Thursday, April 23 (updated 8:05 am)
Painter from Greensboro -- www.myspace.com/mdgrady
Cars, Airplanes and Monsters
I started drawing when I was a child, around four or five. At the time, I drew mostly cars, airplanes, and monsters. I really enjoyed drawing and everyone told me I was good at it, so I kept doing it.
It was around junior high that I became serious (about drawing). By that time it (drawing) became definitive; I was the kid that could draw. I had also gotten into comic books at that point. I was really into Ghost Rider, I thought flaming skulls were cool.
The Influence of comic books
Reading comic books helped and hurt my drawing. Later, when I was in college, I had a professor lecture me about comics saying it would taint my style. To some extent, he was right. Whenever I draw something out of my head it always has a comic book feel to it even if I don’t mean it to.
There’s a difference (in my style) that can be seen if I’m drawing out of my head or if I’m doing something like a portrait. Commercially, there is a stigma to comic books. A lot of people in the art community consider comic books to be low brow.
If I could be any superhero, I would probably be Multiple Man (from the comic series X-Factor). I could have 40 versions of myself all working at the same time.
Art School
My uncle was also an artist. I didn’t see him often (when he was younger), but we had his paintings in the house. He’s probably the only reason my parents let me go to art school. He went to art school in Michigan. After he graduated, he got a very well paying job at GM motors doing design.
I graduated from the UNCG art program with a degree in painting. I was trained in oil painting, so I tend to stick with it.
I guess I kind of hated it (art school), mostly because of the other students. Being an artist was a fashion choice to them; they spent more time on their outfits and hair than on their homework. Their presence lowered the bar, which also meant that my degree is that much less valuable as a result.
Having a BFA has helped (my career) a great deal. A lot of people won’t give you a hearing unless you have a degree. People who don’t know any better put too much faith in that piece of paper. I don’t think that it (a degree) is a good standard. Many people who have graduated art school couldn’t draw out of a paper bag. An art degree is like a math degree in that you only learn as much as you want to.
The Painting Process
I have an idea of what I’m going to do very much before I start painting. First I develop the concept and symbolism in the painting.
After that, I go through a brainstorming session. Once I work all that out, I sketch out the painting and draw thumbnail sketches and composition patterns. After that, I do a larger sketch and then I start the painting.
Dissecting Sho’nuff
Lately, I’ve done more commission work. The last commission I did were two bouquets of wire sculpture flowers. That was very tedious. It was just me, a pair of pliers, and 200 yards of wire.
I had one guy commission me to do a portrait of him beating up Sho’nuff (the villain from the movie “The Last Dragon”). He was glowing just like Leroy (the protagonist of the movie). It was the funniest commission I ever had. Usually the stranger ones are more fun.
The strangest thing I remember doing was a painting of a guy dissecting himself, mostly his face.
I think I painted it mostly to freak out my teacher. I enjoy painting the creepy stuff for the shock value, but I’ve been trying to tone it down lately. Not many people want something like that on their wall.
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