Artist Interview #5: A Digital Light in the Art of Mighty Moose
In our series of artist interviews with artists publishing on Editional, we are amazed with the talents of each and every one of them. Mighty Moose is no exception and reading his story makes his art even more attractive. Enjoy spending a few minutes with him and his special story. Also, make sure to read about the other artists on Editional on Medium.
What is your story in real life?
My life story is something for many years I wasn’t comfortable with. I had some big things that didn’t fit well into the narrative of my life I wanted to have. I spent a lot of my early years of adulthood hiding away from this reality. I found a wonderful wife who loved me unconditionally and we ended up walking through some really difficult things together. My art is reflective of this… I believe it holds both sadness and joy, clean and free as well as dark and scared. This reflects my “real life” well. I am a blessed man with wonderful kids and wife. However, the scars of my early life are real and present.
It’s a dichotomy that I have accepted and even am thankful for at this point.
What is your digital artist story?
I have always been interested in art. I wanted to be able to create and express my thoughts and emotions in art. I am not a musician though I can’t hold a beat to save my life. I am not a “real world” artist as I can’t paint or draw. However, at an early age I was interested in photography, but my family didn’t understand or appreciate many of the images I enjoyed taking. They were abstract and unconventional. I felt a little off because of the lack of encouragement, feeling like I was doing something wrong in my expression through photography. So I set out to take more “normal” pictures.
After a while I got decent at photography and did some freelance here and there. But it just didn’t feel like me. I was creating what others wanted. When I was early in my professional career I got decent on a computer and design. I started getting asked to do a lot of website, digital promotional material and printed material “stuff” for the non-profit company I worked for. It was kind of fun at first but got frustrating as I was always creating for someone else’s preference. Someone else’s pallet of “quality” and “art of attraction”.
Digital art to me is something that allows me to express those feelings and emotions that I have long been unable to express. Where the brush in hand felt foreign, the technology I use to create digitally feels like a natural extension of my mind. This is what excites me and why I am so very much in love with digital art in this new realm. There is something inspiring about creating and being able to share with others and have them enjoy it and interact with it and you.
When did you start creating digital art?
I have been creating “digital art” depending on how you define that for a while now. Perhaps 10+ years.
I have really gotten into digital art as a way of expressing myself without creating for others in the last 6 months. The explosion of this was fostered by an online community of people I liked on beta.cent.co where I was encouraged and challenged by a community of people who were creative, deep and thoughtful thinkers and I felt freedom to begin trying new things.
How did you hear of Editional?
@conniedigital is on the Cent platform and introduced me to it as I was talking about wanting to get an initial experience with posting my art to the chain. I have LOVED every bit of my time on Editional! It is an exceptional tool and community of incredibly talented artists who are generous and kind. It’s a blast!!!
Can you explain your creation process?
I use what might be a lot of unconventional tools when it comes to creation of digital art as they are what are familiar to me. I don’t use algorithms or mathematics to create programs that spit out my pieces based on my programing skills. I use a combination of: keynote, iMovie, photoshop alongside a couple other random ones to hodgepodge my art together and get the looks I want.
C0m1c@lTh3m3 is one of my favorite pieces I created as I am a HUGE nerd and love the genre of comic art. This is a photo I took while I was recently on vacation with my wife and kids and as we walked through a new airport I saw a shot that I had to get. I took a couple of angles and already had a few ideas in mind of what I wanted to do with it (Editional was already the place this was headed). I took it through several photoshop layers and re-colorings. As the coloring process and layers began to take shape, the coloration you see on this edition kind of fell into my lap after about a couple hours of trying different things.
I create in a very unstructured process as I explore what the photo or digital piece allows me to. Once I landed on these layers and filters I saw the comic book look and added the help bubble.
What is your favorite piece in your Editional collection?
I feel like that is almost an impossible question. There are so many incredible pieces I have been fortunate enough to collect on this platform. There are a TON I have missed as well. Because I am a nerd and love Star Wars, it feels wrong if I didn’t select one of the Star Wars themed pieces I have… However that said, 2pixels is someone who doesn’t post a ton, but the art is a style I connect with a lot. I really love the style and design of it. So this piece called Flamingo 13052019 is one of my favorite pieces. However, there are at least 10+ others that could easily be selected.
What advice would you give to someone who want to start creating digital art?
Just start. Don’t be afraid you’re not going to be good enough or accepted by a community. The creation should be an expression of your thoughts and emotions so if that’s the case then it is valid art. Whether or not someone else places value on it doesn’t matter. Create because it’s in you and you need and want to get it out!
