By Ron Evans
I first discovered Burien artist Starheadboy’s work at a showing at Collapse Gallery in Wenatchee in 2019. I was an immediate fan and over the past couple of years I have followed his output (which is nonstop) on social media and the work is always inspired and inspiring. His style is distinct and consistent but he still manages to keep you guessing a bit as to what will be coming next. I reached out for a chat about these influences, his techniques, work-ethic and even a little philosophy. Born in Seattle, Starheadboy grew up in the suburbs south of the city. He’s been drawing since he was a young kid, soaking up influences in the counterculture scene that surrounded him.
“Skateboarding changed my life in my early teens, then underground punk rock music and shows expanded my world further. I expressed all the experience in my drawings. I was scared of painting for some reason and didn’t start until my 21st birthday. I bought a bunch of paint and canvases and I became addicted immediately. The colors, pushing around the paint - I started devoting up to eight hours a day to it and became a self proclaimed hermit. I built a big body of work pretty quickly and started showing. I was also making hand pressed block prints and stickers. The stickers started going up around town. The shows led to collaborations with other artists, doing murals, and live painting with bands. When I moved to Seattle and started going on long walks, the street art stickers followed me. Right now I have this connection to the fine art community, crafty art community, comic based art and street art.”
What are your preferred mediums of choice?
My preferred mediums right now are a trifecta of pen on paper in sketchbooks, acrylic paint on canvas, and digital drawing on an iPad.
Who were some of your earlier influences and whose work keeps you jazzed these days?
My influences started out with Warner Bros. cartoons growing up. l loved them. Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote (my parents thought it was funny that I felt sympathy for Wile E. when he got hurt). Then Marvel Comics, especially Daredevil and The X-Men. Late 1980’s skateboarding culture took my mind - the graphics, music - it took over. The street exposure of skateboarding introduced me to punk rock. I loved all of it. Salvador Dali’s works were the first paintings to really hit me. My grandpa had a print of his and it was intriguing. Graffiti - Keith Haring, Basquiat, Egon Schiele, and Emily Carr. These days, it’s so much and so many. I love so many artists through social media. Everyone is putting out so much incredible work.
Your style is very unique and distinct, talk about how you developed the look of your paintings that -to me- seem to live somewhere between naturalistic illustration and Saturday morning cartoons?
There was a point in my mid-twenties where I was doing cartoony type work and also really darker, more expressive paintings. I thought I’d have to pick one or the other for some reason. I even ended up destroying some sketchbooks of the cartoon work. I quickly realized that I needed both sides and I fully embrace both now. I never get “artist block”; if I am a little burned out on the comic graphic characters, I just move to a series of animals or even landscapes and vice versa.
Do you hope to convey any kind of overall message with your art, or do you just start creating and see what happens?
I think if I have an overall message it is basically just reflective of my life. An imperfect being navigating the surreal experience of life. The stories that I am most attached to revolve around antiheroes and flawed characters. Most of my themes now are a push toward not punishing ourselves so much with the inner voice.
On the topic of messages, talk about your recent videos of spoken word on social media - they seem very Zen and contemplative yet non-preachy with a ‘shoot from the hip’ sort of vibe.
The new videos came out of my own desire to connect with the creators of work I like. I like to see their thoughts and ideas. Usually I’ll be out on a walk and an idea will float through my mind and I know someone out there will benefit from it too. I am definitely a flawed human making my way through all of this, but the little pieces that come through that make things make sense, I want to get that out there for others.
Are you much of a pre-planner in terms of sketching or thumbnails before putting paint to the canvas?
I used to just dive into every piece. I was doing a lot of live painting with bands and it helped so much to be really spontaneous. In the last couple of years I’ve been drawing things out in pencil first and spending more time honing ideas and images before the more permanent lines are painted.
Judging from the amount of new works you post online I feel like I know the answer to this - are you pretty much working every day? And is this your full time job or is there supplemental income keeping the art alive?
I am definitely working all the time, but it doesn’t feel like it. It feels like a very strange dream. I quit a job in an art store in 2010, then just let my work carry me until around 2015. I ran into this existential crisis where each day I felt I was just stuck in quicksand. I couldn’t move forward and needed to be shocked out of my routines. I took a warehouse labor job and worked that until the pandemic happened. I left there a year ago for fear of personal safety. I’ve been back to fully focusing on my artwork, it’s been really incredible.
Do you ever produce comics or long form narrative works?
I have in the past and I loved it. I drew a daily comic called “Perfect Abernathy” for around a year and a half; it was mainly autobiographical. Directly after that, I drew a weekly comic called “Woonsocket”. I really loved that one, the main character didn’t talk very much. All the other strange characters would talk to him. I’ve started different comics here and there. I love the feel of getting into the narrative of panel comics. I start to see everything around me as material. I miss drawing the comics, I’m hoping the feel of them comes back soon.
What’s the art community like in Burien?
I feel like the art community in all the suburbs around Seattle are growing. Kent, Burien, White Center. People are making great things happen everywhere. When I was growing up, Seattle was the cultural hub. Going there seemed to be the only way to see art and live music.
Has the Covid shutdowns affected your creative flow one way or another?
When the pandemic started, there was definitely some fear of the unknown, especially for personal safety. But I feel like the lockdowns were right in my wheelhouse. I’m used to working on my art, living in sketch pads, drawing and writing. I didn’t need to find anything to occupy my time, I already have it. My creative output grew with all the new time on my hands. I’m used to staying up until 4:00 am in solitude working as the rest of my family is sleeping. I ramped up my introverted side during the pandy, started moving all my artwork online and didn’t have to hang or take down shows. I was hanging around three shows a month, I’d been doing that for years and as grateful as I am for all of them, it really took a toll. Coming out of the pandy, I am focused on showing in only a couple of places; I’d rather spend my time creating at home and putting it online. It feels really good. Over the years, I’ve had multiple studios that were connected to monthly art walks and an average of two to three shows a month around town. The Seattle area has an amazing artist community and it is so awesome to have an excuse to get together with friends. I’m so grateful for my time especially at the studio space shows, the most recently being The Greenwood Collective in Seattle. The opening night is really just a rad party with friends. Connecting with new people through this whole journey has been so incredible.
Do you have a dream project or collaboration if money and logic were not roadblocks?
A dream project, which I am actively working on, is having a collaboration or even just having work present in some of the cities around the Oregon Coast. Especially Cannon Beach and Astoria. I’ve worked Cannon Beach into the storyline of the Burrito Unicorns. I have the landmark “Haystack Rock” in lots of my paintings and designs. Our family would camp along the Oregon Coast when I was growing up and it made a lasting impression. I’d like to do anything down there from a mural, a show (hopefully multiple) to just having merch in one of the tourist stores.
I am putting as many designs up as I can on my Threadless shop, I signed a contract with them last month to have a design tested in the Spencer’s stores. Threadless is doing a lot of partnerships with different retail, I’d love to see more of my designs get distributed.
Where can people follow your shenanigans online?
My shop is at Starheadboy.Threadless.com. People can follow me on Instagram, I add to that on a daily basis. Facebook, YouTube, Patreon, I have links on my website starheadboy.com. I also have all kinds of work from stickers to paintings available at etsy.com/shop/starheadboy
