Awesome Artists We've Found Around The Net: Sean Carlson

Last Updated on August 8, 2022

For years, Awesome Art We’ve Found Around The Net has been about two things only – awesome art and the artists that create it. With that in mind, we thought why not take the first week of the month to showcase these awesome artists even more? Welcome to “Awesome Artist We’ve Found Around The Net.” In this column, we are focusing on one artist and the awesome art that they create, whether they be amateur, up and coming, or well established. The goal is to uncover these artists so even more people become familiar with them. We ask these artists a few questions to see their origins, influences, and more. If you are an awesome artist or know someone that should be featured, feel free to contact me at any time at [email protected].This month we are very pleased to bring you the awesome art of

Sean Carlson

Sean was born and raised on Long Island, New York. He has been creating and studying art my entire life. Since graduating from Hofstra University, he has been pursuing his passion in as many various forms as he can. Sean’s clients have included Howard Johnson Hotels, Saf-T-Swim swim schools, Society Inc., Century 21 Real Estate, and various businesses and clients throughout Long Island and New York City.

JOBLO: What got you started as an artist?
SEAN: It’s hard to say what got me ‘started’ because I’ve been drawing for as long as I could remember. Some of my earliest memories were those step by step ‘How to Draw Pokémon’ books which I just devoured as a little kid. Growing up I was really dense and only ever wanted to draw, and things like paint and color made no sense to me, but luckily half way through college my professors put their foot down and said I had to add some new tools to the repertoire, and forced me to learn to paint. A painful experience I am eternally thankful for. By comparison that’s fairly late in life, but about a year before I graduated I started getting paid work as an artist and haven’t looked back.

Who were some of your favorite artists growing up?
The full answer to that question would take up more room than the article would allow, but I’ve always tried to keep a broad range of artists I admire and pull ideas from (copy). Mainly as a young kid I was looking at comic book artists like Alex Ross, Michael Turner, David Finch, Leinil Francis Yu, Neal Adams, Brandon Peterson, and Keron Grant just to name a few, but also abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock and Melissa McCracken, and you can never ignore the old masters like Caravaggio, who in my opinion is one of the greatest painters of all time. You could also make a strong case that he’s the oldest artist that modern comic book and fantasy art can trace its roots back to, with his heavy use of black contrast, and very expressive figures. I had the fortune of seeing some of his originals when I was in Italy last month and they are absolutely stunning.

Who do you really dig these days, follow on Instagram?
Every new piece that Daniel Bel comes out with just blows me away. He’s a sculptor for Sideshow and he so masterfully is able to make his figures look ‘photo real’ while also exaggerating the anatomy to the super-expressive proportions that comic book characters work best in. I’m in real admiration of artists who can combine the abstract and representational, and also a variety of mediums, all on one piece and make it feel cohesive. Plus a good bit of paint splatter always looks awesome, so artists like Florian Nicolle, Henrik Uldalen, Derek Hess, and Anna Razumovskaya really amaze me. But I’m also discovering old artists that are incredible who have gotten overlooked, like Judit Reigl, a Hungarian artist who started in the the 50’s and did these great minimalist, abstract brush stroke paintings.

What advice would you have for budding artists today?
First and foremost is practice your ass off, and never ignore the fundamentals. As soon as you think you’ve got the basics down and finished, you’ve fooled yourself. There’s always more to learn from the basics i.e. anatomy, proportion, composition, perspective, color theory, light etc. to sure up your foundation. On top of that, always keep a wide variety of artists and images that interest you. Find your own voice and an angle to what you create that makes you unique. In my experience I’ve found that above all else, what people really want to see, is something they’ve never seen before.

What should we be looking out for from you in the future?
Right now I’ve been fortunate enough to find an audience that likes my own brand of art, so I’m trying to get whatever’s in my mind out on canvas, and keep that sustainable. I have this series I started where I’m doing a huge 12” x 36” panoramic painting of every main title in the Legend of Zelda Series, which encompasses the whole game in one image. It started with Skyward Sword, then Wind Waker, and I’m working to get Majora’s Mask (my favorite) done by NYCC in October. ‘Well, I wake up in the morning, fold my hands, and pray for rain. I got a head full of ideas, that are drivin’ me insane” -Bob Dylan.

Being a fansite, we have to ask you… What are some of your favorite movies/TV shows of all time?
Favorite movie, and one of my favorite works of art period, has to be Nolan’s ‘The Prestige’. Granted it’s just my interpretation, but that movie in essence is about two competing views of what it means to be an artist. Christian Bale represents the view of slavish devotion to perfecting your craft, for your own internal joy, satisfaction, and escapism. While Hugh Jackman represents doing it for the external connection and happiness one can bring to the viewer. In the end I believe the movie sends a clear message on which view wins the debate, one which I agree with, but it’s a complete masterpiece either way. Speaking of masterpieces, I also recently completed Cowboy Bebop, I know I’m embarrassingly late, but it’s amazing. In addition to all that, ‘Samurai Jack’, Netflix’s ‘Castlevania’, ’30 Rock’, ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’, hot take; ‘Us’ was way better then ‘Get Out’, ‘The Core’ is a mediocre movie which I will never pass up the chance to watch, ‘Dune’, ‘Prisoners’, ‘Pawn Sacrifice’, ‘Secret Life of Walter Mitty’, ‘Synecdoche; New York’ and ‘John Wick 3’ are some of my favorite movies of the past few years.

Scroll down to check out some of our favorite art pieces from Sean as we continue to follow his journey across his Website and social media hubs: Instagram / YouTube / Etsy

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