vol: IV
jenkins2d.com
Jenkins2d x Catface
vol: IV
Catface @_catface catfaceillustrations@gmail.com Khalid Sabree @KHA_Tees neoafrica3121@gmail.com Fish @manwithpencil enjoy.westside@gmail.com Ink Mike @Ink.boy michael@inkboy.com.au Crayon Blood @crayonblood crayonblood1@gmail.com
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OPPOSITE: Faceplay Graphite, Acrylic, Glitter, Wood 2012
Catface Interview By Jenkins2d
Super rad, a bit bad, and I ain’t even mad.
Sarah has always caught my eyes (all three) with her intimant line work on her cosy babes and clean compositions. There’s a sense of ‘too cool’ in their eyes that you can’t quite keep away from and you’ll want to leap onto the page and hang with these ladies for as long as they’ll let you.
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I think we all have this one way or another. What was the moment you decided to be an artist? I’ve always wanted to be an artist. It’s been my passion for as far as I can think back. Spent my whole life being that weird art kid. Where do you draw your inspiration from? Most of my drawings are a way for me to express emotions & experiences in a symbolic way that is personal to myself. Most of my drawings are strongly female because I am very inspired by confident women of all shapes and sizes and shades and hues. I’m enamored by the little things that make me happy like leafy plants, roses, & cacti, animals, coffee, bananas, pineapples, knives, lighters, etc. There are so many magical things hidden in our everyday lives & I’m trying to express this. What’s the ideal situation for creating? The house is empty & all the windows are open. It’s warm but cloudy & rainy & there’s a little bit of a draft. I have iced coffee or tea with almond milk, maybe a bar of dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt too. My music is on shuffle over the speaker, but not too loud to drown out the sound of the rain. I’ve probably just finished scrubbing the whole house & everything is dusted and organized to remove any clutter in my head. That’s when I sit down at my drawing desk and I’m smiley :) Do you know any of the babes you draw or are they babes you wish you knew? A little of both! I draw babes inspired by the people I know, others that are created in my mind, & sometimes they’re a representation of myself. Because, of course, I am the subject I know best. I can see your work making a rad comic book. Ever toyed with that idea?
I love comics! & cartoons, & I’d love to illustrate one if I had the chance to collaborate with a writer, if they had a story I could be passionate about. But I definitely could not write one myself, I am terrible at making up stories. I even have difficulty writing a paragraph. I really enjoy creating one moment & every detail in that one moment, but as soon as I have to start thinking about what maybe happened before that moment or where they are going or the millions of possibilities of relationships this character may have.. my mind starts to... drift...... Seems like you’ve always got something going on. Any shows or new releases on the way? Trying to have merch for the fall time: artbycatface.com As for shows, I’ll be doing a few small ones with some cool Denver people, they don’t even have names yet ;)
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Khalid Sabree Interview By Jenkins2d
The well rounded brilliant giant, hailing from Harlem.
Khalid clearly has no problem pushing out work and as much as he keeps busy, he’s got your eyes even busier. Cultivating the heart of the streets that surround him with the flow of elevated forces behind him.
You’ve got a lot happening, when did this all start? I started drawing at 7 because of my Dad. I wasn’t really close to him but he did start me on the road to art by showing me how to draw stick figures and encouraging me and my other brothers to enjoy Art but I really started this new art career movement about 3 or 4 years ago when I showed my work at an event called RAW ARTIST event in TriBeCa in the lower east side of Manhattan. After I sold 4 very expensive paintings that day,I realized what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. What is it that pushes you? I’m pushed by my Faith in G-d. My religion of Al-Islam for me has guided me to success and has let me deal with my failures or learning moments. I believe in 1 G-d and I try to pray 5 times a day to show my appreciation to Him. I have fun with my life and I think my life is exciting, I have 3 children and a beautiful wife who supports me and I’m having fun using my talent to create marvelous art pieces. I remember part of a Prince song which said ‘Eye am in love with G-D he’s the only way but U and Eye no we gonna die some day, If U think I’m crazy, you’re probably right but I’m gonna have fun every M%^*!*)% night”. I feel the same way, G-d is good and Life is good. I am also pushed by my art influences like Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Jacob lawerence, Graffiti artist of the 80’S, Keith Haring and even Warhol. They all knew how to spend there time creating there craft. I call my self a student of Basquiat because of his work ethic, It was said that his first solo art show he had over 200 paintings to pick from to display, that meant he was working hard before his first solo show. I want to have the that type of creative energy and dedication.
I also want to be the “Muhammad Ali of the ART WORLD” because of our similar background and religion but mostly because how I don’t fit in the stereotype of what a black artist usually are presented as,in the art world. Usually the black artist/Painter is presented as Gay or bisexual, he is either Christian or Atheist and usually drinks alcohol or uses some sort of drugs and I do neither.There is a lot of discrimination in the art world but the more you conform to those stereotypes the farther you go in the art world but I cant conform to those stereotypes and I don’t want to, so I will be fighting them like Ali did in the ring. Ever pick up any cans? I’ve never used spray painting as a medium by itself when I am creating my pieces but I’ve used spray paint in my art work. I don’t consider my self a graffiti artist, not at all.
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What kind of atmosphere do you best produce in? Most of my painting are done at night between 1am and 6am in the morning because I don’t have my own studio space and I have 3 children and they are most likely a sleep at that time LOL. It has to be quiet to think or I listen to Music to inspire me like Jazz, Prince music or new wave 80’s music or any kind of music, from Punk Rock to Classical European string music..
I plan on doing a group show in August with some awesome artist in NYC and in December 16th and 17th Ill be in Barcelona, Spain doing an international art fair out there. My ultimate goal is to have a shop where I can sell my art and Fashion ideas in one place, sort of like a cross between a Keith Haring Pop Shop and a Bathing Ape type of shop. And i want to have international stores and national stores in NYC, ATL, CHI, and LA.
You just got back from Tokyo, what’s next? Japan was an eye opener because of the paintings I sold and the contacts I made, It showed me that the language of art is universal and if your stuff is awesome someone will buy it.
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30 Super Dope coloring pages of original illustrations by Jenkins2d
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F!SH
Interview By Jenkins2d
The humble wizard casting everlasting spells on your eyes.
Wade Thompson, professionally known as Fish, is one you shouldn’t let get away from your reel. This dude gets up and down on your streets with incredible characters and moving colors that might make you stain your sheets.
OPPOSITE: The Early Bird Acrylic & Paper Collage on Canvas 2014
Where are you from? I hail from the Pacic Northwest. Olympia Washington, but I have been living in Texas for the past 12 years now. A wise fish once told me to never stop leveling up. What is leveling up to you? Leveling up to me is never allowing yourself to settle. Always looking to improve your own style, always chasing that high that comes with discovering more about yourself and your art. So wait, why F!SH? I chose to take the name F!Sh because at one point I was just hanging out in the shallow end of art.
Being apart but never truly committed, for a lot of reasons. F!Sh is to remind me to swim in the deep end and to remain committed to chasing my dreams. Whether I catch them or not isn’t really the point to me. You’re a force to be reckon with all your own, but you also run with BDC. Where did that begin? I started running with the Blue Dozen, I would say, back in 2014. At first I was around and knew all those guys but my first trip to Houston with Briks was my sort of indoctrination into the crew. Spent a few days out there painting a few spots and meeting one of the other founding memebers of the group as well as some of the other Houston cats.
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WOR? WOR, or Warriors of the Rainbow, is a collective started by Roshi K and myself and has since grown to include two other awesome artists. This group is more for artists who are wanting to use their art to make the world a better place, to help inspire the current and next generation to assume the responsibilites that humans have negelcted for generations now. The prophecy of the Warriors of the Rainbow is that a generation will come to this Earth and help revolutionize it to bring back healthy and wholistic ways of living. To help people understand that we are all in this together and that is the only way we can survive as a species. I believe art is one of the strongest mediums in existence and we plan to use it to help bring about that way of thinking. You were recently a confirmed POWWOW! collaborator, what’s it like to conquer a mural that huge? Man! POWWOW! Impossible Walls was a crazy experience. That was denitely my largest mural to date. It was a bit overwhelming at rst having to learn how to opperate a boom lift and getting symmetry down and everything. At one point I was sitting at the bottom looking up at it and had a feeling like David vs Goliath. I just had to believe that I was going to conquor it and so I set to work to doing so. In the end it was a huge complishment for myself personally and I had never felt more proud of myself for not allowing it to defeat me. Word is you’re back from London, what’s a fish from Texas got cookin’ across the pond? Over in London I was apart of an art show called “Illustrated 2016” which is an exhibition style show with other local and some international artists. On top of that there was a special Secret Walls battle that
happened there at the show also, where two other exhibiting artists and myself battled 3 members of the Gums & Tongue Crew. It Denitely made for a good time since it was my first time overseas! Whatcha got cookin’ next? That’s a good question hahaha. As of right now I have a few shows lined up in San Antonio, as well as a collab show with my friend Grim in Austin mid summer. At the end of summer I’ve also got a show at Station in Denver, Colorado. So lots to work on, the grind never ends. I look forward to getting back out on the road!
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ABOVE: You Know Who Know You Now Watercolor on Paper 2013 OPPOSITE: Broy Beat Down Watercolor on Paper 2015
InkMike Interview By Jenkins2d
Timelessly mischevious. Surfing in and out of your grandparents childhood and yours and ringing every right bell on the way out.
