Welcome to the 26th installment of the STAMP Magazine Online Artist Feature series. The interview takes us into Ontario, Canada. Developing an unintentional style of loose strokes and vibrant colors, Courtney vows to make his mark in the art world. But the industry chosen by Courtney may surprise a few. Read on….

I used to be a jack of all trades, master of none type artist but recently I have found my new direction, my niche, and my love; Fashion Illustration. Oh, and by the way, I’m male.

STAMP: When did you become interested in art?
Courtney: Oh, you know, before I could breath I’ve been— Nah, I’m totally opposite.

I first learned about art back in the 7th grade (about 14 or 15 years old), when a friend of mine was drawing portraits of super heroes in pastel and selling them to people parents. It honestly blew my mind. I invited him to my house to teach me to draw that evening, and I think I spent 2 days being addicted. I drew 2 pictures that I was proud of. One of a Swan, and the other of a Lion. Then I just dropped art as a whole and moved on with my life. The woes of having A.D.H.D I guess.

I picked up art again back in high school. I was in grade 12 and realized that I didn’t know what I wanted to do for college. I just figured, “I liked art when I was younger” so I tried to get into art class as an elective. To my surprise, I had to have grade 11 art as a prerequisite. So I took grade 11 art in the first semester and grade 12 in the second. I’m not going to lie though. I did horrid in grade 12 art, and my teacher always reminded me.

At this point, I still wasn’t interested in art. So, I guess it was when I turned 20. I was in school and met an amazing illustrator who inspired me so much and pushed me to really want to do well for myself, and through that meeting, I developed a genuine love for art. Before that, art was more of a light interest to think about only for class.

STAMP: What is your preferred medium?
Courtney: Oh, now this is a funny story (not really). When I first started out, I was 100% against digital. I thought that being a digital artist was cheating, and not getting the full experience out of art. I used to think it was easy mode and vowed to never touch one of those cursed ‘Wacco’ tablets or whatever they’re called. One day I decided to take a risk and for some reason I bought a Wacom. I still don’t know what I was thinking. All I know is that it collected dust for a long long time. I hated it. But eventually decided to get over myself and give it a shot. Fast forward and here we are now. I rarely paint traditionally now. Digital all the way. I use Paint Tool SAI, Photoshop and Corel Painter on special occasions, like birthdays or Christmas.

STAMP: Did you study at an art school? If so which one and how was that experience? If not, do you wish you did?
Courtney: I did study at Sheridan College for a time just taking some entry level courses. In terms of art, I learned a lot about life drawing, got some great habits, and learned a TON from my painting professor. Everything else was self taught. Also, there was no digital allowed most of the time (for my courses), so that was a bit of an annoying set back, but I lived.

STAMP: Your work has a concept feel to it. Have you ever worked in the video game industry? If so, do you care to share? If not, do you plan on working in that industry?
Courtney: For quite some time my direction was concept art. I got heavily involved on the website Conceptart.org and actually still update my sketchbook there.

But I noticed early on that my passion just wasn’t there for it anymore. But I’ll go more into detail on the next question. I did do some freelance jobs for small indie games, and then private works, but I never worked on a team.

STAMP: You do fashion illustration. What made you transition into fashion?
Courtney: My transition is actually very recent. Just a few weeks ago I decided to make an official change. I have been interested in fashion for a long time.

Women’s fashion. I always thought there was just something wrong with me, but my mom assured me I was just like all the other kids. Well, I never ever wanted to wear the clothing myself and take pictures, I just enjoyed seeing ladies dressed in different styles, and from that I got my addiction to painting women in just about every picture. I started small, I would add some sort of made up fashion, like I would design a shoe or something and I always got the comment “I would SO wear that!” from ladies who followed my work, and so I just thought to myself ‘I think I want to go into fashion….’

And I was right. I’m enjoying myself more than ever before right now. Everything feels right.

STAMP: Your work seems very expressive. Quick strokes. How long does it usually take you to complete a piece?
Courtney: Too be quite honest, I have no idea. The time really varies. Sometimes it LOOKS like a quick stroke, but that quick stroke took me 5 minutes of failing, and 2 seconds of accidental success. I have naturally shaky hands, so I have to really commit to the gesture or else I’ll fail. All in all, I can go anywhere from 4 hours to 20 hours depending on what I’m doing. Its really broad and ridiculous.

STAMP: Do you do work on commission? If so, name a few of your clients?
Courtney: Yes I do. As of now though I don’t have any fancy names to throw out there like some other artists I know and love. I would love to say. Oh you know.. Ubisoft, Vogue, The New York Times, but then I would get in trouble for lying and ruin my career before it even started.

I have worked for private clients doing this and that. Mostly character Illustrations or designs. And almost always female (surprise surprise). But to actually name a name, I have worked with a local writer here in the GTA named Ian Daffern a few times. He does comics and recently started putting out the comic ‘Freelance Blues’. Working with him was my first time in comics. Absolutely no prior experience. That’s quite an adventurous story though that I’ll leave for some other time, haha.

