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Voice

How did you develop your voice and style?

Ben Sturgulewski:

To stand out in the industry you need to find your own independent voice, your own perspective and your own vision of the world. Maybe that will take a lot of self-exploration but that will lead you down some really cool paths. I think ultimately it will be a lot more fulfilling if you’re doing something your way versus following the path more often travelled.

When I say that, I’m definitely coming from a very lucky position where I did that and it worked out. But I think the juice is worth the squeeze. You should give it a shot and try to do what works for you and don’t get too caught up in what other people say.

John Fellows:

I’ve always loved the outdoors. Now I feel like there’s so much outdoor-themed art but back in 2003 there was a huge lack of it. For a long time it was just very hippie outdoor artwork that didn’t appeal to me or my friends so I started making stuff that I liked, that my friends liked and eventually found a style.

I’ve gone through a lot of crappy phases, but I just kept doing it and just like anything if you work long enough, you work hard enough, eventually you’ll find a style and other people slowly like it as well. It took a while. It wasn’t like, Look how awesome this is! And a year later everybody thinks, This is great!

I remember taking stuff back to a gallery in Philly that showed a lot of artists I really liked and the woman said, I like it, but I would never show it in my gallery.

Looking back, it was bad. [Laughs] She could see maybe there was something there, down the road. But I thought, She said she liked it, that’s all that really matters. It took a long time but I just kept doing it and then eventually found my style.

In 2009 I was creating a piece I think for a fundraiser and that’s one of the first times I did the collage style. I wanted to add some color but didn’t really want to print different colored blocks. So all of a sudden I was like, Well I’ll just collage some paper together. And as soon as I did it I thought, Oh my god, I think that’s it! It was just one of those full-on wow moments where I felt, I’ve got to do this more. And so I did it for another piece, then another piece and that’s how I finally found a good look for my work.

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