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Illustrator Profile - Julian Callos: "I spend a lot of time brainstorming and sketching"

By Robert Newman   Thursday August 25, 2016

Julian Callos is a Los Angeles-based illustrator and artist. In addition to his many assignments for print and digital publications, Callos frequently exhibits artwork at a variety of galleries. He cites indie comics and animation as major influences for his stylishly graphic illustrations.

MY LIFE:
I’m based in Los Angeles, currently freelancing from home. I got my start in a group show with Gallery 1988 during my senior year at Otis College of Art & Design and have been working as an illustrator and gallery artist since I graduated in 2009. I’ve worked as a semi-regular illustrator for the LA Weekly and as a full time illustrator for UglyDoll in addition to various freelance gigs throughout the years.

MY WORKSPACE:
I work in a studio space which happens to also be my bedroom. It gets plenty of light and I’ve got cute houseplants on my desk and inspiring artwork on the walls, so it’s a great space for working. At its peak level of clean there’s a nice sense of balance to the room which my brain appreciates when it’s trying to focus on work.

HOW I MAKE MY ILLUSTRATIONS:
I start with a theme, then make rough thumbnail sketches, then a final sketch. If I’m working digitally, usually I’ll transfer the sketch and ink it (with either a sable brush and India ink, Microns, or a Kuretake Fudegokochi brush pen, depending on how much line weight variation I want) then scan this drawing into Photoshop, where I color it. By the way, the Photoshop brushes created by Kyle T. Webster are amazing and great for digital coloring. If I’m working traditionally, I’ll transfer the sketch onto printmaking paper (which is sometimes mounted on a wood panel), clear gesso that, and paint with sable brushes and a mix of acrylics and acryla-gouache.

I wish I was the kind of artist who could just get right to the painting stage and improvise along the way, but it’s really important for me to nail down the idea first and get a composition I’m happy with—otherwise I feel lost, so I spend a lot of time in the brainstorming and sketching stage. Especially with more personal paintings, it often helps for me to start with a theme and even titles of pieces before anything else. Oh, and I also sometimes make small sculptures, which is a totally different process involving baking, sanding, painting, and spraying. It’s a party of dust and chemicals that can’t possibly be good for my health!

MY FIRST BIG BREAK:
I think the thing that kickstarted a lot of work was being invited to Gallery 1988’s Crazy 4 Cult gallery show about cult movies. It was one of my first opportunities to get my work out there and to show people my sense of humor and my love of pop culture, so I'm really grateful to Gallery 1988.

MY INFLUENCES:
The reason I even started drawing was because I loved cartoons as a kid (and I still do now), so you could say that Nickelodeon was one of my major influences. I think a lot of my style and sense of humor can be traced back to the shows I loved growing up. Looney Tunes, the Nicktoons, the Batman and Superman animated series from the 90s...they all had a hand in shaping the kind of drawings I loved to make.

MY MOST ADMIRED CREATIVE PERSON:
One person off the top of my head is St. Vincent, AKA Annie Clark. Her music is fantastic, she’s not afraid to experiment, and she's got STYLE. The same could be said of Sufjan Stevens, or of Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine. I’m really drawn to musicians who take an adventurous approach to music making, or who can create something extremely personal and universal at the same time; these are qualities I try to apply to art-making when I work on more personal stuff.

MY CREATIVE INSPIRATION:
Indie comics and animated movies/shows are huge sources of inspiration for me. I love the works of comics artists like Jordan Crane and Jason, who can convey so much with just a few lines of ink and a few choice colors. As far as inspiring movies go, it’s hard to beat Hayao Miyazaki and the sense of wonder his movies elicit (Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies). And I don’t know if it directly influences my work necessarily, but Futurama is one of my favorite TV shows, so I’m sure it at least informs my sense of humor. I do love the line work and colors of that show as well, so maybe it does influence my work.

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF WORKING ALONE:
The biggest challenge is trying to manage my time wisely. When I have a deadline but no one breathing down my neck, it’s very easy to succumb to laziness and leave all the work until the last minute. I always manage to meet my deadlines, but sometimes it takes pulling an all-nighter to finish and that’s no one's fault but my own! This is definitely something I’m trying to be better about.

