We were lucky to catch up with Chris Leib recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I learned on the job, as I came into an illustration position by chance after University. When the job ended, unlike my colleagues who had gone to art school, I didn’t have a portfolio with which to pursue further work in the field. One of my co-workers had been doing freelance work for ad agencies and was making very good money at it. I loved the work, and had been making more money than my friends, so I figured that was a good excuse to take art classes and develop a portfolio.

In the meantime, I got a corporate job doing some low level programming, and lived cheap to save money. Art school was expensive so when I went I was very selectively with classes and set my sights high and limited my timeline. That provided a sense of urgency and focus.

I signed up for a fourth year class called Head and Hands Drawing. I figured from the start that if I was able to draw accurate portraits, then everything else would be easier. I had never taken a real art class. I felt intimidated. But I literally told myself before class to just leave my ego at the door, that I was going to be the class dummy and make mistakes, I was just there to learn and grow.

Initially some of the students even made fun of my drawings, but I ignored it and kept my ego out of it, by the end of that semester that all changed… the school even added my final drawings to their collection. And that class taught me all the fundamentals, important for whatever direction one takes next.

As I got further, especially in the fine art world, the path forward was murkier. What I hadn’t realized was how essential it was to focus on the message and style of the work in order to create a recognizable ‘brand’ as an artist. I had been so focused on perfecting technical aspects and providing anything the client needed, rather than becoming a specialist that presented the client something unique.

I showed in some galleries, but I was doing a scatter shot approach. I needed to sell, so I painted many subjects. I straddled the fence, between commercially viable and what interested me. It took 10 years before I finally committed to what I really wanted to paint. In those years I did paint everything and learned to paint pretty fast… since I had to make a living at it. So it wasn’t a loss, I learned a lot, and perhaps I needed to get that out of my system. Could it have been more efficient? Sure. And it’s advice I’d give to another artist starting out. That said, artists come to their work via many different paths. So it’s a toss up. It’s really just about always trying to move forward.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. I began my education in Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. Graduating in the Reagan recession I got a job moving furniture. At one point, a friend brought me a job flyer that asked to see sketches and doodles. I met with two guys and showed them sketches I did during classes. Four months later they showed up on my doorstep and offered me a job. That’s how I got started.
I learned from my colleagues that there were ‘art schools’. So I went and took some classes at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Later I apprenticed with artist Roberto Lupetti, learning old master painting techniques. Also during that time, and for some years after, I worked as an illustrator for McGraw-Hill Publishing.

For over a decade I’ve been applying those old master techniques to subjects that are a bit outside the traditional boundaries. My paintings typically feature Astronauts and / or primates that are loosely inspired by the species’ (mis)interpretation of historical contexts. I paint a stable of subjects – Bonobos and Baby Astronauts, Astronauts in royal renaissance garb, and lately, tattooed chimps. They tend to be a bit ‘dark’ in their exploration of heroic imagery, but often humorous as well. They are detailed and have lots of intricacies, such as hair and jewels and reflections. I like to get into the tiny details, and use them to bring the viewer’s eye around to the focal points and have tiny details that enrich the narrative and surface quality of the paintings.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

There’s been too many… and perhaps that’s not a good thing.

Anyone determined to go into the arts will encounter lots of opinions and pressures that will lead to developing resilience. I think it is something that is developed, by choice or by circumstances, by focusing on goals beyond whatever are in front of a person.

One circumstance that tangled me up early on, came in the late 90s. I’ve told this story many times but it’s a good example. And it was calisthenics for worse to come. It went like this…

There was a guy living a couple doors down making illegal fireworks. One day he blew up his house, which in turn burned my flat. Overnight I and 20 others were without a place to live, and, in my case, also a studio to work in. It was the days of the San Francisco Dotcom boom, no pun intended, and prices were going up fast… exploding you might say.

At that point, I could’ve decided to do something else, go back to school, go to a different city or job. That would have been the safe choice, the smart choice. But I was not going to follow the ol’ Joseph Campbell bliss. I’m very persistent, and had come pretty far with my artwork and didn’t want to turn back.
 A friend had an art studio in the Mission District and needed a studio mate, so I agreed. The problem was, I didn’t have a place to live. But another friend’s sister said she had a room to rent for $300. I took it sight unseen.

It turned out to be a 5 x 7 foot closet… in a great zip code. There was shelving, so all my stuff was stored above me while I slept. The door ajar for air, it was actually very cozy. And people were impressed I lived in Laurel Heights… as an artist!

With my studio now in the Mission district, I became part of that large artist’s community. Which wouldn’t have happened otherwise. My previous situation being comfortable and easy, I probably would’ve never had the incentive to leave it. Becoming part of the art community and getting input from other artists, was an education and helped me develop confidence in my work.

Rather than feel deterred by what happened, I worked that much harder. I had read that John Singer Sargent worked 11 hours a day, so I tried to put in at least in the studio. Accepting the situation, made me more open to grow from it. To assign meaning or rationalize it as leading in a particular direction was useful. Eventually being in that artist community opened opportunities for art teaching, meeting collectors, galleries… growing my business.

Plenty more lay ahead, but those years set some groundwork for how to address setbacks and maintain a course forward.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Once I was in the art community, I think people noticed that I worked hard and put in long hours. I was serious about doing finished work. So people began to realize that and would come to me with technical questions. I was open, and shared what knowledge I had. There was a tendency in the San Francisco art community, at least back then, to shield one’s work and techniques, as it’s a very competitive environment. It can be a very closed community in that sense. So I think that was unusual perhaps and after some years people started to notice that.

I tried to be open to, and respectful of, different aesthetics and viewpoints, as there’s always something to learn from other artists and different disciplines. Artists tend to be more successful, and art movements grow, when they share and work in communities. The sort of protectionist view is really detrimental to artists as a whole.

All that was happening in the background, and after ten years in the Mission District art community an incident brought that to light. A controversy arose regarding Spring Open Studios, and I got a number of calls from people in the community, people I barely knew, and they asked if I could get people together to create a new Open Studio organization. They thought I could get a group together quickly as people respected me. It was a nice compliment and it was really touching.
The group that formed from that did such an amazing job, and I was only there for the beginning. They were all such competent people, it was easy to step away …and they really ran with it! The organization still exists and successfully runs the Spring Open Studios in San Francisco.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.chrisleib.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisleibart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisLeibArt/
• Threads: @chrisleibart