Drawn in Black » Conte

Matt Cassan: Charcoal Art and Interview

Lee — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:00:01 +0000

"Renee" by Matt Cassan

Matt Cassan sits down for a brief interview with Drawn in Black. His charcoal art is splendid and I especially like his women on bed. Thanks to Matt for participating.

What’s your name?

Matt Cassan

Where did you grow up?

Port Colborne, Ontario

Where do you live now?

Toronto

How old are you?

What is your educational background? What, if anything, did you study?

I started off at Niagara College, in Welland taking Visual Creative Arts and Design. Then I kind of did a year of Fine arts at Brock University (the program wasn’t for me). Then I went to Sheridan College for Classical Animation.

How do you make a living?

I work in animation as a character designer/production artist. I also teach Life Drawing at Seneca College.

"Rival" by Matt Cassan

How long have you been making art, and what role does that play in your life?

My parents tell me that I’ve been drawing since I was 2-3 (mostly garbage trucks and street cleaners then). Now art is my career and my hobby. I draw in my free time, paint digitally, and dabble in photography.

What does “art” mean to you?

I think something is ‘art’ the moment it is labeled ‘art’ by someone, however I don’t think that necessarily makes it good or appealing. I’m attracted to art that required skill and talent to create it. I like art that changes my view of its subject… art that shows me something in a way I’d never considered looking at it before. I like Art that’s challenges me.

What role does drawing play in your work? Is it a means to an end, or an end in and of itself?

It’s both. For some work I’ll draw first and paint over top…other times I’ll just draw.

What would you consider your “style” of art to be, if you have one?

I’m not really sure … I guess it’s realism, although I try to be expressive with a lot of the figure drawing I do.

"Amanda" by Matt Cassan

What’s your weapon of choice? What medium and drawing tool do you prefer to use?

I change it up all the time. My standard for Life Drawing is conte or NuPastel and newsprint. But I often use craft paper too. For longer drawings I like to use charcoal and handmade paper, with big chunks of grit embedded in it. I’m also a big fan of drawing digitally, so Flash for work, and Photoshop and Artrage for fun.

What approach do you take for your work? Do you plan it out or does it emerge spontaneously? How long do you usually work on a piece?

My figure drawings are from 30 seconds to 3 hours. I enjoy the 5 to 30 minute drawings the best I think. The longer drawings that I use photo reference for take 5 to 20 hours-ish so they’re planned. I print out several copies of the same photo in different tonal ranges so I can see all of the value and form. Often the photos are of figure drawing models, or people I know or have drawn before, so that makes it easier. It’s hard to keep track of how long each one takes because I’ll just keep it on an easel and work on it in passing. Sometimes for hours, sometimes for 10 – 20 minutes at time.

Untitled (Woman on Bed) by Matt Cassan

Are there any people that influenced you that stand out? What current artists do you follow?

I admire and am inspired by a ton of artists … too many to list… off the top of my head … Henry Yan, James Jean, Craig Mullins …

I really like the art of the old illustrators, Albert Dorne, Bob Peak … My mom had Norman Rockwell collectors plates around the dining room and I used to draw those as well.

What are you currently working on?

I’ve almost always got a drawing on the go, and I’m practicing my painting in Photoshop. Plus I’m really enjoying my SLR, so I’ve been playing with that as well,

What would you tell aspiring artists?

Listen to everything you’ve heard about drawing through the form, and learning how to see. Use online resources to get feedback on your work from other artists.

Untitled (Charcoal Torso Drawing) by Matt Cassan

Untitled (Sitting Woman) by Matt Cassan

“The Drawing Is the Most Important Part” – Interview with Matt K. Smith

Lee — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:15:36 +0000

"Geist" by Matt K. Smith

In our ongoing series of artist interviews, I was able to catch up with Matt Smith, illustrator and artist in San Diego, California. Matt has some great figure drawing work displayed on his sites that form the basis for his superb illustrations, often of the fantasy or horror genre.

Thanks to Matt for agreeing to participate.

What’s your name?

Matt Smith

Where did you grow up?

Endwell, NY

Where do you live now?

San Diego, CA

How old are you?

What is your educational background? What, if anything, did you study?

