Interview with Illustrator Coulter Young

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art, artist as brand, artwork, drawing, illustration, innovation, sketching

The Best of The Illustrators Journal 2019: Interview with Coulter Young

Here are some excerpts from the colorful interview we had with Coulter in our Holiday issue in 2018. Our entire interview with him can be found here

 

When did you first think about art as something you wanted to do? Were you encouraged or discouraged by family, friends, teachers, mentors?

I was always drawing as a kid but did not consider art as a career option until I went to college. In high school I was on the ski team and I raced slalom. My motivation at that time was to go to college in Vermont, ski and study Recreational Management. I arrived at Green Mountain College in July to meet with the Dean of the school and take a aptitude placement test to find out my interests. I placed 95% in the arts and 5% in Management. The Dean advised me to become a Fine Arts major for the first semester and go from there. With my parents blessing that was how I was directed down the path of the arts.

What kind of kid were you? Where did you grow up? What were your influences?

I have been told that I was a laid back kid that you could bring anywhere. Just as long as I had a case of hot wheels with me I was good. I grew up in Mahopac, N.Y. a small town in Putnam County about an hour north of NYC. My extended fam- ily lived in Westfield N.J. were I spent time there during the holidays and my summer was spent down at the Jersey shore. My influences when I was young were 1970’s superheroes, matchbox, Hot Wheels and Kiss.

Your style is very unique. Did you work on developing a style or is that what naturally came out of you?

As a student of Illustration we were all encouraged to come up with our own style to set us apart from another. I did develop a style in my early days and as I recall I wanted to incorporate the elements of water, wind and fire into my artwork. If you look at my earliest portraits you will see a lot of swirling colors and organic shapes.

I’m curious about how you choose what to work on. I imagine your process takes a long time to finish so it’s an important deci- sion to decide what to work on. What’s does your process entail?

Start to finish. Can you give us a short step-by-step? Outside the realm of Illustration were the subject is chosen for you I take on a different process. I am inspired by music. I will choose a musician that has a look that intrigues me and sketch them with pencil and paper for a few days. Once I have a sketch that I like I will create a large painting of the sketch and then start making decision in my head about the color scheme. Once I have that part done I will paint until the painting is done. I like to paint for about 4 or 5 hours at a time.

What do you do to promote yourself and get work?

I try to have at least 2 shows a year to keep my work in the public eye. Other than that I just promote my website http://www.coulteryoung. com

 

 

Artist Renaldo Kuhler: An Imaginative Master

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artist as brand, artwork, drawing, illustration, innovation, sketching

The land of Rocaterrania imagined by artist Renaldo Kuhler over 60 years revealed for the first time in print

This story is reprinted from “Its Nice That”

Every now and then trolling about the Internet you come across something truly illuminating. This is one such story and artwork. – Editor

Words by Brett Ingram, Tuesday 05 December 2017

Over the course of 60 years, Renaldo Kuhler (1931-2013) created the imaginary land of Rocaterrania. The artist imagined and drew every facet of a fictional society and country. Aside from Kuhler’s day job as a scientific illustrator at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, he created a world of his own, going so far as to invent a religion, language, alphabet and even an independent movie commission. Brett Ingram created a feature-length documentary in 2009, Rocaterrania, and now, for the first time an extensive book featuring 430 illustrations has been published by Blast books. Here, with kind permission, we show some of Kuhler’s drawings and publish Ingram’s introduction.

One wet autumn day in 1994, my car broke down and I had to take the city bus to get to my studio in downtown Raleigh. Several stops along the way, a flamboyant giant who eventually would alter the course of my life boarded the bus.

He perched on the front seat by the door and with a booming voice commenced an impassioned monologue extolling the virtues, joys, and privileges of public transportation. The automobile had made a pigsty of America’s paradise! Public transportation preserved natural resources and reduced air pollution. Travelling by bus was more sociable than riding alone in a car. He spoke to no one in particular, and that seemed just as well with the driver and fellow passengers who looked away uncomfortably, occasionally stealing a voyeuristic glance.

Six-foot-four and stout, with a bushy white beard and ponytail, he wore a custom-tailored uniform of indeterminate origin: a sleeveless Kelly green suit jacket with wide, black, notched lapels, epaulets, and brass buttons, a matching suit vest, yellow flannel dress shirt, a fleur-de-lis Boy Scout neckerchief, and tight-fitting knee-length shorts (“cotton-blend lederhosen”). His epaulets and neckerchief slide appeared to be hand-carved and bore matching insignia, a singular design integrating arrows, stars of David, and geometric Navajo patterns. White knee socks with Scottish garter flashes, black wingtips, gold wire-rim spectacles, and a plain black baseball cap completed his ensemble.

