Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Goelz.
Shelby, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up in a very supportive and creative family, on the coast in Palm Harbor, Florida. My mom sang opera in the evenings, as did one of my aunts. My grandparents did just about everything from owning a custom tailoring shop, where my grandmother made all of the beautiful dresses for the local opera productions, to teaching ceramics classes as well as tinkering in the small metal and wood working shop out back.
After growing up in a small town, and with pretty much no reason other than ‘it’s a big city, think of all the art,’ I moved to Chicago. After completing my AA online, I transferred to Columbia where I studied Art History with a focus on Modern and Contemporary Theory & Critique. I wanted more than anything to curate the new ‘Modern’ wing at The Art Institute. It may not have been in the cards for me but the studio classes that I took as part of my minor were a real boost to my confidence in terms of creative abilities. They also reminded me of how happy I am, using my hands to make things.
After moving back to Florida, I was so motivated by what close friends of mine were doing with their work as well as the ‘Artist’s Alley’s’ in the local comic conventions. I had moved back to the beach, where everything kind of slows down a bit, so I took the opportunity to focus on drawing again. I opened an Etsy shop to see what that was all about and, after gaining some traction with a couple of hand-drawn card designs, just kept pushing to add new material and really grow as an artist. After a year or so of focusing specifically on pencil, pen and ink work, I was able to add digital material to my portfolio. It has been a complete game changer.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I was lucky enough to have been a small child when the Glen Keane driven, Disney Renaissance began. This animation, and the songs that went with it, were everything. My little neo-bohemian soul didn’t know what to do with itself. I couldn’t draw enough. I couldn’t sing enough. I think that I was overloaded with creative possibilities from such a young age that it was never a possibility in my mind for me to not be creative.
As I got older, I went through so many forms of media, including painting on discarded wood panels, murals at school, canvas painting to just painting on found objects. I went through an ‘Abstract’ and ‘Neo Expression’ phase after learning about Pollock and Basquiat (it wasn’t pretty), but what I always seemed to come back to was drawing faces. And it wasn’t until I hit the physical limitations of what I could do with pencils, pens and markers that I really started to get in to digital illustration. This brought me back to stylized digital portraiture. I have more than enough notes in my sketchbooks from high school that say ‘flesh out your drawing’ due to the fact that I basically stopped after the shoulders, but it seems that I have come full circle. Both in subject matter and style.
In regards to a message or inspiration,
To artists and aspiring artists: My Photoshop ‘skills’ are self-taught. It took a lot of late nights and frustration (as well as accidentally deleting files) to complete that first digital illustration. But getting it printed and holding it in your hands. . . It’s a pretty great freaking feeling. Keep drawing. ‘If you are offered the opportunity to do something that you don’t know how to do – say, yes, dive in and do it anyway.’ – Glen Keane
To viewers: If I have a smile on my face when I come up with the next concept. . . I know it’s going to be good and I am going to enjoy doing it. I think, at the end of the day, I love drawing things that make me feel happy and I hope that people have some kind of connection, nostalgic or not, to it too.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
I honestly feel like it is getting harder and harder to stand out as an artist. The internet, while being an AMAZING tool for discovery and inspiration, definitely has its drawbacks. You really have to take advantage of your social media outlets and develop new content regularly in order to continue to be relevant, or you run the risk of falling in to the sea of even remotely similar work.
Unfortunately, sharing your work (especially digital work) plays a part in the growing issue of online theft. It is easier than ever for images to be copied and reproduced without permission. I have seen more than a few people come across their own work being sold through second rate poster companies as well as shirt and accessories printers.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
People can see my digital art, as well as my fun little graphite and marker drawings on my website, www.shelbygoelz.com. Prints and originals are available there for purchase, as well as through my Etsy Shop, https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShelbyGoelz
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ShelbyGoelz.com
- Email: goshelbygo@gmail.com
- Instagram: @ShelbyGoelz
- Facebook: @ShelbyGoelzArt
- Twitter: @ShelbyGoelz
Image Credit:
Shelby Goelz Art
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