Awesome Art’s Interview With Artist Sam Green
For years, Awesome Art 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.” 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 theodorebond@joblo.com.This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of…
Sam Green
JOBLO: What got you started as an artist?
SAM: I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. Since I was first able to pick up and hold a pencil, I’ve been drawn to it. No pun intended. I have scrap books from when I was really young – as far back as 2 years old – full of drawings. My Mum was always really encouraging of it growing up – fostering and nurturing this skill throughout my upbringing.
Trial and error and the early days of YouTube and DeviantArt were invaluable in helping guide me as I figured it all out. I taught myself the Adobe Suite in my early teens as a means to push my art in new directions.
I kept it up throughout my childhood and teen years, into adulthood. I went to university to originally study Game Art Design, before switching over to Fine Art to allow a broader skillset. Hilariously though they hated basically everything I produced. Often criticizing it for being too commercial, which didn’t fit in with their more old-fashioned gallery focused Fine Art ideals. As a result, I got little guidance through my time here and I still consider myself to be self-taught.
Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
I was really into cartoons and animation as a kid – probably the two most impressionable things on me in that regard were Batman The Animated Series and Dragon Ball Z. So I guess you could answer this question with Bruce Timm and Akira Toriyama.
Toriyama in particular got me really thinking about anatomy and how to not only exaggerate it – but break it down into sections. The way he drew musculature is so distinct and defined. I spent a lot of my childhood trying to draw in this way. While it was no doubt very stylised, I think it was useful for helping understand how these parts of the body work and go together.
Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram?
In all honesty, I try to limit my time on Instagram and social media these days. I know it’s not a particularly groundbreaking take, but I find it can be really consuming both mentally and in terms of being a time sink. I’ve definitely tried to take a step back from it in that regard lately.
With that said – a couple of my all-time favourites around the internet are Tony Stella and Rory Kurtz. They’d definitely be on my Mount Rushmore of contemporary artists.
Thinking of contemporary artists working today; Tomasz Majewski is someone that I feel is slightly underrated within the scene of illustrators and poster artists that we operate in. His work is so consistently high quality and with such an eye for inventive design that I often see imitated but rarely matched. I think he’s great and definitely worth a follow.
What advice would you have for budding artists today?
I think it’s a bit of a weird one in the wake of all of the AI doom and gloom. I think I’d answer this differently even just a couple of years ago. I feel a lot more apprehensive of advising budding artists today, which sucks and really shouldn’t be the case.
With that said, I think you’ve really just got to love it. Now more than ever when you have these huge corporations developing tools for the masses to undermine and undervalue the arts. The thing that sets a true artist apart from the AI slop slingers is genuine heart and passion, and I truly think that’s something that can’t be replicated by a machine. You’ve got to stay uniquely yourself, pull influence from all around you and be open to the world and artforms around you.
Above all; if you truly love it, you just have to keep making stuff and being creative. Treat creativity like a muscle and keep working it and pushing yourself to try new things.
What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
I’ve been super busy over the past few months. You can expect to see a few more licensed print releases from me before the year is out including an official piece for James Gunn’s Superman, and some projects lined up for early next year as well. I’ve also got some physical art releases coming out in a bit of a different format than I’ve had before, which I’m looking forward to seeing materialise.
Last year I joined the videogame company SEGA – working on their merchandise and licensed product (art prints, statues, toys, collectibles etc). It’s been an incredible year so far and I’ve had the opportunity to work on some really exciting projects with some fantastic companies and partners. Theres a bunch of stuff I’ve been working on over there that I’m excited to see released.
Being a fansite, we have to ask you… What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
My favourites are ever changing but I’m going to reel off some from the top of my head (in no particular order);
Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, Yojimbo, The Apartment, The Florida Project, Rear Window, Lone Wolf and Cub/Shogun Assassin, Chungking Express, Batman 1989, The Batman, Boyz N The Hood, Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, Tampopo, Battle Royale and Paddington 2.
Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Sam as we continue to follow his journey across his Website and social media hubs: Instagram / Facebook / X / YouTube / Linkedin / ArtStation / TikTok / Prints
Air Force One
The Amazing Spider-Man
Batman ’90
The Batman
The Bodygyard From Beijing
Deadpool and Wolverine
Elton John
Fist Of Legend
Hannibal
Hsi Shih: Beauty of the Beauties
The Lady Assassin
The Last of Us
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Miracles: The Canton Godfather
No Time To Die
OZark
Peaemaker
Plane
Silent Night
Tai-Chi Master
Wu-Tang Clan
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