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As an artist, it seems like the landscape is ever-changing from simply the tools, to the aesthetic. I intend to be an artist that never wants to stop learning, and as such, I find more and more interesting artists every day. Each artist has a unique insight and point of view, no matter the experience level. New views help open my mind and teach me there are many ways to utilize my skills and I hope that sharing our stories will help others in the same way. I believe there are many paths on an artistic journey, and each interview will help to show the stories of the artists that tread them.
Today we'll be interviewing Stephen Najarian.
Kaminski: My first question is typically the same, but what made you pursue art? And in that vein, what KEEPS you pursuing it?
Najarian: So I was always somewhat into art, since i was little, I was good at it and enjoyed doing it in my spare time though I never considered it something that I actually wanted to do with my life. It was just a fun hobby for me. It wasn't until I was in high school that things started to change. Having been in band/music since I was in the 6th grade I REALLY disliked marching band freshman year of high school, I hated marching in the parades, the football games, and the concerts. So sophomore year I decided to take art class instead "I'm good at art, I enjoy it and I don't have to do any of that extra shit, and I can stay at home thanksgiving morning and not have to wake up early and freeze my but off watching my high school football team get their asses kicked by our rivals". Total win, win. After quitting band and taking art class sophomore year, my teachers immediately told me that I was quite advanced for someone with no formal art training and asked if I had ever considered art school.
That same year the Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring came out in theaters. I was excited to see the movie as soon as I saw the first trailers for it. After coming home from the theater I immediately had to go get the books to read everything, I immediately became hooked. I fell in love with the design of the movies and the art of John Howe and Allen Lee, pouring over the art books. Discovering my love for fantasy and Lord of the Rings, along with taking my first real art classes made me realize this is what I want to do.
As for what makes me want to continue pursuing art is the fact that I am currently living the dream/goal I set out for myself when I was in high school. I looked at people like Donato Giancola and his Lord of the Rings paintings and thought that is the coolest job ever. You get to paint awesome stuff from your favorite books and movies and people buy it. I may not be as financially well off as I would like or hope, but I am living fully off of my art, I get to paint what I want when I want, how can you not love that?
Kaminski: I'm sure I've quoted it many times before, but much like your push via Lord of the Rings, my push was always from Role-Playing games of the eighties and early nineties. It's no secret that Shadowrun has and will always be a HUGE influence on all of my work. That being said, it's interesting to see that we are both on two sides of a coin, it just happens to be a different coin.
The fact that we can use our influences to push us to something greater, much like they used what was previous to them to push on, makes me happy at least. It's that whole thought of 'making something yours' that we were taught all throughout art school. Therefore: it's interesting that you note that your work is yours and yours alone. What's that journey been like? What are some pitfalls you've experienced or notable successes that came easy thus far?
Najarian: Except for a few freelance jobs here and there all of my art are personal paintings. My art journey seemed to be a long and at times a challenging one. I graduated art school in 2008, at that time I thought I was going to follow in Donato's footsteps, being an oil painter working my way up to book covers. I kept working on portfolio pieces trying to improve my skills waiting for the time when I would be good enough to start getting paid work. Hearing stories about other artists who would say things like "you gotta start at the bottom working for the crappy low paying clients and slowly work your way up" sounded incredibly unappealing for me
Why work for shitty low paying clients when I can just work on my own personal portfolio pieces, basically I thought what is the point working for some low paying clients when I can focus on building my skills for clients that have higher budgets that would pay a sustainable wage for artists, and actually enjoy the work I would be producing. I kept on doing that until 2013 when I finally started producing work that I thought was good enough for some of the lower/mid level companies
I got a few paid illustration jobs but nothing that could come close to allowing me to quit my full time job and do art full time. Around this time I was listening to a web show, One Fantastic Week, where two fantasy artists would talk about art/business/and their art journey. One of the hosts, Sam Flegal (if you'd like to read the interview with Sam, look to Interview #3) was making a living selling art at comic conventions, he had been doing it for several years and he was making a living at it. I thought to myself this is something that I should try, I thought my work was similar in overall quality to his, and if he is making a living doing this then why not me?
I have been doing cons for three years now and I am earning a decent living painting the things I like to paint and selling it directly to fans at conventions and online.
If someone is going to pay you less than $200 for a painted illustration, don't bother. Paint something on your own, you will enjoy it far more, and it will do far more for your career than rushing to paint ten crummy illustrations as opposed to painting one kick ass one.