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What does your work mean to you? A lot of the time my work represents my current state, Its a complete extension of who I am and what I love and ultimately how I want other people to feel. So when I was younger things weren’t going to great so it was all about the monsters with the gnarly looking limbs, crazed eyes and rows of teeth, At the time I didn’t want people to like what I was drawing instead I wanted them to be shocked. I was super inspired by Alex Pardee but loved the cuteness of Micky Mouse and early cartoons and would end up combining the two. Now however I want my art to make people smile and to be attracted by its cuteness. I’ve kept that love for Micky Mouse and all things early days of animation and begun to create what I do now; super colourful, Cheeky and inspired directly by passions and admirations.
Which Cartoons were your eyes glued to back in the day? I used to be utterly obsessed with Pokemon but more so Digimon was where it was at for me. I used to sit in front of the TV in the mornings with a bunch of pens and piece of paper and try draw all the awesome Digimon I saw in the episode. They would only be in a cool pose for a short time so it was basically me trying to speed draw then remember the rest, they never worked out the way I wanted them too but it was the thought that counts right? Whats your favourite part of the creating process? I love the sketching phase, Its something that I rarely show anyone because its not entirely relative to my style but it lets me go wild and really flesh out the structure of the drawing and mess around with where different elements end up, but more then that once its gone digital its always so much fun to choose the colour pallet and begin messing around
with complimentary and contrasting tones that allow me to add much more personality out of my little characters! Which artists do I pay attention to and why? I’m all about my local scene in Melbourne, theres so much talent down here and everyone is willing to support one another which makes for such a fun environment to create within. Recently I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from some Melbourne boys who go by the names of ‘Chehehe’ who just works in every kind of medium you can imagine and is just super talented with his linework, Crisis who is insane with his colour space,the man does the best skulls and theres a certain man by the name of Mitch Walder who just kills it with all the personality he packs into his work. All three of them are so varied and work within the same circle so its inspiring to see such a contrast and overlap of ideas and goes to show just collaborative the scene can be.
Is there any medium you want to experiment with that you haven’t yet? I’m definitely getting way more into aerosols, I’ve always had a massive respect for artists that can pull of incredibly detailed and varied work in that medium and something that I’ve grown up surrounded by but never thought to experiment to heavily with. But its hard, super hard and I have an even greater for people that work in so much linework and fidelity within their pieces. Its going to be an expensive ride on the aerosol train, many mis-used and wasted cans of aerosol, but thats half the fun
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Crayon Blood Interview By Jenkins2d
Mystic medieval messiah that blacksmiths images of sonically distressed internal war and peace.
So is it true? You bleed colorful wax? 2 TRU. But it oxidizes way too quickly :( The name is actually from a joke Grindcore song i made with a skit at the beginning. In the skit a Pre K teacher asks a little kid what his favorite crayon color is, and his response is “BLOOD!”. Then the song gets all hXc! ha! These days its more of the philosophy to remember that no matter what the deeper meaning behind the images are, keep it simple, light and not overly stuffy/detailed. What pushed you toward the materials you use? I`ve always been interested in traditional medium. I have messed with digital process but printmaking and the tactile feel of paint is more interesting to me. In my current work I use acrylics on gessoed or unpainted paper.
I like the quick drying time and the paint consistency for the most part. But lately i’m thinking of what process would be best to keep the more rough line aspects i like in my initial sketches. What’s your preferred atmosphere to create in? For initial stuff like sketches and stuff i like to be in a social setting. Maybe check out a music show or go out for a bit or hang at cafes and reflect, while at the same time pulling in the energy around me. I like to do a lot of night driving while playing tunes and reflecting. I think cruising around is prolly when i’m creating the most ha! For the actual painting of the final pieces, I like to be by myself at my desk/ painting area. Usually even more isolated with headphones and listening to songs on repeat that really have the feel i want. Its weird to spend hours, days or even weeks with the idea and then finalizing it in a few hours usually. ha!
There’s something medieval and psychedelic about your work. Where’s that coming from? Crippling bouts of anxiety ha! Egon Schiele and Van Gogh are my favorite old skool artists. If i could time travel i would go back and give them daps. (Shout out to all the Sunflowers out there. I see you!) They both had killer line work. And i think i like that Van Gogh illustrated semi-melancholic subjects with bright vibrancy. I like using pastel colors because its comforting and i feel like that even if the concepts are coming from a uneasy place or experience, they neutralize and provide a more hopeful emotion. I think they are psychedelic because the work tries to translate the introspective aspects of daily life and experiences. And i think they are
medieval because they sometimes deal with old ass concepts like death, meaning, concepts of love and pain and use classic symbols for those ideas. Also, i’m obsessed with skull line that goes around our temples so thats why my recent stuff has been skull-heavy. ha! If you could soundtrack your artwork what would it sound like? It would sound like cheery, female-voiced, reverb-heavy, summer guitar-indie-pop played in a rented practice space, with sad lyrics and emojis. And sound/smoke leaking in from a neighboring night-time house party playing trap music about lavish materialistic gainz. Now accepting applications for band members. :)
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ABOVE: Ice Cream Love Micro pen, Copics, Prismacolor markers 2015
vol: IV Produced by Johnny Duncan AKA Jenkins2d
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