@jacob.myrick

Instagram: @jacob.myrick  

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

Hi, My name is Jacob Myrick and I'm an American illustrator currently living in North Carolina, USA. I also work as an Art Director sometimes.

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

I love experimenting and learning way too much, so it has been really hard to nail down a succinct aesthetic. I think that I definitely gravitate towards placing moody little characters in surreal worlds made with blobby shapes.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

Pencil (graphite and color) and paper for sure. I draw very frantically and pencils offer the sort of immediate expression i need. If gouache didn't require so much set up before hand I would probably use it a lot more. However, most of the final work I make now is drawn with a drawing tablet in photoshop.

4. What is your artistic process like?

When I get an editorial assignment, I’ll try and condense whatever the message or tone is down to one concept or one idea that transcends the experience of the person writing it and work up on that. Then I make a bunch of super rough sketches until they get whittled down to a few and then final in photoshop. For personal work it's usually a hurricane of drawing ideas in a sketchbook. Drawing is such a singular experience, it's like reading a story while it's being written. So when I'm making art for myself I can't really say it follows a process, just exploration with a pencil.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

Oh man, everything really. Personal introspection, art deco architecture, manga, childhood memories, Japanese prints, imperial Chinese sculpture, classic film, bauhaus art, 90's computer graphics, other contemporary illustrators, European renaissance painters, Soviet propaganda, Mexican muralism, succulents, rainforest animals... Just anything really.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

It's very much a part of my identity. While I am able to make a living as an artist, my drive to make art is entirely independent of its economic valuation. I think it changes my view of the world in that everything I experience can be interpreted visually and I think about that a lot.

7. Where did you study?

A small state school in the US and University in Germany.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Drawing at my desk with great natural light coming through and drinking coffee.

9. What about in ten?

Drinking Pernod in a garden as the sun dances across my face through the lemon trees. I'm drawing in a sketchbook with a plate cheese in front of me.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

I'd like to be able to tell stories and create emotional experiences with my art. I'd like to be able to get better at doing that and get closer to crafting the kinds of things that feel like me.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

Ravioli or Eastern NC style barbecue. Both come from different sides of my heritage and I just can't decide between them. Although I love almost all foods of the world and want to try everything that people eat. I am very passionate about food.

12. Favourite book?

"The Gods Themselves" By Isaac Asimov, probably. Not sure if Graphic Novels count but by far my favorite is "Lone Wolf and Cub" by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. My favorite recent read has definitely been the series "Berserk" by Kentaro Miura.

13. Favourite genre of music?

So tough to pick one. I listen to music a lot when I work and I usually get really into a certain artist or genre for about a week and listen only to that. This month started with a week of Shakira, then a week of Nina Simone, a few days of Fleet Foxes and currently Synth-pop.

14. What are your hobbies?

Apart from drawing, I really love Film and TV. I think we are living in the golden age of television and hate that I don't get more time to watch all the amazing shows that have come out in the past decade. I also love reading whenever I have the time.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

A scientist. Growing up my hero was Jane Goodall and I wanted to be a primatologist just like her but study orangutans before they might go extinct. Also my favorite game as a kid was "zoologist" which consisted of me and my cousin drawing the animals from our Zoobooks and handing the pictures off to our older cousins to "file" away. I don't know if that exists as a career path but I would still love to do that one if I could.