As for pitfalls that I think people should watch out for, mainly the idea that there are only two options for artists, freelance or studio jobs. That's totally not true, there are so many different ways and avenues for artists to make a living, do not pigeon hole yourself into just those two. Another thing I think artists should watch out for is some of these predatory low paying jobs/clients. If someone is going to pay you less than $200 for a painted illustration, don't bother. Paint something on your own, you will enjoy it far more, and it will do far more for your career than rushing to paint ten crummy illustrations as opposed to painting one kick ass one. No one will hire you for your mediocre freelance work that you had no time to work on. Spending the time to work on one killer painting will take you so much further.
Kaminski: The advice above is something that I'm still trying to learn myself.
It seems like you've dove deep into the dark fantasy realm. Is this a topic that you find yourself fully invested in? Also, what about the genre excites you as compared to other genres out there?
Najarian: I don't know if I would call my work dark fantasy, some of my work does have those elements. I usually call myself a high fantasy artist. Dragons, knights in armor, castles, sweeping landscapes. These are all the things that have interested me in art and fantasy since I was little playing Magic: the Gathering in 1996. I paint the things that I have always responded to in fantasy and have very rarely had interest in painting anything else. I cannot see myself getting tired of dragons, castles, and snowy mountains any time soon.
Kaminski: Switching gears: Since you make your money typically with work that is yours, alone, do you have any advice for people that want to try this avenue too? What are some strategies to get their name out there and/or make active sales via website or conventions? Basically what NETS you sales?
Najarian: I would say just paint and draw the things that you love to paint, your love for it will show through and fans and collectors will take notice. I have always gotten a better response to my personal work than client work, and I have heard the same from my artists friends. People can tell when you are emotionally invested in something. Do what you love and people will follow.
As for promoting yourself online, that isn't one of my strong suits. But what has worked is being active on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, tumbler etc. Another great place is posting on reddit, I know it can be scary with all of the different sub reddit rules and some of the less than polite members in said communities, but reddit as a whole can be a great place for you to find new fans and collectors.
The best thing to do though, is to get out there in person meeting people and talking about your work. Going to conventions and exhibiting has been by far the best way I have reached new fans and collectors. My social media presence is relatively small, but my presence at conventions has been steadily growing and is my main source of income.
Kaminski: Which brings us exactly to our next point of business: some conventions, such as Dragon Con, have entry 'exams'. What's your advice to break-in? In that vein, what are your favorite shows to do? What do you find so interesting about them?
I would say try to submit your best work, hope for the best but don't be surprised or really that disappointed if you don't make it. Not making it into one show, no matter how good it is isn't going to ruin your sales for the year or ruin your career.
Najarian: Unfortunately I have no Idea what the secret is to break through the jury process for some of those shows. If I did have any secret tips I would be exhibiting at GenCon, DragonCon and NYCC this year (I didn't pass the jury in all three). It is a total crap shoot, last year I got into those three shows while failing to get into Emerald City Comic Con, this year it was the reverse, I got into ECCC and not into the others. I would say try to submit your best work, hope for the best but don't be surprised or really that disappointed if you don't make it. Not making it into one show, no matter how good it is isn't going to ruin your sales for the year or ruin your career.
I would say try to submit your best work, hope for the best but don't be surprised or really that disappointed if you don't make it. Not making it into one show, no matter how good it is isn't going to ruin your sales for the year or ruin your career.
These shows are getting harder and harder to get into, more and more talented artists are applying and there just isn't enough room for everyone. I think someones best bet is to focus more on smaller conventions that are growing in popularity, shows like C2E2 and AwesomeCon, MegaCon. Shows that are big but maybe not as big or as difficult to get into as GenCon and DragonCon. there are plenty of shows out there that are great to exhibit at that don't have the challenges as some of the bigger more expensive shows.
Kaminski: These are all shows that I eventually would like to break into myself - particularly C2E2. In time... in time.
Do you have any projects that you've been working on collectively that you can share? Such as a series or theme? Do you have any projects that you're particularly proud of? And if so, what makes them so appealing to you?
Najarian: So far most of my personal illustration work has been, "What do I feel like painting next?" Jumping back and forth between figurative work, castles and landscapes, and dragons. There isn't too much cohesion between everything in terms of an overarching story, however, I have recently been working on a series of elemental dragons. The first one started as a piece for fun on my twitch stream, and it very quickly has turned into my most popular print. I then decided to do a companion painting to it that has also been quite popular. Those two images have now turned into the beginning of a full on series of elemental dragons. I now have three in the set with plans to do several more.
