Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Patch Thurlow. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Patch thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights 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’ve always been a bit of an on-off artist my whole life. I remember taking out printer paper and trying to draw Pokemon with big markers, and I always had at least one sketchbook, but never really committed to learning the craft in an authentic and meaningful way until I was already an adult. The biggest obstacle always felt like actually trying to complete a piece, which I never felt comfortable doing.

That changed during COVID, when I bought new drawing materials, and started making postcards for my friends. They all lived far away, and it felt like the pressure was never to make an actually “good” piece, but rather to just make something small and fun to show these people I missed them. What I learned from this is that for me, the most important skills were a willingness to adapt and patience. I had a small canvas, so I couldn’t fill it, and my markers didn’t blend well, so I really had to think about what I wanted each postcard to look like, and practice a few pencil drafts. Believe it or not, I never drew drafts before — I never even used pencils. I just started all my drawings with marker, and got frustrated when it didn’t look the way I wanted. If I knew that was all keeping me from enjoying art, I would have searched for materials most suited to my needs a lot earlier.

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

I mostly focus on drawing weird creatures with bold colors. As of late, these creatures have looked more like concept art from Dark Souls, but I’m known in my community as “the skeleton guy” for how often I draw those. While I primarily just try to focus on what ideas just feel most weird or exciting to me on any given day, a lot of my drawing is centered around emotions I experience, and wanting to be able to explain and understand those emotions. In that way, my art is kind of more about therapy. It’s always weird putting vulnerable experiences like a break up or loss into an image, but something about that has just resonated with others in ways that I honestly did not fully expect. In that sense, I’m really proud how even through multiple style and medium changes, my art still feels deeply personal, both to me and the people seeing it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Not really. As I said, my jump foray back into drawing came with me drawing postcards for friends during COVID, and when I realized how good I felt when drawing, I made it a regular part of my routine again. It’s become a fun little escape each week, and I try and just follow the feeling I have while drawing. Do I feel sad or lonely? Do I have a weird creature I wanna bring to life? Do I just really feel like scribbling circles and seeing what forms from there? That tends to be the main approach. It can be a little counter intuitive when I have bigger projects ideas or get commissions — after all, I may not always feel like drawing those and when I’m being paid, I simply have to. But since art has never been my main source of income, it’s always just stayed a way that I’ve been able to relax and reflect, and any shows or money that comes from it is just a happy little bonus. There may be a time where I want to push that, but right now, I really enjoy it being that way.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think it’s just how much work it takes to get to the end result that people may be seeing. I’m not talking about a specific piece — with the sizes and style I draw in, my pieces typically take 2 to 6 hours to draw. But there are things I’m drawing and techniques I’m using that I didn’t use when I first started, and never really pictured being doable. I used to be convinced that everyone who drew figures — especially hands — was cheating in some way that me and the universe didn’t know about. I thought that maybe 4 or 5 years ago. Fast forward to now, I’m drawing figures, faces, and hands as part of a series I’m calling Post-Human Anatomy Studies. The only reason that was possible is because of the countless hours I was willing to spend practicing and (poorly) drawing hands, and even then, the breakthrough seemed to come abruptly.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: patch.just.tries
• Other: [email protected]