We recently connected with James Owens and have shared our conversation below.
James, 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 have a lot of young artists ask come into my booth at shows and ask for advice. I always tell them the same thing, LEARN TO DRAW THE HUMAN FIGURE! The hardest thing in the world to draw is the human figure. The hardest of the hard is a pretty girl. If you draw them wrong even a layman can tell you there is something off. They may not be able to tell you why but they can tell something is wrong. I don’t care what style of an artist you want to be if you master the figure you will be able to draw anything.
James, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was born and raised in Detroit Michigan. I attended what was named at the time The Center for Creative Studies. I was hired right out of school to work at an illustration studio that serviced all the large agencies. (W.B. Doner, Saatchi & Saatchi, J. Walter Thompson, etc.) While there I did every style and medium you can think of from full color airbrush cutaway illustrations of auto parts to cartoon work as well as hundreds of frames of marker story boards for television commercials. The one thing I never could do was paint with oils. There just wasn’t time for that with the crazy deadlines we had. My heroes have always been illustrators of the golden age. Guys like Norman Rockwell, J.C. Lyendecker and Haddon Sundblom. After a decade or so in the ad business I decided I liked my marriage and mental heath too much to continue. So I quit art and didn’t draw or paint anything for over a year. I was just burnt out. I also thought it would be a good idea to go into another safe industry so I became an actor for a bit. I had some success in that but was soon drawn back to my first love, art. I started doing automotive paintings (Hot Rods and classic cars) while teaching myself to handle the oil paint which is kind of an entire different animal from any other medium. In recent years I’ve been involved in the Tiki scene creating images with a tropical flavor. Aside form my personal paintings I often do private commission portraits for people in my “Green girl” style. With the world being as dark and ugly as it is right now, it is my aim to spend my life creating images of beauty that bring a sense of warmth, nostalgia and joy when viewed.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Man I have pivoted so many times in my life I’ve felt like a revolving door. Here’s the thing, that’s life! It’s a big adventure. Go and taste of it. The one thing I’ve discovered as I’ve matured is that nothing stays the same. What is important to you as a young person will not be the same when you’re older. I’ve been in the ad business. I’ve owned a restaurant. I’ve sold cotton candy in a flea market. I’ve been in movies and TV shows. I’ve delivered newspapers, I’ve restored furniture. And I’ve been a fine artist. Everything you’ve done in life leads you to where you are now. I’ve found that all of those things I’ve done help me with my art business. I learned something from every one of those adventures. I would say the biggest pivot in my life was my change in work ethic. When I was young I was fairly lazy. I did only enough to get by. As the years rolled on and I did all those different things I listed I began to realize you can’t do the things you want to do at a high level if you don’t put in the work. You have to put in the work!!! Once I came to understand that everything changed. As an artist you cannot work just when the muse strikes. You want to make a living selling your art you have to treat it like it’s a business. Don’t have any ideas? Just sit down and start working. The ideas will come. I keep regular work hours. I get up every day and start work at 8;30ish and I don’t knock off until 5. You get a lot done when you treat it like a business.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
I wish the web was a thing when I started in the mid 80s. The internet is such a great place for artists! there are many terrific artists out there that have videos and courses you can learn from. You don’t have to have a lot of money either. There are many great YouTube videos to help with your artistic journey. I still learn form them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.car-noir.com
- Instagram: james_owens_art
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTRplJLcYXkwDKSNaG53shw