Creator Stories
"Testing The Waters" with Multimedia Artist Nate Stone
Firefly Music Festival 2019
Like so many artists, Nate draws inspiration from everything he comes across in his daily life. He sees the world differently than most, and with a heightened creativity. As a kid, Nate was often called out in school for doodling in his notebooks, rather than listening. Little did he nor his teachers know that he would take that passion for doodling, and pursue a double major in visual arts and illustration, and create opportunity for a real career centered around art. Nate counteracts the common stereotype of art students that “won’t make as much money” or “will not be as successful” as they would with a different degree. He believes that if you work hard and know what you are doing, you can reach your full potential and have a lot of fun doing it.
Nate is not a one-medium artist and is enjoying his time “testing the waters.” He applies his creativity to cartoon drawing, graphic design work, and hopes to revisit the possibilities of painting. Like any true artist, Nate embraces the uniqueness of each medium and the perspective artwork can bring to the world.
What medium of art do you typically work with?
“So, typically I mix between just pencil and paper, usually in a sketchbook or you know if I want to work on something bigger and digital, I work on an iPad. At the moment I don’t have my iPad, so I’m working on my computer, but usually on my iPad I use Procreate. So it’s kind of like drawing on the screen and stuff— it’s pretty cool.”
“I use other things on the computer as well because I use video editing softwares like Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. Sometimes I use Adobe Illustrator for making graphics and logos and stuff— a lot of digital stuff on my end.”
“Sometimes I paint. Recently I haven’t, but I’ll get back into that soon. But, yeah, mostly digital.”
When did you first start creating art?
“Oohh, sometime in elementary school. I used to get in a lot of trouble for not paying attention and doodling in class. I mean, I would rather draw on my notes than listen to whatever they were saying because half the time it’s like, ‘Am I ever going to have to know what this is?”
“But, you know, since I was young so I’ve kind of always had fun with it and then eventually I was like, ‘Hey, maybe I could have more than fun with it and do something with it.’”
When did you start thinking you could do more with your art?
“Well I was working with someone who basically asked if I could make a mural for them because I told them I did painting and stuff on the side for fun. They were like, “Hey, you should make a mural!’ and they paid me for it and I was like, ‘Oh cool, money,’ and I was like, ‘Huh, that wasn’t that hard and it was fun.’ So I ended up doing graphic work with them as well, making flyers and stuff and small logos, because I kind of took some classes in high school— graphic design classes— so I had some experience with that and I just kind of tried it out again with Youtube videos and all of that.”
“But after that, yeah I was like, ‘OK, maybe I should go to school for it.’ And I’m kind of still in school, but I’m getting my associates in visual arts and illustration; I’m going for two majors. So we’ll see how that goes, but yeah just kind of over time made its way in my life.”
Where do you think your inspiration for making art comes from and has it changed over time?
“Probably, it hasn’t changed much over time. Like I used to play a lot of video games as a kid and watch cartoons, so I mean I’ve always been around art, but I didn’t even think of it exactly as art. You know when you’re a kid, you see cartoons and it’s like, ‘Oh it’s a TV show,’ but you don’t really about the time people take in making the characters and animating them, and logos and clothes— it’s all art. Even the patterns you see on towels and stuff and blankets and tapestries; People put effort into that.”
“Art is all around us you know, and I’m just looking at things and it’s nice to me and I see it as art in ways, so that kind of inspired me to get into it because you know when you’re younger there’s a stigma that’s like, ‘Oh, art students or people that go to art school or people that make art, with they’re career, they probably won’t make much money. And you know, that’s always a potential, but I feel like that’s a potential within any field. But if you work hard and you know what you’re doing then you know there’s potential to make money and at least have fun with it. So there’s some inspiration for me there as well.”
Where do you see your future in art?
“I have no idea. I’ve kind of figured out, you know I’m into tattoos as well, I could be a tattoo artist if I wanted to. The thing about art is it’s so broad; There’s so many different things you can go into. Animation is something I’m into, music video production, logos like I said, painting I could just do. There’s a lot of different things...I’m trying to narrow it down a little bit, but I’ve not quite narrowed it down yet. I’m still testing the waters in a few different fields.”
How do you feel art has benefited your life?
“I would say it has benefited my life in a few different ways. I’m great at decorating rooms, and once you know about color theory and all that, you know how to pick your outfits which is pretty cool.”
“But you know, I’ve made a lot of connections just through people needing things because people with businesses or things they’re trying to do, they need art in some way and the fact that I know how to do a few different things… you know I can talk to people and make some new clients pretty easily. Not always easily, but sometimes easily. And you know, you get to work with people and see what they do and it’s pretty cool. I get to make music videos for people sometimes. You have to watch other music videos to see how it works and then you make new stuff— it’s all different things so that’s pretty cool.”
“Other than that, I’ve just learned a lot and you know you look at things a little differently and it’s pretty cool. It’s fun and I have a lot of fun with it so that’s something that it’s brought to my life.”
“And it’s a challenge as well. So definitely, a learning curve and just like trying to figure things out. And you know, you want to be really good at it, but there’s steps you’ve got to take to get there. So it’s a challenge. So it’s just something to do as well. But I’d just say it’s brought something I enjoy and can make money from as my life.
Could you speak to some of the obstacles you’ve had to overcome on your journey of trying new art forms?
“Yeah sure, of course. So you know in art classes you have people around you that are really good at it, and it makes you think like, ‘Wow. What am I doing.’ You know, it kind of puts you in an artist's block almost because you need to figure out how to do better and how to adjust your art style— and it’s especially hard if you don’t have your own art style. Because there’s just so many different levels to art between like composition, color, what you’re trying to portray in the art, what medium you use. There’s so many different ways you can go about it that sometimes you can get lost in the sauce. It’s like ‘whooo.’”
“But I’d say, you can overcome that by just being true to yourself and your own art style— what you enjoy drawing— and just challenging yourself, knowing that you can be better, but not letting it bring you down and make you feel like you’re not going to get better.”
Interview by Sarah D'Souza, Edited by Jenna Koch & Jordan Tisaranni