I got a degree in Illustration, but I am where I am today because of Watts Atelier, a traditional figure drawing and painting school in Encinitas, CA, and all the hard work I have put into it. I still take classes there, as good as my drawings are, I still have lots to learn.

"Untitled (Female Head)" by Matt K. Smith

How do you make a living?

I create fantasy and horror illustrations for different companies.

What does “art” mean to you?

This is kind of a hard question since the word art and artist now applies to so many things these days. I am not the deep “artsy” type of person exactly. For me I guess I use art to create things, but not “abstract”, bizarre stuff, but tangible and understandable. Anyone can look at my work and understand it, it’s a monster, a person, its a skull, etc, just trying to take these things and make an interesting story. As well as all the figure drawings and paintings that I have done, they are not in depth pieces of art, just practice and training so I can get good and keep getting better, nothing more or nothing less. I hope that answered the question.

How long have you been making art, and what role does that play in your life?

I have been drawing since I can remember. I used to draw all my favorite video game and cartoon characters, such as Super Mario, Godzilla, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mega Man, the list goes on.

"Godzilla Sketch" by Matt K. Smith

What role does drawing play in your work? Is it a means to an end, or an end in and of itself?

Drawing and learning how to draw is very important in my work. When it comes to creating a finished piece, the drawing is the most important part. Flashy rendering and awesome paint strokes can never save a piece if the foundational drawing is lacking.

Are there any people that influenced you that stand out? What current artists do you follow?

Besides my teachers at Watts Atelier (Jeff Watts, Erik Gist, Meadow Gist, Lucas Graciano, Ben Young, and Stan Prokopenko) I have many artists that influence my work. Here is a short list of people whose work I enjoy looking at: Zhoaming Wu, Joseph Clement Coll, Frank Frazetta, Phil Hale, James Gurney, Steve Huston, John Asaro, Glen Orbik, Richard Schmid, and many many more.

What would you consider your “style” of art to be, if you have one?

I guess I would say that I have several “styles” (though I don’t really like that word) depending on the client I am working with, but mostly I consider myself a traditional illustrator and figurative artist.

"Untitled (Sitting Woman)" by Matt K. Smith

What’s your weapon of choice? What medium and drawing tool do you prefer to use?

I mostly use pencils, pens, conte charcoal pencils, and oil paint. I am also a good digital painter, but I don’t use it so much now, I prefer getting a real painting as opposed to something that doesn’t really exist.

What approach do you take for your work? Do you plan it out or does it emerge spontaneously? How long do you usually work on a piece?

When I create an illustration for a client everything is planned out, starting with small thumbnail sketches, to a finished drawing and then to the painting. When I draw or paint from life, it is planned out as well, but much more spontaneous due to the fact I only have a few hours to create an image.

What are you currently working on?

Creating designer T Shirt illustrations for Remetee. I get to draw a lot of skulls which is fun! And also working on some personal projects.

"Grunt" by Matt K. Smith

What would you tell aspiring artists?

Do lots of research before you pick out a school to go to. If you want to do figurative types of work like I do, I would suggest not going to college and go to a traditional figure drawing school like Watts Atelier. Check out the Art Renewal Center for schools. Also try to always keep a positive attitude, a negative attitude only gets in the way. Anyone can get as good as me and better, you just got to find the right place to learn and work real hard.

Anything you would like share and let us know?

There is another Matt Smith artist out there. He is an awesome plein air painter, I wish I could paint half as good as he can. Just letting you know I am not that Matt Smith!

"Untitled (Asian Male Head)" by Matt K. Smith

“Sphere with In-Stripe” by Randolphlee McIver

Lee — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:47:22 +0000

â€œSphere with In-Stripeâ€ by Randolphlee McIver

Self-proclaimed “Figurative Painter, Draughtsman, and Sculptor” Randolphlee McIver has some truly stunning and utterly unique drawings the likes of which I don’t come across often. Above is just one example of a multitude of different styles; this one being what I see as 2-d figures on 3-dimension objects. Great stuff

Untitled (Figures on Pedestal) by Tomas Schats

“Body Cluster (Genevieve)” by Thomas Hendry

Lee — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:55:20 +0000

â€œBody Cluster (Genevieve)â€ by Thomas Hendry

By Thomas Hendry via thedrawingroom.ca