STAMP: Have you ever felt limited or trapped by your style? With so much pressure on mainstream art, have you felt peer pressured into conforming?
Courtney: Never. I’ve never truly considered myself to have a style. A good friend of mine once told me years ago not to get stuck in a style. He wasn’t talking about those with a style. But it took me such a long time to catch what he really meant. I think I now fully grasp the concept. What I finally understood was that everyone is different. Everyone will do things just a little differently than others. That in itself is a style. Every single artist has a natural style that is attuned to them, and the more they try to search for it, and lock themselves into one approach, the further away they will become to being themselves. If you are truly you, nothing is a challenge anymore, you can bend and mold to do anything, because it’s you. It’s not just a front that you’re trying to uphold. Just like in sports when they say that the bat, hockey stick, or skates become an extension of their own body, the same can be said about your pencil, pen, tablet pen and style.

I have never felt pressured to conform because in art, to conform is to not be different, and well.. I’ve never tried to be the same, haha. Whoa, I hope that makes some sense.

STAMP: Can you remember the first piece you ever did and what inspired you to do it?
Courtney: My first piece ever was a drawing of a swan. I copied it from one of those national geographic post cards. I worked on it for 6 hours trying to get every detail on a piece of paper about the size of a small napkin. It was actually better than most of the work in my gallery today, haha. I was inspired by my friend who I mentioned earlier. I just couldn’t get over the fact that people’s parents were buying art from a ‘kid’. I mean, adults were really intimidated back then.

STAMP: Can you tell any interesting stories about specific pieces, artists, or projects that you’ve worked on?
Courtney: Ah, well I guess I can tell the story about Ian now. Nice! Well that was extremely interesting. We were introduced by a mutual friend/amazing comic artist Eric Kim. He was collaborating with Ian on a comic for an anthology but suddenly had to back out due to something coming up. So I get a ring asking me to step in. I was like “Um… I’ve never drawn a comic in my life…”

Come to think of it, I’m not even sure if I know how to draw a comic but I still agreed. The project was a collaboration and I had 7 days to complete 8 pages in a format I didn’t even understand. Up until this point, I painted pretty girls doing nothing in locations that don’t exist. And now I had to transition, extremely fast into sequential art. Needless to say, I worked like a mad man. I don’t think I slept; I skipped meals and worked from the moment I woke up until I went to sleep at like 5am. I would have taken my PC into the shower with me if I could have. But then, I don’t think I would be here telling this story if I did.

STAMP: Are there any clients you wish to work with, that you haven’t already?
Courtney: I want to work with Vogue, New York Times, The Times, Playboy (because its playboy, come on now), Maxim (yep, just like playboy), O Magazine, and Magic the Gathering…..Yeah, one of these things is not like the others. One of these things does not belong.

But all in all, I want to be published in many magazines. That’s really the dream right now.

STAMP: What are your challenges as an artist?
Courtney: Being poor. Being self motivated. And being stubborn. Well, being stubborn isn’t a challenge per say, but I need it to help me fight the challenges.

There are always naysayers who just feel I should give up, but I’ve always felt the hill gets the steepest right before you’re about to hit the top.

STAMP: Have you ever shown your paintings in galleries? If so, what was the experience like? If not, how come?
Courtney: Actually no, I never have. I have always been afraid to do so, or felt that my digital work would not be accepted into the more “traditional” community.

Although I feel I am wrong now, as some artists I know and love have had gallery shows. I am going to be trying to get featured in some galleries locally soon. Let’s see how that works. Oh, I may have my work showing in a small gallery in Japan soon, so that’s pretty cool.

STAMP: What role do you feel the internet has on art? Positive or negative?
Courtney: Oh the internets Well, the internet is a double edged sword in my opinion.

On one hand it is a fantastic resource that allows us to connect with creatives all around the world with just a click of a button (and some mashing of keys). And it also opens us up to things we would just never see. Like photos of exotic places taken by regular people and also lots of tutorials. It really is a blessing if you use it correctly.

The other side is the Drama, art theft and Scamming and malicious activity. Sometimes you get a hold of that artist who you have idolized for so long, and then you learn the hard way that they weren’t that nice person you thought they were. Before the internet, you never would have experienced it.

Also there are some ridiculous trends that come out of some communities online. Like don’t use this tool, or never paint that way, or paintings should all look like this or else you’re wrong. People can get really confused and limit their own development if they listen to others online too much. Things like that wouldn’t happen so easily if people weren’t so connected. So all in all, just be careful online, and don’t lose your own opinions just because some self proclaimed guru’s tell you its true.

STAMP: Do u feel like your work is evolving.
Courtney: I definitely do. I think with every piece I do I’m always learning something new and evolving in some way. I may not paint the same in each piece, but I take something that I learned last time and apply it to the next painting.

Also, I’m a thief. Not really, but I steal from life, haha. Everything I see, smell, hear, every day I incorporate it in some way. Art is just about learning how to see better and telling a story with your medium. So yeah, I feel I evolve each and every piece.

STAMP: What can we expect in the future from you?
Courtney: Expect to see me. That’s about all I can say for now. I want to do so many things and be all over. I don’t want to go under the radar, so just keep your eyes peeled. Lets see how the fashion industry takes to my approach.

STAMP: Do you agree with the overall objective of STAMP Magazine? Why or Why Not?
Courtney: Wait, objective? I was just here for the free biscuits… Of course I do! Being an artist just starting out is ridiculously hard and people don’t seem to understand. Things like STAMP really help bring awareness to both the popular and lesser known artists, which is really a blessing, and I’m so grateful for being part of this. So again, thank you so
much!

To see more of Courtney visit his art blog at http://seageart.blogspot.com or check out his new site at http://seageart.com/