Beulis (left) and Eutie, roommates, two of the sexiest neutants who ever lived

Kahn family and guests relaxing at home. Clockwise from lower left: Ajax Gombardo; Kahn’s sister Mrs Harris; Kahn’s sister-in-law; Kahn’s half brother, Gorghendus Tse-Tsung; Kahn; Janet Lingart; and Kahn’s youngest niece, Lotsen Tse-Tung

His accent was nearly as inscrutable as his outfit. Was he German? British? A New Yorker? His diction was old-worldly, formal, and bursting with boyish enthusiasm for the seemingly mundane. It was as if he had just dropped in from another planet and was enthralled with everything he encountered on Earth. Indeed, he was from another place. But where?

At a stop near the capitol, with a wave and a cheerful “Good to see you fine people,” he disembarked. I felt compelled to follow him, but it was cold and drizzling, and I had work to get to a few stops farther away. Who was that guy? Would I ever see him again?

Two years later, I was hired to develop media for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. On my first day, my supervisor took me and two other new employees on a tour of the place. Coming to a small annex building filled with taxidermy, mammal skeletons, and jars of preserved specimens, he announced, “And here is our scientific illustrator, Renaldo Kuhler,” and he opened the door to a cluttered office the size of a walk-in closet. Turning to look up from the microscope at which he had been studying the skull of a pygmy shrew was the man from the bus!

Renaldo was entirely self-taught in scientific illustration, he said, and he attributed his draftsmanship to his ability to see the world in detail. “Most people look, but they don’t see,” he said. As Renaldo continued, explaining the craft of subtly depicting in ink on paper those defining qualities of a specimen that a photograph cannot capture, my eyes were drawn to a number of illustrations thumbtacked about his office.

Rendered with a clinical precision bordering on the obsessive were drawings of androgynous humanoids in form-fitting uniforms, like Renaldo’s attire, of indeterminate origin. Labeled with the names “Eutie,” “Beulis,” and “Peekle,” notated with anatomical dimensions and dates of revision, combined with handwritten bus schedules, grocery lists, and important phone numbers, these drawings clearly originated outside the purview of Renaldo’s job description.

My co-workers seemed uncomfortable in Renaldo’s presence, much like the bus passengers two years earlier, and they seemed not to notice or care about the peculiar illustrations that had riveted my attention. Renaldo brushed off my question when I asked what they were. “Oh, they’re nothing, really. Just doodles. They’re actually neutants, that’s what they are. They’re neither men nor women. I just wanted to see how well I could draw human anatomy.” Human anatomy? No, I thought, there’s more behind those drawings than that. Much more.

The language of Rocaterria is a composition of three languages: Spanish, German and Yiddish

Rocaterria’s nine provinces and major landmarks

Conversing with Renaldo required a great deal of patience. Repetition, digression, non sequiturs, neologisms, and inside jokes shared only with himself pervaded his rapid speech. Direct eye contact was rare, and he had difficulty deciphering figurative speech or reading subtle facial expressions. Sarcasm escaped him entirely. He took people literally at their word, as if he were reading a transcript of their speech. He frequently referred to himself using the royal “we” and “us” because “it’s comforting, like maybe someone else is there,” he explained, and he talked aloud to himself because he “once read in Reader’s Digest that people who do have greater success working out their problems.”

He affectionately nicknamed friends and co-workers with monikers such as “The Churchillian,” “The Frontiersman,” “The Colorado Gold Miner,” “Banana Pie,” “Civil War Girl,” “The Kovacsian,” “Rocket Ship,” “Chuck Wagon Girl,” and “Tough Backyard Boy.” Mine was “Paste” for a couple of years, then “Spike” ever after, for reasons never made clear.

In turn, Renaldo was often characterised as “eccentric,” the catchall descriptor for behaviour deemed outside the norm. The truth is that Renaldo was unabashedly, unapologetically, incorrigibly himself as a moral imperative, an expression of the purest form of honesty. Artifice or guile seemed beyond him, and he was largely incapable of detecting it in others. His was a life in which, at every turn, he had fearlessly chosen to be himself, letting the chips fall where they may—and without hurting anyone else in the process. No small feat.

Kahn family and guests at Ciudella. Clockwise from lower left: rabbi; Josef Kalienko; Janet Lingart; Kahn; Gombardo; Kahn’s wife, Viola; and children of one of the cooks at the Ciudella. Kahn liked to distil homemade vodka and smoke mullein from a hookah.

