We have reached number 38 of our artist feature series and do we have a treat for you. If you haven’t heard of this artist, I am sure his detail and subject matter will yell for your attention. His style and unique subject matter, has landed him endorsements, world-wide art showings, and respect from all artist who witness his creations. Be inspired and learn from the experiences of “Craola”!

STAMP: Craola. Where do I begin? It’s an honor to finally set down and interview you.

STAMP: You are a pretty well-known artist. But for those who may be out of the loop, introduce yourself. Who you are and where you’re from?
Craola: My name is Greg Simkins, a lot of people call me Craola and I am from Torrance California which is about 30 minutes south of Down Town L.A… Well, 30 minutes when there isn’t traffic.

STAMP: Where do you art origins come from?
Craola: It comes from numerous places. I have been drawing since before I can remember and recall a period in my life where I wasn’t interested in art. Here is a list of the stuff that has got my mind working on overload since I was a child, animals, cartoons, Disney, Bible stories, Novels, Museums, Science and Technology, Fantasy art, Salvador Dali, Dr. Seuss, Tim Burton, *Caravaggio*, Bosch, Rembrandt Da Vinci, The Hudson River School, John James Audubon, Graffiti, Tattoos, Watership Down, The Phantom Tollbooth, Narnia, Comic Books, Pop Culture and Advertising campaigns, Punk Rock, Beach culture, antiques, Skateboarding, dreams and nightmares. I’ve pretty much had my head in the clouds day dreaming and combining all these things for years and admiring those who do it far better.

STAMP: Out of all the mediums to choose from, what made you fall for acrylics?
Craola: I liked the fast drying time they had. My largest exposure to painting prior to acrylics was spray paint which dries really fast and when transferring to acrylics I was able to maintain that element. But found that I could do so much more with them, at least with the smaller scale than the walls I had been used to. I have found a combination of the two on walls to be really fulfilling and am exploring that a bit right now.

STAMP: Any art schools to credit your development?
Craola: I got my bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from Cal State Long Beach. I was working the whole time through school on various art projects, jobs, punk band merchandise, graffiti and still feel that was my real schooling. Nothing beats real world involvement and making projects for yourself.

STAMP: I see that you jumped straight from college into illustrating for some successful companies. How did that come about right after your undergrad?
Craola: Not all did I just jump right into it. The companies were successful, but I had some friends working at a company and they got me an interview at this clothing company right out of college. It was because of what I was doing on walls that got me hired and the people I met on the job were great. It was these contacts that brought me over to work at Treyarch/Activision as a texture artist on Tony Hawk 2X and a few Spiderman Games. I had such a great time at that company and still think it is so important to build good relationships with your fellow artists and co-workers. A good attitude can take you a long way.

STAMP: What made you decide to become self-employed and make art a career? Was the transition difficult?
Craola: Well the hours in video games were really tough. I was getting up in the morning to paint at about 6am, go to work at 9am get home at 9 or 10pm, paint for a couple hours and do it all over again. It was wearing on me and my wife. I had just gotten married and barely saw her. I have always been about my family growing up and wanted this for me and my wife. I was trying to maintain a painting schedule on the side and surprisingly people started to take notice. After being approached by two galleries in the same day, Gallery 1988 and Upper Playground, my wife (who is also my manager) felt it might be good to set some plans together towards taking the painting thing full time. We gave it many months of thought, prayers and seeking advice from people we respected. Then gave my notice at Treyarch and started working on paintings full time from the spare room of the house. It began to snowball from there and I am so glad we made the decision. It has been stressful at times, hard for sure but very satisfying and exciting as well.

STAMP: Would you suggest other aspiring illustrators to take the same leap of faith?
Craola: Well, I can’t position it as a leap of faith. It was with a lot of careful planning and timing and only with the knowledge that there was interest as well as a growing list of buyers that I quite my steady day job. I always say if you are getting emails, phone calls and people coming to you unsolicited to see and buy your work, it is a good chance that you can do it for a living. It is really hard but important to step back and take a look at yourself and examine if it’s really the right thing to leave your safety net. I don’t believe in leaps of faith, I believe that you should have faith where the evidence leads and the evidence was leading that there were opportunities and an infrastructure that was inviting me to be a part of it.

STAMP: Speak on your style. What would you call it and how did it come about?
Craola: It has evolved so much over the years and involves so many elements and influences from my past. Generally I fall under the label of Pop Surrealism which was a newer more refined term for Low Brow. But my content has slowly changed from Pop influence which I still find interesting, to more nature and animal based content, but always with twists and distortions. When describing my art to a friend of my parents or someone who isn’t involved in the art scene, I simply just say “surrealism”. They seem to latch onto Salvador Dali so they kind of have a point of reference. Then I usually throw in there, “mixed with the zoo and Disney” and that kind of sums it up.

The flow on my paintings is derived from doing graffiti letters. Composing a wall transferred nicely into my vignettes and the more I paint the more I realize how influential those years of painting letters were to me. I still love them.

STAMP: You have been doing tons of gallery shows, so I am sure you have to decline even more. How do you choose which ones to do?
Craola: I generally let my wife handle that business end of things since she manages me and has control of my calendar. It is impossible to say yes to everything, it would just spread me thinner than I already am. In a perfect world I would only do one solo show a year or every other year. I prefer to do large bodies of cohesive themed works that grow off each other and create a story. I like to get lost in the inner monologue of it and tend to write more when I am doing solo shows. Taking on group shows and themed shows takes me a bit out of that zone, but they are satisfying in other ways.

STAMP: What is your most memorable one?
Craola: I couldn’t pin it to one. “The Pearl Thief” was very enjoyable just because of the writing that came out of it for me. But so many of the shows are tied to this theme of “The Outside” that they cohesively melt into one body of work in my head.

STAMP: You are also endorsing products. Congrats! What factors come into play when a company approaches you to endorse them?
Craola: Generally if it fits in with what we are doing artistically and if it makes sense. This Vannen watch project we just finished is a good example of a product that fits in with what we were doing. It is very art driven, the company supports the artists and comes from a DIY point of view that I grew up in working with punk bands. They put out a great product. The same goes for To Die For and Trekell brushes.

STAMP: How would do you feel your work has improved from the beginning until now?
Craola: Oh man, not enough. I am constantly learning and I don’t feel like it will ever be where I want it to be. I feel like pulling my hair out many days. When I do start feeling like I am painting pretty good, a trip to the Getty generally gives me perspective that I have a lifetime to go to attain any kind of painting skills.

STAMP: I see you have Jennmonsta handling the business side. Beside giving you time to create, how has having a business manager helped you?
Craola: She is my lifeline. She makes the machine run in all aspects, accounting, gallery relations, scheduling, working with our product lines, online store managers, helping with emails and emarketing. She keeps me level headed which is important. I am beyond blessed to have her as a wife.

STAMP: I am sure everyone wants to know this. I know I do. What is the process behind creating one of your pieces?
Craola: It all starts with my little notebooks. I draw every idea, every not, every scribble in these things. No matter what idea or concept hits me, I put it down. If there is a common thread to a thumbnail, I’ll draw it over a few times, combine it with other ideas and next thing you know there is a balanced composition. Sometimes I’ll just look at this sketch and just freestyle paint it onto the canvas, a lot of the time I will scan in the images, make a nice composition in photoshop, print out tiled sheets to scale and then transfer the line work to the canvas and go for it. I always leave room for freestyling though. There is something about moving paint around that tells you where something needs to go.

STAMP: You do a bit of collaborations. What is your take on doing collaborations with artists? How does this help out your skill?
Craola: I like to collaborate on occasion and it is only with friends. My only thought on it is that I admire this persons work and feel that it could be a fun project to work on something with them. It’s almost a little bonding thing that I can look back on with that person and say “remember that piece?” To me it is for the memory of it.

STAMP: Any advice for young artist just starting out?
Craola: You have to be obsessed with making art. If it is just a hobby that you do every once in a while and don’t take it seriously, than it might not be a career choice for you. Keep making art of course, but don’t get frustrated that you aren’t working as much. You also have to be able to separate the business side of it with the creative side of it or you won’t be able to create freely when it comes time to paint. It can be frustrating working on a body of work when you have bills looming, so be ready to compartmentalize. Don’t compare yourself to other artists, search for your own voice, work well with others, make your deadlines and just continually work on your skills and concepts.

STAMP: What does the future hold for Craola? Any new books or projects?
Craola: This next year is gong to be very exciting for me with exhibits to be announced later (mainly one that I am really looking forward to!). Also in the works on a book of paintings with my publisher Presto Art. Keep your eyes out at www.IMSCARED.com for new releases.

STAMP: Do you agree with the overall objective of STAMP Magazine? Why or Why Not? And what ways do you feel it can improve?
Craola: I always feel it is a good idea to have places for artists to showcase their work and to have it written about. It is how people discover new artists and opens up an individual to ideas they may not have ever encountered. My only thought on how to improve the platform might be a way of getting it in the view of non-artists. What I mean is that it is a great place for artists to meet and share techniques and images and ideas, but getting it to the non-artistically inclined to get them interested is always the challenge.

See more of Craola on his website: http://www.imscared.com/ ; Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greg-Craola-Simkins/126782594001871 ; Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/craola ; Blog: http://craola1.blogspot.com/