It’s time for our next Featured Student! For May we are featuring:

Shawn Turek

• Website:  drawnbyshawn.com

• Instagram: @drawnbyshawn

• Brhance: @drawnbyshawn

• Twitter: @drawnbyshawn

• SVS Forum: @DRAWNBYSHAWN

Below is an awesome Q&A that Kathryn Adebayo (@KATHRYNADEBAYO) conducted with Shawn Turek:

There are some artists on the SVSLearn forum who consistently post incredible work in a style all their own. If you’re familiar with the forum or the SVSLearn monthly illustration contests, you may instantly recognize the work of one of these illustrators, Shawn Turek. Enjoy the chance to get to know him and his stories, insights and advice in the following Q&A:

Hi! Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and the kinds of art you create?

I took a bit of a winding road to a career in illustration, starting with mechanical engineering of all things, then moving through IT and computer-aided design (CAD), then graphic and web design, and finally illustration.

My artwork falls into two categories. The first is what I would call my "character-based comic-style illustration" that is mainly what you see on my website and social media channels. The second is whiteboard-style explainer videos, which is more of a design/marketing service that I provide but does involve illustration as well. Right now the explainer videos are what generate a good portion of my income, but the goal is to have my illustrations play a bigger role going forward.

I also teach web design part-time at a local community college. It doesn't really involve illustration, but just one of my multiple streams of income.

Have you always wanted to pursue visual storytelling? Could you share your most outstanding memory about making that choice?

Yeah, I think so. I have some early memories of drawing huge Star Wars battles at my grandparents house on old scratch printer paper taped together. Drawing continued to be a focus into early adulthood, but I ended up going down some other paths in my early career. Like gravity though, I was pulled back to drawing and illustration and I'm fortunate to be in a position where I can now focus a good chunk of time on developing that.

How did you come to your particular style of drawing? Are you influenced by anyone, or anything, in particular?

My style if drawing came mainly out of trial-and-error. In the past I did more traditional art, like figure drawing and portraiture in charcoal, graphite, etc. But for me I found that I hit a dead end. Not to say that I was an expert by any means, but rather that I couldn't see where I wanted to go with it. So, I tried different things and found that the style I work in now is one that I could "live in" comfortably. Getting an iPad Pro was an inflection point for me too. I had dabbled with digital art in the past, but I could really see some interesting possibilities once I started using the Apple Pencil with the iPad Pro. And, that deep dive into digital did influence my style as well.

While there are a ton of artists that I have learned a wide variety of things from, if I were to focus on "style" I'd have to say (in no particular order):

Stephen Gilpin

Gustavo Duarte

Scottie Young

Jake Parker

Ryan T. Higgins

Otis Frampton

Jean Giraud (Moebius)

Simon Stålenhag

Could we see a few examples of your work? 

Neighborhood Kids: I did this piece for my portfolio ahead of a local SCBWI conference. My goal was to show a variety of kids (age, race, gender), just being kids. I also like the expressions they have, which make you wonder what is happening, who they are talking to, or what they are planning.

SVS April 2020 Contest: SVS April 2020 contest with prompt "Lisa's robot invention worked great, until it did this ...". This one was difficult, since you needed to convey a lot in a single image. I tossed around a handful of ideas, but once I got the idea of the robot breaking off his remote control antenna, I liked it and went with it.

Monster Gamer Buddies: I don't remember exactly how this idea came up, but I think I started drawing individual monsters with different expressions (possibly just as an exercise in expressions). I somehow got on the idea of them gaming and put them together on the couch. I'm not even much of a gamer at this point, but I have done enough gaming in my past to know how fun it can be to play video games with a group of friends.

SVS March 2020 Contest: SVS March 2020 contest with the prompt "Everything was rattling, falling apart and breaking!!!" This one was also hard to come up with a concept for. Of the ideas I had, the "steampunk contraption" one was interesting because it would let me draw a different time period, which I haven't really done before. Also, I'd get to draw steampunk, which is always fun.

Me in the Star Wars Universe: This is just something fun that I put together kind of on a whim. This past winter (just before the coronavirus outbreak) we went to Disney World and got to do all of the Star Wars themed attractions. One that I couldn't resist was the Droid Depot, where you get to build your own little remote control astromech droid. When we got back I got inspired and figured that if this was my droid, and it's in the Star Wars universe, then what would I look like as it's owner?

What advice would you give to someone who is trying to develop their own consistent style of illustration?

I think that when you are consuming art, you sort of gravitate towards things that are similar to your style – or what your style could be. So, simply paying attention to the things you are reading, watching, playing can be a good indication. Why do you like them? If you take them apart you can often times find common threads that hint at style.

As I mentioned earlier, trial-and-error is a great way to discover what you like and don't like. Trying to create art in different styles is better than just imagining it. And, try different mediums and techniques, which can also influence the development of a style.

What's the best career or art related advice anyone has ever given you?

Two things come to mind.

One is an idea that comes from Juliette Cezzar, who is a writer and teaches about communication design. I think I may have heard this at a TED talk she did or something like that. I'll paraphrase, but it's essentially that so much importance is put on the notion that if you're creative, you WILL succeed. Her message is more that if you do all of the stuff that is hard to do – because most people will not do things that are hard – then you have a much better chance of being successful. Learning illustration (and any craft) is hard, and so much of it comes down to putting in the time and effort to get better.

The other is something that I think I picked up in one of the SVS classes or maybe the podcast (or both). Drawing and illustration is really more about storytelling than simply drawing and illustrating. Drawing ability is one thing, but what separates the pros from the amateurs is the storytelling. WHAT you choose to draw is often more important than HOW you draw it.

What are your top goals as an artist right now, and how are you striving to achieve them?

When I shifted my career to focus on illustration, I had a very simple goal. "If I can have people pay me to draw things, that would be a great place to be." With whiteboard explainer videos and some other illustration work, I'm seeing that happen. Going forward I would like my illustrations to play a bigger role in that, so I'm reaching out to agents, editors, and art directors to get my work in front of more people. I try to post to social media on a regular schedule, and I'm developing personal projects to improve in areas like sequential art and storytelling. I also take part in contests like the SVS monthly contest to gain exposure.

I think one area I'm rather weak on is collaborating with other artists and seeking feedback. So, I'm always trying to do more of that, with varying amounts of success.

As a final question, how do you hope your contributions to the world of illustration impact the people who see your work? 

With the rise of the internet over the past couple of decades, we are all exposed to so much artwork. It can be overwhelming, and as an artist it can be daunting to consider how you can come to be noticed, recognized, or remembered for what you put out there. On the other hand, we all have a unique collection of experiences and interest that shape our art, so if we develop it I feel that a unique "voice" comes from that. I'd just hope that there are people out there that are interested in the artwork that I am putting out, maybe come to a different way of thinking about something, or are entertained by seeing an idea presented in a unique way. 

Thank you so much, Shawn!!

If you would be interested in sharing your work for a chance to be featured for June head over to the SVS Learn Forum and post your best work by June 1st.