2017 Golden Nosey Interview
 | |
| Author | Cory Lally |
|---|---|
| Subject | Manny Avetisyan |
| Genre | Article, Interview, Golden Nosey Award |
| Published | EF Issue 2018.1 |
Publication date | Winter 2018 |
| Media type | Print, Digital |
| Pages | 18-20 |
| Website | caricature |
Article Transcript
Keeping up with this year’s Golden Nosey winner isn’t easy. Last I checked, he was in Argentina. Or was it Brazil? His Facebook page reads like something out of National Geographic! But no matter where he is, in between taking photos of beautiful landscapes in remote locations, he always manages to find the time to draw. I am sure this persistence helped him to score this year’s top award. Luckily, he was able to find some time to Skype with me all the way from somewhere in South America. Here is an excerpt from that interview.
What kind of artistic background do you have?
As a kid, I grew up drawing a lot. I loved drawing! My cousin would draw these cars in 3D, and I thought that was the coolest thing. He would turn the tires ever so slightly so it looked like it was comin’ at ya, and it blew me away as a four-year-old kid…so I would always try to copy that. That started my love with drawing. So, when we came to America, I was six years old…and as a refugee, weird immigrant kid, I would draw in class and get a lot of attention from kids. I realized that if I’m going to survive and make friends in this country…I’d have to be good at drawing. It was a means of survival in the beginning.
When & how did you get your start with caricatures?
I started caricature back around 2000, right out of high school. I was attending the Art Institute and getting my degree in computer animation, special effects, and silliness. I would often go to the zoo to draw the animals, and one day I was passing through and they opened a caricature stand there, at the LA zoo. Joe Torres was like “Hey, is that a sketchbook!? Let me see your work!” He liked my work and said I should totally come and interview! I ended up going to a group interview, and Jeremy (Miller) and Jason (Riggs) gave us some tests to do, let us practice on some sample facial features…and it was just difficult. I’d never gone to straight marker before or drawn cartoony. But I got the news that I was hired!
Who are your influences?
None of this would be possible without the guys who got me started, Jason and Jeremy. They hired their friend from Ohio, Quincy Sutton, and when he came in, it changed my world. I ended up watching over his shoulder as often as I could, and for a long time my style looked like a bad version of his. I’d say he was my first influence caricature-wise. When I got back in…the person I have to give a lot of thanks to was Paul Evina-Ze. We worked well together, and we had a good dynamic. He was opening my mind up to new ideas and art. Watching Paul do his thing, just exaggerating like crazy, with crazy reactions made me fall in love with the whole idea of going crazy with exaggerated caricature, and making it an art form.
What were your expectations and goals for the competition, and how did you prepare? That’s a pretty heavy question! I’ve been honored with attention, positive feedback and some awards in the past. At my first convention I tried to draw 40 people and I thought it turned out well…and that came from my love of drawing big groups. I love doing group compositions because it allows for a lot of mass creativity. The weaker parts are uplifted by the stronger…and I think overall it helps achieve a good successful piece. The following year I had a similar strategy. I realized then that I had to have a strong wall overall. It can’t just hang on over one or two pieces. I did get a few jabs for always doing huge group pieces. I thought about it, and thought I should challenge myself to do something different. My strategy coming in was I’m going to bite the bullet and do individual pieces, and compete on a totally different playing field…and try to do digital paintings.
What mediums did you use? I planned to do all digital, but after a few I felt like they weren’t coming out as strong as I liked, so I had a few acrylic boards, put them up, and decided to do acrylic paintings, and in doing so, I loved it! Most of it was done with one brush, because I only had one decent one! The strategy just built…and I ended up doing five acrylic pieces, three digital, and one marker.
Any work outside of caricatures? None! Lets move on!
What are your future plans? I love caricatures. It’s a passion and I want to see how much further I could take it in specific directions. …I want to be always trying something new and something weird, even if it means always being outside my comfort zone. That’s what I want. It keeps me interested and keeps me challenged. Next con…maybe experiment. Maybe do an entirely abstract wall or experimental. As far as other goals, I’d love to publish a book. I thought my seminar went rather well, and one of my goals is to turn that into a book. I’m working on another project with some other artists, hopefully…a giant caricature bible. Publishing is probably going to be my next step and goal…and I want to get more heavily into creating videos.
Where can people find you? I post all my work…that I like…to my Instagram @Avetiarts, the same name on Facebook, which can be found…on facebook!
Gallery
“Dave Smith,” digital, Clip Studio Paint Pro
“Paula,” acrylic on canvas board
“Tom Fluharty,” acrylic on canvas board
“Dilbert, carny extraordinaire”, marker, Art Stix and Neocolor 1.
"Bogdan Petry,” digital, Clip Studio Paint Pro.
"Mr. Orange,” digital, Clip Studio Paint Pro.
See Also
External Links
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