A MEMORABLE ASSIGNMENT FROM THE PAST YEAR:
Back at the end of last year I did a painting of a punk Princess Leia for an official Star Wars gallery show to benefit charity. I had a lot of fun inserting various Star Wars references in the piece and people seemed to really respond well to the finished product. A bunch of people have actually done cosplays of the piece, which is so exciting to see! I also did a sculpture of Bob from the show Bob’s Burgers as a cheeseburger last year. It was a LOT of work but I’m so happy with how it turned out. I’'s one of my favorite sculptures I’ve done. It’s so silly.

DREAM ASSIGNMENT:
Probably illustrating album art for one of the musicians I mentioned previously. I would die.

MY FAVORITE ART DIRECTOR:
I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with really great art directors for my editorial assignments. I can’t think of anyone who wasn’t nice to work with. If any art director I’ve worked with in the past is reading this—it was a pleasure (and hey, I’d love to work with you again)! I’ll give a shoutout to the designers/art directors I’ve worked with at The New Republic: Ben Avny, Annie Jen, and Erick Fletes (who is now at medium.com). They gave good feedback and tried their best to give prompt responses when deadlines were tight. I’ll also give a shoutout to Darrick Rainey and Jason Jones, who art directed and let my imagination run free during my time creating illustrations for LA Weekly.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE ILLUSTRATORS:
Tomer and Asaf Hanuka are just incredible at composition, colors, and line work. I absolutely love the gory, gooey worlds that Charlie Immer creates in his paintings. Sam Bosma, Hsiao-Ron Cheng, James Jean, Kali Ciesemier...all incredible. There are so many other artists I could name but I would be going on for ages.

OTHER WORK:
As I’ve mentioned, I occasionally create sculptures. It’s a nice change of pace working in a completely different medium with a different process than drawing or painting. And it’s really fun and interesting to see your work in three dimensions and to be able to touch it and turn it around in your hand.

Besides editorial illustration, I participate in group shows at various galleries, and have had a few solo shows in the past with WWA Gallery in Culver City. With these solo shows—“Into the Unknown” (2010), “The End” (2011), and “COSMOS” (2013)—I had the freedom to explore themes and subjects more personal to me, so I’ve used them as opportunities to create semi-autobiographical narratives using nature and outer space as motifs.

Occasionally I’ll get asked to do something outside of editorial illustration or gallery work; it’s always exciting to get to do something different so I’m always open to new avenues of work. A couple years ago I was asked to create an illustration for Chipotle as part of their Cultivating Thought Author Series, so my work was featured on cups alongside a written piece by Jonathan Safran Foer. I was so honored to be part of the series, and it was always really fun when a friend would send me a picture of them with the cup!

HOW I STAY CURRENT:
When I was in college my focus was primarily developing my traditional media skills. I took digital media classes but preferred the feel of pencil or brush on paper. This was fine, especially since I participated in way more gallery shows early on, but as I started taking on more editorial work I felt that coloring/finishing illustrations digitally would be faster and easier to edit than if I worked traditionally, so I worked on my Photoshop skills. Working digitally also allowed me to play with color and line differently than with traditional media. Moving out of my comfort zone and experimenting was definitely beneficial, both career-wise and artistic-growth-wise.

HOW I PROMOTE MYSELF:
My main form of promotion is just having a web presence and trying to keep it updated as often as I can. Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook have all helped with getting my work in front of more people and have also been great for networking with fellow illustrators. Other venues for promotion that have proven successful are illustration competitions such as Society of Illustrators and American Illustration, so I try to enter every year.

I’ve also begun creating zines and other small goods due to my participation in Comic Arts Los Angeles (CALA) for the past couple of years. I’ve sold all sorts of products there—from zines to stickers to prints—and met so many fans of art, as well as fellow artists. It’s a fun way to promote my work, meet the people who follow my work, and network with other artists. And any remaining products I have left over go to my online store, which is up year-round, so people who aren’t able to attend CALA don’t completely miss out.

ADVICE FOR SOMEONE STARTING OUT:
I always tell illustrators who are still in school to try to take as many classes outside of their major but still tangentially related to their major as they can while they have the opportunity. Expose yourself to different types of art. If you've mostly focused on traditional painting, maybe take a graphic design class or a sculpture class. Definitely take digital media classes. Mixing it up like this is a great way to expand your skill set and the way that you think about and approach your art (and other art). And trying classes that have nothing to do with your major would probably be just as beneficial! I think illustrators these days need to have as large an arsenal of skills as they can handle because there’s so much talent coming into the field all the time and the competition is getting tougher and tougher.

See more Julian Callos illustrations, new work and updates here:
Julian Callos website
Instagram @juliancallos
Twitter @juliancallos
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