I went through a 2 month phase of having my diapers duct taped onto me]. But personally, me earliest memories of art consist of me coming home from preschool, turning on David of the Gnomes and sitting down with my Rose Art coloring kit and coloring books. I have since graduated to reality tv, liquitex paints and pin up girls.

Fatbol: What is your goal in life?

LR: My goal is to live on my own terms, at my own pace, free of regret and full of gaudiness/love.

Fatbol: Name something you love, and why.

LR: I love the feeling of driving in a car towards the sunset… right at dusk when the sky is bright orange and the street lights are just turning on. Let’s take it up a few notches and throw my best friend Leah in the passenger seat and play some Madvilliany. Large sun glasses and smoke drifting in the breeze… I’m feeling a euphoric pulse though my veins remembering those times. It reminds me of being carefree in southern California with people who love me. The best times of my life.

Fatbol: What makes you angry?

LR: People who don’t care about the impact our lifestyles have on the planet. Politicians who don’t care about the quality of our education and food supply. Painting late at night and realizing you don’t have enough paint to accomplish what you wanted to, making you put it off until the art store is open the next day. Selfishness, impatience, and carless animal owners do it to me also.

Fatbol: What was your favorite toy as a kid?

LR: My Rose Art art kits. 20 colors in 5 different mediums- marker, crayon, color pencil, water color, and pastel. I didn't care what other toys where out there, just give me the damn kit, mom.

Fatbol: What is your favorite toy now?

LR: My laptop. I am highly addicted to the Internet. There’s just too much creativity and knowledge out there to explore. Long live youtube.

Fatbol: What is your “dream” art project?

LR: Funny you ask…. I am currently making my dream project come to life. Check it out here: travocollabo.blogspot.com

It’s a traveling art collaboration I put together that involves artists from all over the states and it has been growing and evolving into something beautiful. I enjoy connecting artists with one another and showcasing the talent that gets contributed. Please check it out and pass it on. Also, feel free to join in on the fun. Contact me if you’re interested!!

Fatbol: What have you been listening too while you’ve been working on your art[recently]?

LR: Lots of Anticon goodness: Clouddead, Odd Nosdam, Themselves. I kind of flop around with musical phases. This phase kicked in around a month ago, after a long over-due Kimbrough Johnson period.

Fatbol: If you were a cocktail on a drink menu at a bar, what would your name be?

LR: A Glittery Nipple with extra sugar on the rim [YUM]

Fatbol: If you could go back in time and talk to “8 year old YOU”, what would you say to her/him?

LR: “What? Oh that? That’s just a unibrow. Don’t worry, you’ll learn how to use tweezers in about 4 more years. Oh, and get ready for liquid eyeliner- your life won’t be the same after it.”

Fatbol: If you could collaborate with any other artist [living or dead], who would it be and why?

LR: My boyfriend, Michael. He is a musician and a dreamer and he always talks about the house we are going to build. I only dream of what we would come up with together because we are both so eclectic and not afraid to design in bold and both have unconventional tatses. I think it would be most amazing to build the home that we would potentially raise our future family in. That, or I would love to work in a custom auto shop and airbrush that Aztec Warrior on the side of a gold van. I would love to work with anyone familiar with and inspired by the work of Walt Prey and Larry Watson, but I would specifically love to work on a complete custom vehicle with Mr. Cartoon.

Fatbol: What is the best bit of advice that you have ever been given?

LR: “Paint what you know, not what you see. That’s how you keep it original”- Mark Tennant

“PRACTICE”- Forest Stearns

“One for the bulk, and two for the remainder”- Family Guy.