An Interview With N8 Van Dyke

This summer, I was honored to interview San Francisco illustrator, Nate Van Dyke. When I had agreed to write the piece for Four G’s Magazine some time before, I had never seen his work. Well, I had, I just didn’t know it yet. About a week before our scheduled interview, I started doing my homework—some extensive Internet research—trying to familiarize myself with his pieces and determine what this artist is all about.

What I found out was that I had most definitely seen his work before. He had worked with big brands and advertising agencies I was familiar with, and had been interviewed by many magazines, including Juxtapoz. This research was supposed to better prepare me and perfect my questions, but instead it just made me incredibly nervous. I was no longer interviewing Nate Van Dyke the artist; I was interviewing Nate Van Dyke the genius.

When we arrived at the bar he suggested to meet at in the Haight, I started to relax a bit. “If he wants to do the interview in a bar, he must be pretty chill,” I thought to myself. And he was. We sat down with a pitcher of beer, questions loaded, and recorder on. My left hand worked furiously writing copious notes, as I conversed with a brilliant illustrator. My nerves quickly faded as Nate began talking. For someone who draws some truly crazy stuff, he was very considerate and just genuinely really nice.

After the interview, he invited us back to see his house and studio. I was in awe; his art was everywhere and it was amazing to see the originals in real life. Like a giant nerd, I snapped as many photos as I could with my phone. The experience was one I will never forget and the article was extremely inspiring to write. Issue 3 of Four G’s Magazine comes out sometime in November and my piece N8 Van Dyke, the Man Behind the Chimp will be featured. Please check back for more information.

Below is a parting gift Nate left me in my notebook.

Influx Curated Inspiration

Last month, I attended Influx Curated, in SF with one of my Creative Directors. I have been trying to write about it for weeks and now finally made the time. The conference was organized by Influx Strategic Consulting, a BSSP company. 10 speakers were selected to speak and invite two friends, resulting in 30 speakers total, and all were limited to only 5 minutes each. As the invite read, "Their brief was simple to: instigate, stir, motivate, and inspire." There was a lot of hope flying around, I captured some in my notes and will try to give you a little of what they gave us:

Become a part of the notion for common good.
Connect.
Design can change the world.
The 20th century was all about what we could produce and the 21st century is all about what we can sustain.
Be open-minded.
Be problem solvers and find a way to do things better.
Now is the chance to be both teacher and student.
On a networked planet, connection is frictionless.
Roll up your sleeves and get involved!
The two most inspiring words in the English language are: YES & AND. “And” is the word that unites things.
Have the ability to integrate.
Power of the word: YES. Have no fear, be grateful, be open, forgive, love (acceptance), have honesty, and humanity.
Fear as a motivator is a joke.
Find a way to care and make it personal.
Power of the word: No. How to deal with blocks? Change can be a gift. Don’t get discouraged.
People will have similar ideas, don’t let this stop you.
Some of your most creative works will come from sudden change.
Stop trying too hard to be creative and unique and it will come.
Writers: you must keep storytelling active.
It’s never boring to try to improve something.
Don’t abandon advertising, improve it.
Reality is how you perceive it.
What engages an audience? Give the audience nothing and co-create with them.
Be comfortable with silence.
Story tell, the past inspires us.
Build strong stories and roots for our future.
Break rules.
We live in a culture of fear.
You can find inspiration in everything, and if you can’t, look again.
Have a perception altering experience.
Trust your own intuition and have no fear.
Change is ultimately what we make of it.
Define good: the consumer doesn’t know what is “good” anymore.
Be authentic; the brand itself has to connect with its audience.
Listen.
Create a culture.

These notes I try to reread when I am feeling discouraged. At a time when things are extremely uncertain, we need to look to one another for inspiration. The conference was a gift on multiple levels: as a person who works in advertising, as a writer, and as an art lover. Jeben Berg, who works on Marketing and Creative Strategy at YouTube spoke about online video, its interpretations, and connectivity. But, what I found even more stimulating was that his presentation included a fantastic video of time-lapsed graffiti. I was thrilled to be at a conference for work, all the while watching a beautiful piece unfold amidst a concrete jungle. It was like everything had come full circle, and I was viewing my generation making their mark in more ways than one.

