This new Artist Discovery is about a young illustrator that brings a cool & youthful aesthetic to the art world. I call his work SWAG ART. His work captures the fashion trends of today and musical artist that are known for their unique styles. His style is unique and I can always tell what pieces are his just by the way he does his work. I had a chance to interview him and ask him a few question about his Art. Check it out.....
State Your Age & What State you live in?
I'm 17 years young and I live in a very boring part of Connecticut.
How Long have you been doing Graphic Art/illustrations?
I was mentored by a few cartoonists that ran a animation studio when I was 10 years old. I learned the almighty ways of photoshop through them, They showed me techniques that college graduates would be taught. That experience was a huge turning point that opened many doors for me.
What are your influences when creating?
As cliche as it sounds, music is a huge influence, just due to the fact that I prefer listening to something as I draw or design. Fashion plays a huge part too, many pieces I happen to find through the internet inspire or influence what I put out. Most of my illustrations will have some type of outlandish clothing item or sneaker, I think it's cool to emphasize that form of expression.
What else do you do besigns Graphic Art & illustrations?
I produce and write music quite often, definitely not one of those "run of the mill" musical artists though I make sure the quality of music is up there with Jay and Ye. Ha. I actually just released my first LP on the 4th of July, it's been getting great feedback. Not to spam for a download, but here's the link (http://www.mediafire.com/?ylv32157b2gxx20) Besides music, me and my boy Tyrell Henderson run a small clothing collective called Massive Fly Appeal, that's been doing well also.
How do you feel about Art School?
No idea yet, I just graduated high school, not sure what to expect actually. Hopefully not a waste of money though. I'm looking to focus on illustration for my first two years at Uconn and if all works out, transfer to RISD or Pratt Institute to finish my second two years, focusing on industrial design.
Is it hard for you to come up with concepts when creating?
Sometimes yeah, but when that happens I occupy myself with something else like making a beat or working on a commission. Most of the time I'm doing commission work, finding time for personal work is difficult most times. Other times an idea can spring up out of no where, recently PMK Customs commissioned me to do a few pieces for an Air Yeezy 2 release event and each idea I had for that seemed to come out of no where, literally minutes apart. That was pretty clutch.
What do you do that makes your work stand out?
As of late I've been taking out features of the faces of celebrities. This makes the viewer pay more attention to clothing detail and overall shape or size of the celeb. I first started that with Stalley since his beard is undeniable as well as Theophilus London with the outfit he had been wearing as his LVRS tour that was going on. Those both got good feedback so I kept that aesthetic going. I also have a really gritty look in my illustrations because I use a pencil and color under it, I've stepped away from pens for a while now.
Where can we find more of your work?
I just recently set up a tumblr www.jacobrochester.tumblr.com before I was having my boy post my work on his tumblr (teddythecool.tumblr.com) but confusion ensued after a while of doing things that way. I also have a deviantart profile http://omegathebeast.deviantart.com/ but both sites share the same work, just different crowds who see the work.
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