Evan McIntyre: Illustrator, Designer and Educator
Creatives in Conversation: I believe that we can learn so much from each other and I am fascinated by the ways in which artists of all media move through the creative process. Each month I feature a different local artist as we discuss the challenges and joys that come from accessing and living with their creativity.
Evan McIntyre is a Durham, NC based illustrator and stay-at-home-dad. Fantasy video games, horror movies, and 90's nostalgia inspire him as he creates digital (and sometimes traditional ink and watercolor) illustrative works. Other interests include flip flops, black coffee, Monday Night Nitro WCW era pro wrestling, and petting every animal that will allow it.
How did you get started with illustrating?
I mean it's the age old story, you know, since I was a kid I've been drawing and doodling. I think early on I wanted to be an animator, I just loved cartoons. My mom fostered a lot of that creativity - we were homeschooled for a certain amount of time and we didn't have a TV for awhile, so she had this big book from the 70s. It was just black and white photos and little step-by-step illustrations of how to make stuff. I think I made everything in that book twice. And then I just sort of continued from there. In school I would always be drawing something, making little flip books on the edge of the book, stick figures fighting, anything.
A sneak peek from a forthcoming children's book
And then one day I made my sister some stationary of little animals and a friend saw it and he was like, where'd you get that? And I told him I drew it and he was like, man, I would pay for that. I'd been in Durham just a few months and a friend visited me and he asked where he could get a postcard of Durham. [So] I went to Morgan Imports ‘cause they have all kinds of stuff. [But they only had] five [postcards] and they weren't even pictures of the skyline. So, I did some watercolor illustrations of the Lucky Strike tower and the old Bulls Stadium and things like that. And people really liked them.
Which cartoons inspired your own art?
The ones I loved the most were Nickelodeon, like Rocko’s Modern Life and Ren and Stimpy and Doug. I still love things like the Animaniacs. One of my favorites [now] is Venture Brothers. It's super smart and hilarious, lots of odd references.
Walk me through the process of having an initial idea and turning it into a piece of art.
If it's just me trying to come up with an illustration, even if I have an idea, a lot of times it's staring at that blank piece of paper or the computer screen for a good amount of time. I start with the real basic shapes and sort of thumbnail it, which is just a mini sketch. And so I'll do that a couple times, two, three times, and then I'll refine it even more. A lot of my work has monster stuff, so [for the Durham mug] I just started with shapes. I knew I only wanted to work with the colors of the flag and I wanted the monster to be cute, so a kid might like it, but an adult would too.
After refining the shape I add color and then shading. [As far as the materials I use] it depends on how I feel, but most of the time I create digital work. I have a Microsoft Surface Pro, it's almost like a tablet, a little keyboard that can fold out. Because of the portability, the size and the ease of drawing, a lot of times I start from sketch all the way to final product on the device. I do still [work with] ink and watercolor and that process is a little more nerve wracking because there's less room for error ... or rather, you need to embrace those errors.
What's a creative challenge that you've come up against and how have you moved through it? Or is it something you're still moving through?
I'm primarily a stay-at-home-dad right now. My son is at the point now where he will focus on something for a while and I can get something done, but my process a lot of times is like a slow moving train and then once I pick up speed it's hard for me to stop. So with a kid involved it's slow starts and stops. But also he's a delight. And I don't know what I'm going to do when he's in school all day.
How do you think we can get the world to value art and creativity more highly?
At some point every artist will discover their work on some random website selling their work on cell phone cases or ripping off their lapel pin designs. I watched a documentary on Drew Struzan, the poster artist for many movies from the 70s through the 2000's, like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Absolutely beautiful work. And his originals were stolen and then he got ripped off by someone else. Eventually he got those originals back. But one of the things that I took away from that was that it's not a matter of if your work gets ripped off, it's a matter of when. And how do we make this better? One good thing with social media that I've been noticing is that there are all these little pockets of communities. So you'll start to build a fan base and then if I present the problem, Hey look, my yoga animals are now on these bed sheets on some website. If you have a big enough community they can make some noise about it. So I think a lot of change can come from focusing on community.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to be more creative?
I find myself saying over and over again – and trying to listen to my own advice – that perfection doesn't matter. It's not about being perfect. It's just a matter of doing it and finishing it and then assessing it and saying, do I like this? Did I have a good time doing it or learn something from it? I teach kids that range from six to eight to middle school and almost all of them are just so concerned with perfection. [I hope my students will] embrace those mistakes, and even embrace failure, because that's part of life and from failure comes understanding and growth. You can't grow fully to your potential without failing many times! The old adage rings true, "practice makes perfect," which we often hear and maybe dismiss, but it's so true.
What does living a creative life mean to you?
It means uncertainty, a lot of times, because I don't always know where the next job's coming from. But [it also means] I'm always looking forward and getting encouragement and fulfillment from my work, a sense of accomplishment. I was just looking today at the first versions of some [illustrations] that I made three or four years ago. That alone really got me excited, to know that my work does progress in a positive way.
This interview has been condensed and edited.