I connected with Jeben to thank him and his response was nothing short of poetic, "One can only hope that a few words of a 5 minute presentation penetrate deep enough to take hold and provide an anchor from which to develop your own courses of action. YouTube is a great free place to launch an online journey but it takes all of the web to give it life."

His art, even more so profound: youtube.com/beakdip



More on Jeben, covered by Juxtapoz Magazine. So many new influences for me to admire and study. I am so thankful to all the people who spoke. A full list can be found here. And a special thank you to work, for sending me.

Which Witch is Wicked?

It wasn't a great shocker to discover there was a witch in my family, 16th century. Plagued by intuition, vivid dreams, and constant introspective thought, it actually makes perfect sense. I suppose it's no accident that Halloween is my favorite holiday and I'd dress like a witch more than once a year if I had my way. According to my cousin (the family historian) my ancestor, Mercy was sentenced to death for not following suit. Supposedly, a few town's people's crops and herds died after a run in with her. Coincidence? Probably. Still pretty cool though. She was issued a reprieve and lived instead, good news for me or else I wouldn't be here.

No surprise, that going to see the Broadway musical Wicked with my witchy family at The Orpheum, was a thrilling experience for me. It was in a word: superb. I was a little nervous too; I am not a big fan of musicals. I love the Wizard of Oz, but others had told me it was nothing like it and that I might be disappointed. After seeing it I recognize the grave differences between the two - but none of them are disappointing.

It was rich in its story lines, costumes, and sets, and beyond just its visual elements - it was smartly written. A political tale of good and evil, right and wrong, leaders and followers, a nation of fear, equal rights, animal rights, discrimination, prejudice, ethics, and standing up for what you believe in - it was hard for me to imagine how anyone could be disappointed. I won't say too much more, except that it makes you question the definition of the word: wicked.

Mercy was considered a witch because she didn't believe what the others did. How sad that people were/still are persecuted for having a different point of view. Wicked was inspiring and when I wasn't enthralled with the show, I was starring at the ceiling! The Orpheum Theater in itself an architectural work of art. I spent the entire intermission looking up. The show was magic. Anyone who can, should go before it is gone.

A special thanks to my cousin Rod for making it happen.

Santigold Trouble Blank!

For weeks, I have been meaning to write about a few things and just never got them down. In May, I went to see Santigold, Amanda Blank, and Trouble Andrew perform at the Warfield, in San Francisco. They rocked it; I absolutely loved the show. These three musicians are incredibly unique, all containing different styles, but complement each other nicely and perform well together. I love anything cutting edge and they are nothing short of it!

I have been a huge fan of Miss Santigold since I first heard her voice a year or so back, at the Roshambo Winery Tournament, in Sonoma. I liked her so much, I remembered a verse, and Googled it when I got home. Since purchasing her album, I have gone on to find that she has performed many singles with other well-known artists. From rap, to hip-hop, to punk, to alternative, to pop, she fits nicely into any genre. Her music is hard to classify because she encompasses so many styles and I believe this is what true artistry is all about. In fact, just about every song on her album could be considered a different genre; it is so rich in variety, it’s ridiculous. She had excellent stage presence and was truly personable to her audience. She even brought a bunch of people up on stage to do the last song with her!

Trouble Andrew, I discovered through a friend who was a fan. What can I say, he’s a professional snowboarder for Burton and I love his punk rock-ness. Because he opened the show, I didn’t get to enjoy him long enough. Amanda Blank, I heard for the first time and she was a fantastic performer; there is nothing blank about her personality! She had spunk. Definitely one of the best female rap artists I have heard to date.

The show was amazing; I love Santigold’s album and just bought two albums from her previous work in a band called Stiffed, and all of them are great volumes of music. I also purchased Trouble Andrew’s album this year and am looking forward to Amanda Blank’s coming out in July (I heard). Now go listen to their music!