Interview With 1stAngel

Mike Cressy

Welcome to the Artists Blog

When did you first become interested in art?

I was 5 years old and me mum sat me in front of the telly with a tv tray, a big pad of paper, some pencils and crayons. I remember it distinctly as being this first big epiphany. I stared at the screen and picked out the characters in the cartoon animation I was watching and started drawing them. My older sister was also into art and could draw very well and paint. I looked up to her for that. She was a good influence on me at that age. As was my mother. I owe it all to them.

For the next ten years I wanted to do cartoons and animations. I created comic books all the time, even as a teenager. School took me to the Detroit Institute of the Arts, one the best museums that rarely gets it’s due. It has this court area, big tall ceiling and three of the four walls were painted by Diego Rivera! A beautiful mural commissioned by Edsel Ford, who made a movie of the painting being applied to the walls. Incredible!

Cat Tree

The DIA also had an incredible collection of early American painters. Wonderful stuff by John Singleton Copley who both inspired and frightened me, Frederic Edwin Church, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, the list goes on… Great work!

What style of art do you use most?

I have a broad range of styles that inspire me and that I use in my art. What ever fits and works in the context of what I’m trying to create in the painting or any sort of comment or message that I’m getting across. Most of what I do tends to have a retro 1950s feel to it in some way, even though it may not look that way to some or most people. I think that is partly to do with having been born in that decade and having a fascination with the style of that period. Art Deco is incredible as well and I try to fit that into the mix when I can. Mostly, if a style is good, then there is a high probability of it popping up somewhere in my work.

I’m influenced by too many to mention and that list increases sometimes weekly. There are so many terrifically talented artists in the world. How can anyone be bored by it all.

My only beef is with photography and how it’s come to dominate magazines, advertising and books. It’s rare to find a photograph that stimulates the imagination like a drawing, painting or sculpture can do, even if it’s done on the computer. I do a fair amount of work on the computer. It’s just a tool. But photography is different, it takes a small portion of time and subject. Anyone can do it and everyone does. That doesn’t mean they have a good eye or understand how to convey a mood, feeling, or gear up your imagination. Most of them don’t. Especially all the damn photos of celebrities that are everywhere these days. Nobody should applaud anyone for taking pictures of them.

Has your style changed from when you first began as an artist?

My style changes all the time, although probably not too much in the last 3 years. I had a very tight realistic style when I dropped out of doing animation for studios in Los Angeles. I had gotten fed up with trying to draw like Disney artists. Which at the time was what everyone wanted. So I took a turn towards hyper-realism, which I had been fasinated with since I first saw some of Don Eddy’s work and Chuck Close. Incredible stuff. So at that point I took my Ebony pencil and a bristol board and rendered the hell out of every subject matter I was asked to create. I was working for the Los Angeles Times Editorial section and the Calendar section back then under Irv Letofsky. A very grumpy guy from all accounts but he gave me a chance and I guess he liked what I was doing.

Coffee Spot

The problem was that my realistic detail got lost in the printing process. Putting that kind of art on newsprint doesn’t work very well. I lost a lot of the detail that I worked hard to put in the illustration. Then I started getting work from magazines and their printing and paper were much better quality. However, I started to realize that doing that kind of pencil tight rendering style took too long when I had to do a two page illustration for a magazine. So I switched over to airbrushing. A terrible tool to create art with, unless you are airbrushing using a computer program. You breath in this stuff even though you have the best air filter mask money can buy.

But I did that for years, occasionally switching over to straight acrylic painting with a brush. I found that when I did that the results were much better but I wanted to be hip and get lots of work, so I stayed with the airbrush for years. Finally one day I read an article about the technique that C.F. Payne was using. I figured how to do it reading that article and continued to use that until I got totally bored with it. In the middle of that period I decided I needed to loosen up my style so I started doing a strictly retro cartoonish style. I did that for about 10 years or so. Now I just paint straight acrylic, occasionally Oil paint unless I have to do something on the computer, then I mostly use Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash.

What medium do you use?

During my C.F. Payne period, I used a mixed media that had me lay out the drawing on an illustration board, Crescent #114. Then fill in blocks of color to the image in an acrylic wash. On top of that I laid down dark versions of those colors in Gouache. When that dried, I dabbed it with water on a brush and then padded that with a paper towel. After that dried a bit, I applied an over all wash of oil paint and turpentine that was a mixture of dioxide purple and permanent green. That was to dry for about an hour and then I came to it with a kneaded eraser, pulling up the highlighted areas and sometimes the dark areas. Then I’d apply another round of acrylic color to darken or lighten an area. The final step was to detail everything with prisma colored pencils. I think I had and still have every color at least three times over. I don’t use them much now. I use a polychrome pencil, Red #225 for all my sketching and for the final art I usually paint in acrylic unless I’m working on the computer.

What made you choose that medium?

I use acrylic because it is fast and dries (too fast sometimes) quickly. I can paint much faster that way. You don’t have to wait for anything to dry. The red pencil is just because I like that color. It pops out at me much more than a blue or green pencil ever would.

Nightmare Sequence

Do your ideas come from life or imagination?

Both. I combine them to make comments on life and societal situations.

How do you choose your images and colours?

