It is our pleasure to bring you exciting stories and interviews with talented creatives even in 2022. We are kicking off this year interviewing Steve Goad, traditional and digital painter and recent Rebelle Featured Artist. Read the next lines to find out about his artistic journey.
Some may know you as a recently appointed Rebelle Featured Artist, however, could you please introduce yourself to those who are not familiar with your work?
My name is Steve Goad and while the term artist is subjective, I’d like to consider myself as one. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing or even thinking of drawing. I have a heavy background in Information Technology, 25+ years, but my passion always stemmed from the creative side. I feel it’s important to mention Information Technology because artists don’t always start out in art. However, if they keep that vision of being an artist ahead of them and are willing to make the steps towards it, then it’s only inevitable that they will branch out into it. I made the decision to use my IT skills to open doors for my art career. I setup a system to provide remote support for companies right from my home. While providing support on one screen, I would be painting on another or have a canvas next to that. I used one skill to support another before deciding to go full-time with it.
It is wonderful how you could combine your IT career with passion for art and set a path to become a full-time artist. Do you sell your art? When did you sell your first artwork?
I was fortunate enough to have family that encouraged me to pursue my artistic abilities. When I was in the 5th grade I lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in an American compound, while there I started creating these posters made entirely with markers. My dad took one of them to a group of friends and they really liked what I had drawn, one even bought it. Then I made another and another and people kept buying them. It was then even at an early age while drawing like the 10th poster I knew this was something I wanted to do. It kept snowballing from that point on, from doing commissions for people to huge projects for the schools I attended. In high school our class had a weekly poster competition, after the 5th win in a row they had to change the rules to other means of creativity to give the other classes a chance.
Since becomming a full-time artist, I’ve had my work in some amazing opportunities from film, novels, art magazines to games. I still sell prints of my work coast to coast here in the U.S.A and Europe on a regular basis. I feel this is the career I can do for the rest of my life if I’m willing and able.
What were some of the first paintings and what medium did you work with?
I started experimenting with different mediums throughout the years, pencils, charcoal, watercolor, airbrush, acrylics, and oils. When I started in oils, I was in my 20’s and people really started to take notice of my work. I started selling originals and getting requests for commissions, that’s when it started planting a seed in my mind that there’s a possibility to do this full time.
You are specializing in both traditional and digital mediums. What do you miss the most in digital painting and on the contrary what do you find the most convenient compared to traditional painting?
When painting digitally I miss the real feel of the paints as they blend or create cool accidents as you work. I don’t miss the smells and chemicals you must use when working in traditional though. I also don’t miss needing to have a lot of space to store my work, when one painting is 10 feet wide you tend to run out of space when you have 20+ paintings.
It’s why I’ve done a lot of digital work recently, it’s just much more convenient to have 100’s of paintings on my hard drive than in my room. Plus, the convenience is nice to go from finished painting to ready to print on any medium. Where as traditionally, I’d have to take it to a professional studio to have photographed or scanned and ended up paying $150-$300 per painting just to get them ready to print.
You have been a long time Rebelle user. How have you heard about Rebelle and what features do you enjoy the most?
When I first started painting digitally it was quite challenging to achieve a traditional look due to the limitations of the software. These days, programs like Rebelle are starting to mimic traditional mediums more accurately. Every now and then I’ll do a search to see if there’s any new software that mimics traditional mediums, it’s how I learned about Rebelle. Rebelle truly is a game changer in this, as I’ve never seen paint flow naturally together, mix and create those cool accidents I mentioned earlier in any other program. When painting in gouache or watercolor I have that same excited feeling I get when using real paint. It truly is amazing to adjust the amount of water, how you want your canvas to react to that water and just let the paint flow with each stroke. You can achieve textures in one stroke that would normally take many in other programs.
Something that I really like is the quality of the paper textures you offer; it just makes it more real when you can go from regular canvas to hot or cold press boards to neat looking washi paper. This is something I’m surprised I don’t see more of in other programs, because in real life your paint will react to whatever canvas or paper you’re working on. Rebelle does this quite nicely because it’s great to see the underlying canvas texture reveal itself as the paint runs across it. One of my favorite features that I use quite a bit is the ability to go from opaque, translucent, blend or erase with a tap of a button with any brush I’m working with. It makes the workflow much more fluid.
As a traditional artist, what do you think about the new pigment color mixing added to Rebelle 5?
This is also another game changer and will appeal to most artists that are just now getting into digital. The ability to take yellow pigment and let it run into blue pigment to create shades of green while maintaining vibrancy is a thing of beauty. People honestly can’t tell the difference if it’s traditional or digital in my recent work. The only difference is when I work in oils I try and go with more realistic detailing. I mean let’s be honest, a traditional painting that looks like a photo is impressive, just as making a digital painting look like a real painting. That’s the perfect balance, I think.
You have been working in the game industry for quite some time now. What would be your advice for young artists who are trying to find their way in the creative world, particularly in concept and gaming art?
If I’ve learned anything, the first step to success is to know yourself. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses but more importantly to know what drives you. I always say our best stems from our passions, if it’s forced then it becomes a chore and loses its spark. Most of the work I’ve done just for fun has landed me amazing opportunities, it’s because people can see your passion in your work and will be drawn to it. If you’re not enjoying the process or the work, then that’s a little red flag it’s forced. Follow the joy in your work and it won’t steer you wrong. Things don’t happen overnight, allow yourself time to develop and improve as an artist. Always be open to learn from more experienced artists and be willing to receive advise or correction. Make this priority over everything else, because once you’ve reached a level of excellence in your ability coupled with your passion then skies the limit.
Where can we see your work? Do you have any exciting projects coming up?
You can find my recent work and all social media links at stevegoadart.com. I’m currently working on an amazing project for Merge Games. This also confirms my comment about just enjoying the process and creating work that you like, I was approached by this company because they saw some personal work I did for fun.
Thank you, Steve for introducing yourself and your work and for encouraging the creatives reading these lines. We wish you all the best in 2022!
Thank you for taking the time to inquire about what I do and for making such an amazing paint program. I keep seeing amazing improvements with each release, looking forward to seeing what’s next!
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Steve Goad's website: stevegoadart.com
Featured Artist profile: featured-artists/steve-goad