We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Devon Bennett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Devon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I’m an almost entirely self-taught artist. I’ve been making art my whole life, and I took art classes in the summers and at school growing up, but I never considered that I could be a professional artist. In fact, I took a drawing class at a community center after college and was told I was so bad I should stop drawing (which honestly reflects poorly on the instructor, not me).

When I decided I wanted to be good at drawing, I just started drawing. Lots. I kept a sketchbook and would do a morning sketch every day. I learned what shapes I enjoyed creating and did more of that. I didn’t worry about being well-rounded in my subjects, I just created. I think the key to getting good at things is to be boldly bad at them first. It’s ok! I believe there’s rarely an artist who’s immediately good. It’s all about practice. I would set myself up for little wins: I’d do my morning drawing and then move on with my day. It wasn’t about what the end result looked like; it was the fact that I’d done my drawing.

Over time, practice, looking at reference images, and starting to have the occasional drawing that didn’t suck, I realized that I could be good at this! I continued to follow my passion and drawing what I liked. In time this turned into my style: whimsical, nature-inspired art. It’s not photorealistic, but it doesn’t claim to be either.

My work is still very process-based. Yes, I’d love everything I draw to be “good”, but it isn’t. If you stop doing something whenever you make bad work, you’ll never finish anything. It doesn’t matter whether it’s good or bad; it matters that you did it.

Devon, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi I’m Devon, the artist and everything else behind PencilsnParsley. I’m an illustrator and surface designer based in Northern Colorado, USA. My work is whimsical, sometimes funny, and nature-inspired from growing up here at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. I work in traditional media: colored pencil, watercolor pencil, and ink. Then I digitize and manipulate the finished work into designs for shirts and mugs, quality vinyl stickers, and repeating patterns for fabric and paper.

I want my work to be accessible and make people smile, so I consider my stickers little portable art prints. How fun to bring a print with you on your coffee tumbler! And same with shirts and mugs. You get to wear a piece of fine art?? How cool! I also offer both original works and prints, and my repeating pattern designs are available for licensing.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part for me is being able to create what’s in my head. I’m extremely visual and often think in pictures, and sometimes I’ll have an image pop into my head and I want to capture it on paper. I’ve always been this way, but now I have the skills to draw the thing I just imagined.

For example, recently I had the thought that cats are so weird (I have a cat, he’s very weird) and that they’re kinda like little aliens. And I asked myself, if cats really were aliens, what would they steal from earth?? So I drew that. I’m so pleased that I could turn my thought experiment into a piece of art.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think it’s important for society to support the process of creating art. There’s a lot of focus on the finished product, or making a masterpiece in one shot, or having something tangible after a session in the studio. But if instead we focus on the creative process, on holding space for creatives to just think, or to work without the pressure of a masterpiece, and pay them for that, then we create space for more creatives to flourish. Exciting ideas and new art come from having time to think and play and create, not worrying about needing to sell a piece of art to make rent or put food on the table.

To that end, I have a Patreon where people can support the process of creation and get monthly process videos and stickers in the mail. But I think as a society we need to value and financially support the creative process at least as much, if not more, than the finished artwork.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pencilsnparsley.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pencilsnparsley/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PencilsnParsley
• Other: Spoonflower (fabric by the yard): https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/pencilsnparsley
  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/pencilsnparsley

Image Credits

Devon Bennett