Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Pak.
Jeff, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
When I was a kid I was very into comic books. I’d always wanted to grow up and become a comic book artist and draw X-Men comics. I spent a lot of my youth drawing extremely buff dudes with very tight spandex costumes. It wasn’t until I got older I realized how weird spandex costumes are, but as a kid I thought they were the coolest things in the world. Specifically Wolverine’s yellow costume. A lot of the comic book artists I admired as a kid are the reasons for my obsession with clean line work.
I also picked up painting and spray painting when I was in grade school. I used to steal spray paint from K-Mart so I could practice. There was this huge field behind the K-Mart with a giant generator that I would go and spray all over. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking but that was my first step into tagging.
Throughout high school I was really aiming to be a painter. I was very into mixing abstract things with little characters. I feel like the stuff I was painting in high school is very similar to what I would paint today.
Then I went off to the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, where I really came into my own. I developed what would be my style during my college years. I took a year off and went to Japan for a little bit, which would change my perception on a lot of things that would shape my artwork to what it is now.
After college I was a rapper for quite some time. Did some pretty cool things like open for Migos, Rae Sremmurd, and a slew of other rappers. But after awhile and after a lot of situations that went beyond my control, I decided I wanted to start drawing again.
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 make drawings depending on what medium I’m using of all types of things. To break it down, most of my digital work is kind of like a practice for me. I try to throw as many ideas I can into an illustration and see if I can expand on it or not. I’ve only been drawing digitally now for almost two years. I had been kind of against it for a very long time, but at a certain point you have to adapt. Most of my pen and ink drawings are about spacing and clutter. I tend to draw small but try to fit in as much detail and things as possible. A lot of this is attributed to my obsessive compulsive disorder. The paper can be big or small and I’ll still draw the same size but fill in the entire page. Almost all my paintings are about my frustrations. I think it comes from my detest of painting. I rarely paint nowadays, but since moving into my new studio it’s something that I’m trying to focus more on.
I am heavily inspired by cartoons, comics, manga, & anime. Kim Jung Gi & Katsuhiro Otomo are my idols. My main concern when I draw is my line work. I adore cleeeeeeeean lines. Humor is the most common theme in most of my work. Not everyone gets my humor and it’s fine. I always want people to be impressed with what I make and really see all the detail I put in. I want them to be kind of in awe of what I do, and really appreciate the time and effort artists put in to making things. I’m not a fan of a lot art I see out there so I’m always just trying harder to do more.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
I honestly try not to involve personal opinions on certain things into my work. I’m not into involving politics of any sorts into my work. I think it’s kind of cheap to draw something just to cause controversy to get attention. Not saying that’s what every artist does, but there definitely are some that do. I feel like people get so butt hurt about every little thing nowadays. Someone once got offended by an eaten chicken leg in a drawing of mine cause they were vegan. If you really want to know my opinion about things, just ask me.
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?
I think most of the shows I’ve been apart of are down now, but i’ll have a mural in Logan Square popping up soon. You can always check my instagram to see my work. I currently have no working website.
The biggest way to support any artist is to buy their work. I feel like this is kind of obvious, but needs to be said. I know a lot of artists that have day jobs just to support what they do. If you really want to buy someone’s work but feel like you can’t afford it, talk to them, figure out payment plans. Most artists are willing to work with you if you’re honestly interested.
Contact Info:
- Email: jpak4ever@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jpak4ever/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jpak4ever
Image Credit:
Jeff Pak
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