Hello all! Lately I've found myself interested in learning more from the artists on this forum. We are all at different stages of our journeys as visual storytellers, but I imagine that we have much to give and take from each other.
The idea came to mind to interview some of the forum members. Here is the first interview with "Art of B", Braden Hallett, who has recently allowed us to follow his work-in-progress on a number of pieces, including some winner monthly contest entries.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
-I’m Canadian living near the middle of BC. So kind of on the outskirts of the middle of nowhere. I was a substitute teacher for a couple of years but quit to pursue the small chance that I could be an illustrator.
What put you on a path to becoming an artist? What are your goals as a visual storyteller, and how far along are you in that journey?
-I quit teaching and when I turned down a couple of teaching jobs nearer home, someone asked me “so what DO you want to do?” My quick answer was “draw stuff”. So I buckled down and gave myself a couple of years to figure it out.
As for how far along I am I have NO clue. I’m not sure anyone pre-professional does. I tend to fluctuate between “&^%$-yeah, I have MADE it!” and “my art is bad, and I should feel bad”. My goal at this particular moment is to get my portfolio up and running then start firing off post cards.
Could you share with us your two favorite art pieces that you've created so far? Also, is there a piece that was especially challenging that you could share, along with what you learned from working on it?
-Here are two recent favourites:
I can’t think of any recent pics that have been particularly challenging, though. I have enough of a process so that once inks are set I can kind of put my head down and paint by numbers. Though, honestly enough, anything to do with colour I find challenging. Which is why I'm trying to colour each and every piece of art that I come up with. Learning to paint with value first has certainly helped a lot.
It's been great to see your submissions to the monthly contest here on the SVS Learn forum. The way that you share your process and utilize critique is great to learn from. When you're creating a piece, what do you think is the balance between following your own artistic eye and changing something based on a suggestion from someone else?
-I try every suggestion I get, especially if I don’t like the suggestion. Once I’ve actually implemented the changes I may or may not keep them, but I always try every suggestion out. So I suppose the balance is to make sure you actually give your ‘artistic eye’ a chance to see the suggestion before keeping or discarding it.
Is there anything that you need as an illustrator that the community here on the forum can help you with?
-The community helps out a lot. I get critiques, suggestions, and get to see a whole lot of cool art. However, what I think that I NEED right now is another few thousand hours of illustration under my belt.
Thanks so much, Braden, for taking the time to answer these questions!
Braden's work can be found at his portfolio site: http://bradenhallett.com
And Instagram: http://instagram.com/bradenhallett/
He also has a longstanding web comic: http://cato.thecomicseries.com/
@Art-of-B 