I have also recently been thinking about my favorite books, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, illustrating scenes and places from both. Basically the plan currently is to jump around from dragons to castles
As for pieces that I am particularly proud of, there are a few pieces over the years that I am really happy with how they turned out, like what they did for my career, whether they were a level up moment in terms of skill level or my first paid job or first book cover. I would probably say that my "winter fortress" painting was a piece that I really started to figure things out in terms of how to paint and hitting the level of finish I am looking for in my work. That is also a piece that several of my art heroes have purchased prints of when I exhibited at IlluxCon. To have Mark Poole like your work enough to purchase a print is like a dream come true.
My final hour painting was also a piece that has done a lot for my career, it was my first big seller print, got me some good traction online and turned into a giant oil painting commission. That piece was the largest profit I'd made off of a single image.
Kaminski: I would be nerding out the whole time if any of my art heroes showed up to my table, and then actually buy a print?! Ashley would have to pick me up off the floor!
Since you've talked a bit about your series and what you like to paint, then let's get into the nitty-gritty: What's your process typically like? Do you have any particular strategies you use to flesh out a piece from beginning to end or do you just dive right in and let the paint flow?
Najarian: Usually I have an idea gestating in my head. I like to spend a few days at least (sometimes ideas stay in there for weeks or months) thinking about the piece, what I want, angles, composition, I like to have a vision in mind before I start. Once I have what I think is a solid idea I start sketching it out on the computer and the idea/design gets further revised and changed until I find an ideal flow to the piece. Usually somewhere in this process I also start compiling reference images to either help with the design and sketching process or to help me with the rendering for the final painting. Once I have my drawing and reference images compiled I dive in with the under painting.
(early WIP shot of the lightning dragon from above)
Usually I begin painting underneath my drawing layers, at this point I am just focusing on getting base layers of color and value. I usually try to stay pretty muted at the beginning, as I build up the piece and the rendering I will start pushing and adjusting color as I go. Once I feel comfortable I have everything I need I start painting on top of the drawing layers and slowly build up the rendering. I usually jump around a lot when I work, I will usually start with the background and build that up a bit, then switch to the foreground and work on that. If I focus on one area too long I start to get a little bored, I like to jump around the image keeping my eyes fresh to notice things that are bugging me that I want to improve, I especially do this towards the end, towards the end of the painting what always started as clean organized layers turns into a gigantic mess as I jump between foreground, middleground, and background layers.
Kaminski: A lot of people, especially fledgling artists, don't realize how long an idea can take to formulate. The comic project that Ashley and I have been working on actually started when I was back in elementary school and has been a slow burn since then. All of the robot drawings and gestures and studies and things are all the build-up for what will most-likely become an actual explosion of insanity for a game or book or comic or whatever it happens to want to become! Not only that, but doing sketches, thumbs, etc. are all a part of the process. Because of this, it also appears that our end-goal process remains pretty close to each other, with things looking like a mess for a hot minute before the final, ultimate clean-up stage.
Speaking of clean-up...What goals do you have set for yourself in the immediate? And the long term?
Najarian: Goals currently are to keep making new work and selling at shows. I am earning a living though it is not as much as I would like. So increasing sales and getting better at conventions, improving my booth setup, and offering new products is my immediate focus. I also want to try and find some more time to work on some traditional paintings, I haven't worked on any traditional work for the past five months or so and I would like to have some originals to show off at some upcoming conventions. Besides that, find time to work on some drawings for a sketchbook that I have been telling myself I have wanted to kickstart for the past two years. I need to get off my ass and start actually working on that.
Kaminski: And, finally, what's the best piece of advice you've received OR what's the best piece of advice you can give to established or upcoming artists?
The art heroes we all look up to were not blessed with some God given ability, they just worked really hard at it and so can anyone else if you are committed and put your mind to it.
Najarian: the advice that I have always really appreciated is hearing from others is their trials and struggles they went through to get to where they are. Knowing that this art thing isn't easy, even for some of the top artists in the industry was super important to me. You aren't going to wake up one day and be a master painter. Embrace the journey you are on, don't get discouraged that it is taking longer than you want. If you put your head down, don't give up and keep working you will get there eventually. The art heroes we all look up to were not blessed with some God given ability, they just worked really hard at it and so can anyone else if you are committed and put your mind to it.
The other big thing I have learned was to slow down when painting, get good reference. If you are struggling with a certain area, don't just say "oh well" and power through it, take a step back, find some better reference, repaint it if you have to. It sucks scrapping something or starting over when you have spent so long on painting, but if it will make the end result that much better it is totally worth it. There is no race to see how fast you can churn out paintings, quality over quantity always comes first when it comes to art.
Kaminski: Great advice, Stephen! Thanks for all of your insights!
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THANKS FOR READING, AND UNTIL NEXT TIME!
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