That’s always hard. I try to use a palette that I find pleasing to my eye. Every so often I’ll see a painting and try to work some of the colors I’ve liked into my own paintings but it takes time and sometimes a few years before I see the difference in my work. My images are chosen by thoughts that I have, dreams that come to me at night, day dreams, dazing off into a pattern in trees or clouds or wrinkled cloth that form images in my head that I can use. Sometimes they just come to me while I’m working on something else. Then there are times when I’d just like to do my own version of someone else’s image. What ever works for the context of what I’m trying to convey. Sometimes it’s too vague for some people. Other times it’s too cartoony and sometimes it just falls flat, but you have to keep trying to improve and try new approaches. That’s what keeps you interested and sparks your imagination.

Who is your favourite artist?

That’s a question I can’t answer definitively. I have so many favorites and sometimes they just keep changing. I’d hate to start making a list because it wouldn’t stop. I love so many other artists work and I’m continually inspired and impressed by them all. Let me just say that if you see some sort of influence that you recognize in my work, then it most likely is that artist who inspired me to do that piece

What is your favourite piece of work by yourself?

Another question that I would be hard pressed to answer. Usually it is the most recent one that I’ve finished and am completely happy with the outcome. Then it’s on to the next painting. It has to work that way otherwise you get to happy with yourself and your work and the past.

How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?

Depends on the detail and how much time I have before going on to the next bit of work I have to do. When I did those tightly rendered black and white illustrations for the L.A. Times I had a strict deadline and if you didn’t meet that you weren’t getting another chance. They would give me an assignment on Wednesday afternoon and I had to finish by Thursday morning for the Sunday edition. Talk about pressure!!! But it taught me that you should linger on an image.

Figure it out quickly and get it done with so you can go on to the next one. Being an artist isn’t about ONE image. It’s about as many images as you can do and do them well. It makes you a better artist. You have to think on your feet and make decisions about the length of an arm or whether that fore shortening works or not. Sometimes you just have to let it pass and learn for the next time to do it better. You constantly are learning and that’s a great thing.

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How well do you take criticism?

Well, I usually take it with a smile. It’s the best way. It’s not the only way. If you work as an illustrator you find that art directors sometimes aren’t very good. It’s a puzzle as to why they have that job in the first place.

When you are working with a great art director you know it and it’s usually a very pleasant experience. They usually hire you because they like your work and want you to do the same thing for the company they are working for. A bad art director hires you because they think they want you to do the same work for them and once you have committed to them, they try to change you in every way. It no longer is about them wanting your style or your look,… they want a hired hand to do their bidding.

The other kind of art director that doesn’t work well is the kind that says “I don’t know what I’m looking for but I know what I don’t like.” They usually have no clue and you are never going to satisfy them.

Critisim in a gallery is different. You take compliments with a smile and enjoy them, for they don’t always come. You do your best.

If you’ve been doing really good work over the years then don’t worry about criticism. You’ll find or have found your audience.

What do you do to overcome a ‘block’?

I usually only have blocks when I’m working on specific assignments and that’s taken care of by finding some inspiration. Usually for me it’s looking over my art books or searching the web for some new or favorite artists. If you see something that kind of looks like what you are trying to do, examine how they did it and try to figure out how you would make that work for you.

How do you know something is ‘finished’? Is it easy to walk away?

Sometimes it’s not easy to walk away. You know it’s finished when it’s finished. That’s it. Like Yogi Bera used to say:”It ain’t over till it’s over.” Almost the same exact thing. You’ll know it and only you can say/do that to your own painting. Years of experience helps.

Have you had exhibits in galleries?

Yes I have. Three in the last year. I’m not really looking for that right now much but I’d like to do more of that. I’ve had a hell of a year and I’ve been concentrating on several projects that take a lot of time and right now, I’m about to start back to work at Microsoft.

Party Time

Have you any exhibits in galleries planned for the future?

Hopefully one to two a year would be nice. It helps when you have someone who can help you with the framing aspect of it. I used to have that and she was terrific at it. Now she’s gone and I’m not as good. Hopefully one day I can find another person to fill that spot.

What are your plans for the future?

I’m working on a graphic novel right now and hope to work on the 3 or 4 other ideas I have for other graphic novels.

This one is particularly intense and I’ve been putting in long hours on the art for it as well as the writing. It takes up a lot of time.

Then I have several children’s picture books that I’m also working on.

My first book of a few years of paintings will be available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other on line book stores very soon. Supposedly in July 08 but it could be a month or two later. I’m working on a sequel to that. I’m also putting together a print version of my sketchbooks and doodle books. To that I say,… help!

What advice would you give new artists?

Do your best to improve at every step. Open youself to many possibilities and experiences. All of this will help to transform you into the artist you are meant to be. Most of all enjoy every step of the way, even if it is difficult. You will cherish those memories.

Be healthy, exercise and make sure to go outside every day.

Enjoy the company of your friends and loved ones. You only have them for so long.

Be in the moment and never worry about the past. Look to the future and make yourself happy.

I know you will have heard this a million times Mike, but your work is awesome and I thank you very much for taking time out to do this interview for me!

You can see Mike’s great site at http://www.mikecressy.com