We were lucky to catch up with Myles Wohl recently and have shared our conversation below.

Myles, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

My first real thoughts of pursuing art professionally came at a very young age. Artists like Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and Marc Silvestri exploded onto the scene and changed comics forever. I remember picking up those books as a teenager and just being blown away by their work. I would sit in my bedroom for hours on end trying to draw like them, copying my favorite comic book characters and even creating new ones of my own.

Of course, I heard the usual comments that a lot of young artists get. “You don’t want to be a starving artist, do you?” “That’s nice, but what is your real career going to be?” And as the years went by the goal of creating art professionally became this dream that I packed into a little ball and stuck in the back of my mind. I still sketched occasionally, but it took a backseat to everything else in my life.

Instead of art, I wound going in a completely different direction for over 20 years – becoming a Software Engineer and eventually working my way up to VP of Engineering. It was a great company with amazing people and it’s just so easy to keep putting one foot in front of the other and walking the same path. But, as I continued to move up in leadership I found myself further and further from the creative aspects of programming and the pull to art came back harder than ever.

I’ve always been a bit obsessed with making the most of my time and I started really questioning what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Was I going to remain in the corporate world forever or did I want to pursue the dream that I had tucked away so very long ago.

That was about 10 years ago and I’ve been pursuing my art career ever since. I found every hour, minute, and second I could scavenge on nights and weekend to practice my craft. Finally, after nearly a decade of living in two worlds, I was able to make the switch to full-time artist in 2021.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

If I was a comic book character, the cover of my origin story would have me holding a pencil and kneaded eraser in hand. That’s where it all started for me, flipping through the pages of my favorite comics and trying to learn from the artists that I looked up to as a teenager.

However, when I rediscovered my passion for art later in life and truly committed myself to making art my career, it was with a paint brush in hand. I first dabbled in watercolor and acrylic before finding my true love – oil paint. In 2016 I created my first oil painting and haven’t looked back since. There’s just something about oil paint that seems to carry the hand of the artist into the final piece that I absolutely love. Although every piece still starts with a pencil sketch, the end goal is a work of imaginative realism in oils.

Over the past decade I have created illustrations for trading cards, book covers, comics, role playing games, and even video games. I also have a steady diet of private commissions from really cool fans who want something more personal for their collection. I sell some of my original paintings directly on my website and I’ve recently launched a YouTube channel for a behind the scenes look at my process and mindset when it comes to the techniques and business of making art.

I also encourage fans to engage with me on Facebook and Instagram as much as possible. One of the most rewarding things about being an artist is hearing from people who are touched by my work. It takes me all the way back to those nights when I’d sit in my bedroom as a kid pouring over the art that inspired me to first pick up a pencil so long ago.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Like most artists, I have a virtual mountain of unanswered emails that I’ve sent to Art Directors and Editors. You begin to wonder if your “Send” button is linked to an upside down realm where emails go to die. And sometimes it can be even worse when you get a response that’s less than kind. Without a good amount of resilience and persistence, building a career in art is going to be an impossible quest. In fact, one of the jobs I completed recently took me over 5 years to land.

The fact of the matter is that a career in illustration doesn’t happen overnight for most people. It’s a bit like climbing a ladder in the fog. You can’t really see how many rungs are above you and it’s difficult to have perspective on how much further you have to climb to reach your goals. Similarly, you can easily lose sight of how far you’ve come and feel like you’re just treading water.

My two pieces of advice for navigating the fog are:

Love the process: Having goals is great, but if that’s your only motivation it’s going to be tough to push through the years of hard work needed to achieve those lofty goals. In some respects, it’s really no different than exercising. Your goal may be to lose weight and live longer, but if you don’t concentrate on the day to day of making good habits and loving the process, then you’re very likely to struggle and stumble along the way.

Look back at your old work – Similar to exercise again, it’s easy to lose perspective on how far you’ve come. That’s why most exercise programs start with you taking pictures or measurements on day 1. Luckily, we already have a record of our old artwork. Take the time look back at your work from a few years ago to see how far your persistence, resilience, and good habits have carried you. It just might be the inspiration you need to carry you one step further.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There is definitely an aspect of art that is deeply personal. You spend hours upon hours alone in your studio creating something that you’ve poured your heart into. And certainly, if you don’t find joy in that then you’re going to struggle with this career. But for me, that piece of art doesn’t truly reach its potential and come to life until it’s set free to inspire someone other than myself. That’s its purpose and that’s why I do my best to interact with fans online and at conventions as much as possible.

So, I would say that the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is hearing from the people who I’ve touched with my art. Whether I’ve inspired them to pick up a brush, read a comic, play a game, or simply inspired their fandom. It’s a tremendous feeling that immediately teleports me back to my childhood and all of the artists and artwork that filled me with joy and wonder as a kid.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.myleswohl.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myleswohl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myleswohlart
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/myleswohl
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/myleswohl