For years, Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net has been about two things only – awesome art and the artists that create it. With that in mind, we thought why not take the first week of the month to showcase these awesome artists even more? Welcome to “Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net.” In this column, we are focusing on one artist and the awesome art that they create, whether they be amateur, up and coming, or well established. The goal is to uncover these artists so even more people become familiar with them. We ask these artists a few questions to see their origins, influences, and more. If you are an awesome artist or know someone that should be featured, feel free to contact me at any time at [email protected].This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…
Mike Giblin
Mike is a UK based illustrator and caricaturist. He has worked as a professional artist for over 25 years, and loves to create art based on iconic characters, moments and scenes from movies and pop culture. He is also pretty handy at drawing faces, and continues to perform live caricatures at events all over the UK. He grew up in the 80s and 90s, which is fairly evident from the things he draws.
JOBLO: What got you started as an artist?
MIKE: Many artists lay claim to having spent their childhood pencil in hand, obsessively churning out drawings while their friends were outside playing in the sunshine. I was never like that. I just always had a natural eye for observational drawing, especially when it comes to faces and characters. But it was always quite a casual thing. I don’t recall a specific moment when I decided to “be” an artist; that’s just how things unfolded. When I was a student in the late 90s I became intrigued by caricatures, and began drawing exaggerated portraits for the student magazine. After my degree I took a job drawing caricatures in a theme park to make some extra cash. It was only ever meant to be a temporary thing, but as I gained more experience I found my confidence, skills and eye for exaggerated likeness improving, and what began as a stopgap soon became the foundation of everything that would follow for the next 25 years.
Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
As a kid I don’t recall having any particular favourite artists, though I loved animation art and for a while had aspirations of working for Disney. The first time I remember my head being seriously turned by another’s work was when I was 14 or 15. I was an avid reader of movie magazines at the time, and Empire and Total Film used to feature these awesome “movie rumours” illustrations created by UK artist Paul Garner. There was just something about the way Paul depicted exaggerated, stylised portraits of recognisable actors in colourful and fanciful scenarios that really captured my imagination. I felt the same way a few years later when I discovered the work of Mad Magazine’s Tom Richmond, who was doing something similar but infusing his caricatures and illustrations with a hefty dollop of brilliantly silly humour. Both artists remain a huge influence on me to this day.
Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram?
I made my name as a caricaturist, and through my event and commission work caricatures still play a large role in what I do as a freelancer. However these days I am more interested in leveraging these skills to create drawings and illustrations inspired by movies, music, and all the nostalgic things I loved growing up. The artists currently firing me up on this journey include Butcher Billy, Stuff by Mark, Steven Rhodes, Dicktracyroguesgallery, Cristocat, Popoffstudio, mr_dodge_dartc, Artbycheyne, and Barndogart. But you could add many more to that list.
What advice would you have for budding artists today?
I’m not sure how qualified I am to answer this question, as in many respects I feel like I’m still learning and making things up as I go along. But based on my experience, I would have to say this: follow your heart and your passions when it comes to your art, and work hard to find both your target audience, and the tribe of people your work speaks to. Try not to overthink and strive for perfection (something I struggle with daily), just create your art to the best of your ability and share it with the world. I’ve always liked the following quote by Andy Warhol: “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”
In terms of learning to draw exaggerated portraits and developing an eye for caricature, the best education I ever had was working in a theme park. There, I was able to draw thousands upon thousands of faces, whilst getting comfortable with the various demands and distractions of drawing live. This really fast-tracked my skills and confidence. If anyone is keen to follow a similar path I would definitely recommend finding somewhere with stacks of passing trade: whether that’s a theme park, a shopping mall or simply drawing at a multitude of events. The benefits to the portrait artist of simply drawing lots and lots of people are immeasurable.
Lastly, work hard at the business and promotional side of things. This is difficult for many creatives – myself included – but getting to grips with both is essential for a successful art career.
What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
I have many things lined up for the foreseeable, but first and foremost I intend to continue completing many more designs for my Teepublic and Redbubble stores. I love the thought that there are people all around the world who enjoy the same goofy stuff as me; and I find the notion they might also want to share that connection by displaying my work on their wall or on a t-shirt incredibly inspiring and gratifying.
Also pretty high on the list is an overhaul of my YouTube page. I set up a page a couple of years ago, but beyond uploading a couple of initial process videos I’ve been pretty lax at updating it regularly. I’m getting more and more people asking about my artistic choices and wanting to see my process, and so this is something I’ll be looking at soon. I may also create an accompanying e-book of some description.
Further down the road I would love to release a coffee table book of movie and pop culture-inspired art, accompanied by background stories on why these things mean so much to me. I also plan on selling my art at many more comic conventions and artists’ markets in the future. Getting out and connecting with likeminded others on a face to face basis is something that fills me with a lot of joy.
Being a fansite, we have to ask you… What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
Most of the things I enjoy hark back to the 80s and 90s, the decades in which I grew up. I’m firmly of the belief that movies, music and pop culture were simply better back then. (I’m probably just getting old, ha!) Some of my all-time favourites include Back to the Future, The Lost Boys, Young Guns 2, Crocodile Dundee, Home Alone, Flight of the Navigator, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Point Break, The Terminator, Road House, La Bamba, The Naked Gun, Coming to America, and Trading Places. I love John Hughes movies and the Police Academy series, I’m also a sucker for Christmas flicks and a good romantic comedy. (While You Were Sleeping is a bona fide classic, and you can’t convince me otherwise.)
I’m more likely to be found surfing YouTube than watching TV these days, but have enjoyed many shows over the years. Again, there’s definitely a nostalgic bias: off the top of my head, this list includes The Wonder Years, Huckleberry Finn And His Friends, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Moonlighting, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Phoenix Nights, Reeves and Mortimer, Blackadder, and The Young Ones. I also love US sitcoms like Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier, and Everybody Loves Raymond. In recent times I have thoroughly enjoyed Schitt’s Creek and Cobra Kai.
Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Mike as we continue to follow his journey across his Website and social media hubs: Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Tee Public / Redbubble
Batman
Beetlejuice
Cobra Kai
Dumb & Dumber
George McFly
Home Alone
John Amos
Kate McCallister
Liam Gallagher
The Lost Boys
Marv
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder
Robocop
Seinfeld
Superman
Superman: The Movie
Tom Hardy
Weird Science
Source:
JoBlo