Bird’s-eye view, sewage treatment plant outside of Felsenbad, with railroad access to haul sludge

I left the museum in 1997 to pursue documentary filmmaking. Between other projects, I followed Renaldo around with a camera, not knowing where it would lead but trusting his story would be as compelling to others as it was to me.

His studio apartment reflected a deficiency in housekeeping, to put it kindly. His living/bedroom was a repository for everything he’d accumulated since moving there in 1969, all of it smelling of pipe tobacco; his kitchen was a veritable museum of the history of canned food. His television was always tuned to Turner Classic Movies, the volume so loud it could be heard from the street.

His obsession with neutants was even more apparent at home than at work. Illustrations were taped to his walls, plastered throughout his diaries, and adorned the cover pages of tax preparation booklets addressed to his accountant. A mannequin stood in one corner, remodeled with paint and laminated paper into a life-size rendering of Peekle, Renaldo’s favorite neutant.
When I asked about a small, faded painting on his mantel, he picked it up and said, “We call this Janet Lingart. She’s a famous dancer in Rocaterrania.”

I’m no geographer, but I was pretty sure there was no Rocaterrania on any world map, not even prior to the dissolution of the USSR. The neutants, it turned out, were also from Rocaterrania, and Renaldo’s curious uniform, one of dozens like it hanging in his closet, was the official dress of the Rocaterranian Conservation Corps.

The gate had cracked open. Once inside, I would discover a strange and beautiful garden that had existed in secrecy all along, right under the noses of his family, friends, and co-workers, the roots of which lay in his teenage years in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Trapped on the rustic KZ Ranch in a small valley 9,000 feet above sea level, with bickering parents who’d never understood him in the first place, a young Renaldo sought escape from his isolation by inventing an imaginary country. He named this rocky terrain Rocaterrania, after his boyhood home of Rockland County—and he’d been illustrating its history ever since.

The Secret World of Renaldo Kuhler by Brett Ingram is published by Blast Books. Text and images courtesy of Blast Books.

Prince Alberto de Leon, the first premier of the Provisional Republic and President Albert Mikolinksi

Nothing Is New: So Steal If You Want?

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abstract art, artist as brand, drawing, levinland, nude sketch, nudes, sketching

Inspired or Copying?

 

This is a question I’ve been asking myself since I started creating artwork. Sure it’s ok to use Leonardo or Daumier as an inspiration and use the same setup or lighting as one of their paintings. They are in the public domain and not many are familiar with all famous artists work. But what of contemporary artists copying or being inspired by others. I believe if you change the setting elements and the figures depicted are different enough even in the same pose you should be safe. But, and this is  BIG BUT… If you’re too close to the pose and character depiction you could be seen as copying or infringing on another artist’s copyright.

Ok so that being said, I’ve designed hundred’s of film posters in my career and a few concepts and layouts have been copied albeit it with different stars and elements. None were ever challenged for their legitimacy. 

Picasso said “good artists copy, great artists steal”. Many artists make a superlative living by simply “tweaking” other  artists’ works. That’s what Picasso means – by “copying”.

However, a great artist will drink in all that other  artists have done and  do. They will absorb  it, and learn from it and  use it to stimulate their own creativity. They will “steal it”,which means that just like a robber, they will take possession of it, even though  they know it is not theirs.   And then they will transform it, through the creative alchemy of their  creative process, into something fresh and new, something that belongs to them.

Hints of the original owner, of the source may remain – after  all, nothing in art is completely new  –  but it will be clear  that this is a  unique work, standing on its own.

I say fly close to the sun like “Icarus” if you must,…

but be careful your wings may melt.

 

 

 

 

 

Stand with France

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#humanity, #humanrights, #prayforparis # charliehebdo, illustration, sketching, terrorism

Some of the best times I’ve had were in Paris and the French countryside. It’s sad that such a beautiful place is being terrorized by those that don’t appreciate it’s beauty inside and out.

Pray For Paris

Storygrams™, my latest endeavor

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artist as brand, digital media, elie j. Gindi, illustrator, illustrators journal, innovation, jewish community foundation, jewish federation, levinland, Levinland studio, lon levin, marvin schotland, sketching, this week in digital media on blogtalk radio

This gallery contains 9 photos.

Last night the Jewish Community Foundation celebrated the 25th anniversary of it’s CEO Marvin Schotland’s tenure and the Foundation’s 60th …

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Art Comes From Within

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abstract art, artist as brand, artwork, illustrators journal, innovation, levinland, lon levin, sketching, xanate media

http://insidedateline.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/14/22303556-eyals-story?lite

The story of Ayal Sherman who just graduated Syracuse University with a degree in fine arts is an example of the healing and inspiring qualities being creative can bring forth.

As I watched this NBC Dateline piece I thought about my feet and head and eyes and realized that my ability to create art is not in my right hand, it is in my thoughts. This is something Ayal lives every day. The takeaway is the doing and creating of art is the reward not who buys it or slaps you on the back with praise. Belief that you’re doing matters as this piece so beautifully portrays. It runs 9 or so minutes but it is worth watch. Be inspired.

A Polluted Nightmare

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abstract art, artist as brand, dolphins, EMA, innovation, ocean, pollution, sharks, sketching, squid, whales

The other night I had this horrible nightmare about swimming and breathing underwater in a horribly polluted ocean. The creatures I encountered were disfigured and mutated versions of whales, sharks, dolphins and squid.  As I swam to distance myself from these creatures they grew larger and larger until I couldn’t escape. I felt cold currents of ocean water enveloping me. The water became gelatinous like a giant vat of blue jello. This sketch was my best rendition of one of the creatures.

Nora’s Big Play

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cartoon, cartoons, Cri Cri, Elsaian Park, Jiminy Cricket, levinland, lon levin, Pinnochio, sketching, spanish speaking, suicide Girl, technology, Walt Disney

Last weekend I had the immense pleasure of watching Nora in her play about Mexico’s cartoon icon Cri Cri.  It was delightful as you can see in these pictures.

 

This is part of stop and smell the roses for me. Delightful time with Ahavia, Alisa, Nora and Buddy

The Illustrators Treats

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artist as brand, digital media, digital painting, granola bars, health bar, illustration, illustrators journal, sketching, technology, this week in digital media on blogtalk radio, treats

Artists have to eat so why not eat healthy while you work. I do so here’s a nice recipe to live by.

TREEHOUSER’S GRANOLA TREATS
PREP TIME: 8 MINUTES
COOK TIME: 8 MINUTES
1/4 cup (60ml) butter
4 cups (1l) miniature marshmallows
1 cup (250ml) rolled oats
1 cup (250ml) 8 crushed cinnamon graham crackers
1/2 cup (125ml) dried cranberries
1/2 cup (125ml) roasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup (125ml) ground flax seed

Step 1 Melt butter in a large suacepan over low heat. Add marshmallows; stir continuously until melted and mixture is smooth, about 4 minutes

Step 2 Stir in oats, graham crumbs, cranberries, sunflower seeds and flax seed until thoroughly mixed.

Step 3 With greased fingers (yes, greased fingers) press mixture into greased 8×8 inch (20×20 centimeter) glass baking dish.

Step 4 Cool completely. Cut 4 rows lengthwise and 3 crosswise for 12 pieces.

Serves 12 people or one to two very hunger people with the munchies.

Per Serving 190 calories

If you want to get creative add some of your own ingredients and then kick back and enjoy.

Aspire to be Challenged

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artwork, cartoons, childrens book, digital media, digital painting, illustrators journal, innovation, levinland, lon levin, sketching, skippy john jones

The artwork above was assigned to me as a challenge. I wanted to be able to do licensed artwork and faithfully copy someone else’s artwork. I enjoyed the experience and learned a lot from the experience but I was not chosen to work on this project in the end.

I found the article below and I highly endorse it. I could not (obviously) put it better myself. But I’ll add that to be creative and venture forth you have to be bold and self-assured. Those who are can inspire the rest and lift their spirits. Challenge yourself to be more, not a lot but a little and step by step you can attain great heights!

All creativity is based on quantum leaps and uncertainty. At particular moments in time, truly novel ideas emanate from the collective bed of information. These ideas did not originate in the fortunate individual, but in the collective consciousness.This is why significant scientific discoveries are often made by two or more different people at the same time. The ideas are already circulating in the collective unconscious, and prepared minds are ready to translate that information.

This is the nature of genius, to be able to grasp the knowable even when no one else recognizes that it is present. At any given moment, the innovation or creative idea doesn’t exist, and in the next moment, it is part of our conscious world.

In between, where was it? It came from the virtual domain, at the level of the universal spirit, where everything is potential. Sometimes this potential creates something novel, but in this realm all possibilities already exist.

So, if our bodies are recycled earth, our emotions are recycled energy, and our thoughts are recycled information, what is it that makes you an individual? How about your personality?

Well, the personality doesn’t originate with us, either. Personality gets created through selective identification with situations and through relationships. What we call personality is built on a foundation of relationships and situations.

According to many of the great spiritual traditions, one of the great truths is that “I am the other.” Without the other, we would not exist. Your soul is the reflection of all souls.

Adapted from The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press).

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/creating-soul.html#ixzz1O9T84Sz5