Michael Byers Interviewed In Celery Mag!

April 07, 2009    Michael Byers

Mike is interviewed by Celery Magazine. Click here to check it out.

Conducting interviews in public locations always feels like the simulacra of a blind date for me — looking for another only seen in picture format – or not at all – nervous they might stand you up.

Meeting Cambridge-living, Guelph-haunting illustrator Michael Byers at a coffee shop was no different. He is a striking man – a sky blue t-shirt peaking through a brown cardigan, walking towards me in jeans and dark-rimmed glasses – and almost a strike-out after nearly mistaking him for a similar looking barista.

Friendly and upfront, Michael makes spiraling happy and humour easy in conversations about living in the Suburbs, Flight of the Conchords, distasteful slang words, blogging, cappuccinos, and of course, his illustrations.

Sketch 1: The “Pink” Drawing

Smiling, revealing the space between his big teeth, Byers flips through the black, leather bound sketchbook he is currently whittling away – one of many blank cartridges he has filled and keeps on hand to splay daily drawings, exercises, and observational sketches inside. The images are what Michael describes as “line drawings”, composed from marker, black pen, and occasional dipping ink.

AG: I really like one drawing you have, I think it is of a scene from New York, where the only colour you use to loosely colour in is pink. It is of a crowd. A lot of characters in a two-page spread.

MB: New York? Was I wearing a New York t-shirt? I don’t know which one you’re talking about.

AG: It’s on your blog. It’s pink, outlines, and than the only colour is pink, scene of a crowd….

MB: Are you sure it was my blog? I don’t remember that one. Pink?

AG: I’m sure. I’ll send you the link.

Sketch 2: The Method

Byers studied Illustration at Sheridan College in Oakville, lending much of his success, shape and inspiration to the teachers and students whose brains he “picked.” Unlike a lot of artists, who slander school as a box for the head of creativity, Byers kept a contrast — an open-mindedness that left him inspired and well navigated.

MB: I was like a big sponge. I just said ‘learn me,’ you know? A lot of students said it was a waste of time for them, but I think if I didn’t go, if I didn’t spend the time or money, I wouldn’t be where I’m at.

In 2006, Byers won Sheridan’s Hambly and Woolley award for “Best in Show,” and has since gained representation with New York’s Levy Creative which boasts a roster including Andrea Wicklund, Trip Park, and caricature guru Jason Seiler. In the past two years, Byers has done editorial work for the likes of Atlantic Monthly, LA Times, and Business Week. This year, his work was selected for publication in American Illustrator 27 and Uppercase Gallery’s Work/Life, Toronto’s largest arts festival, Luminato, and most recently, “No Parachute Required” – a six artist collective exhibit at Toronto’s Gallery 1313 – have also exhibited his work.

MB: When I get hired for jobs, a lot of the time they either like my style or they like my sense of humour. The way I spin it, I try to do that as much as I can. I haven’t had that much experience with really serious topics, but even then, there’s always something you can laugh at…why not try and get a chuckle out of anything?

AG: Would you ever want to touch on serious issues?

MB: No. But I would just broaden the scope of the images I make. I really don’t do a lot of celebrities, but I’d like to do more entertainment types, what happened was I was getting a lot of outdoors magazine …so when you have a portfolio full of outdoors kind of stuff, you get hired for what you do so, I want to do a lot more of that kind of stuff so I can have a bigger palate…broaden the potential scope of clients that I can get. I’d like to get into advertising.

AG: Business and goal-oriented, huh.

MB: Motivated. My mentality now is that I want to swim with the big fish… the people that have been in the industry awhile. I feel you’ll learn a lot more when you put yourself in arena with people that are way better than you are, more accomplished or whatever, it forces you to get better, do better things. As opposed to like, say Wayne Gretzky tried training with people that sucked at hockey, he’d never have been that good.

AG: […]

MB: I guess that’s a bad example.

Sketch 3: “Pink” found

With a level head, a clear focus, and an empty cappuccino, Byers gives me the juicy on his inner artist. With a penchant for school, devotion to teachers, and clear-cut goals of prospering clientele, I am eager to hear of Byers’ clichéd moments of artois.

AG: What inspires you to draw?

MB: Everything. Vague statement, I know. But again, I think my sense of humour comes into play somewhere. It’s a really dry, obnoxious sense of humour. I think a lot of it is from observation, things I hear about in the news, even song titles that I think are kind of funny…images will pop up in my head that I think might be cool.

AG: My un-illustrative brain is trying to get around the idea of how you can be constantly bombarded by visuals, and still get inspired in such a visual medium.

MB: Doing editorials for example, I start searching for images that inspire me. Maybe it’s cheating, but when the writer is really descriptive, that helps a lot because that helps me going. If it’s a really abstract concept, or it’s really dry, that’s the biggest challenge.

AG: Where do you do most of your drawings?

MB: Good old mom’s house, I have a basement studio so I take advantage of the space. [points to the New York drawing he thought was the “pink” one] That’s the one I thought you were talking about. There’s no pink in that one.

AG: Oh, I see the New York T-Shirt too. Do you have archives?

MB: I have a shelf of sketchbooks, then a filing cabinet. When I’m done with a job I just throw it in a drawer. Toss it in. I don’t really have a lot of original work lying around.

AG: Method to illustration?

MB: I drink a lot of coffee…put on the radio. I think there is a method in the music. I might put in some “sad bastard music,” and it might come through. Like this one drawing I did of a couple on a picnic with the girl holding a knife behind her back [“Vulnerable”]. That one particular piece got a lot of comments (while exhibiting in “No Parachute Required”). How dark it was and everything. I didn’t realize it would get that reaction. I thought it was funny. I guess [the music] came through unconsciously.

The rain drags and I quickly close the sketchbook, turn off my recorder and move inside the crowded and dimmed café. The lunchtime crowd clutters, espresso machines whirr, and baristas pour and make change. Needless to say, it is loud and my little mini-tape player can’t play ball in this auditorium. I write in my Moleskin for the rest of our conversation, and for the large part, my scrawl is cheap and disjointed. There is, however, one passage I furiously note down. A kernel of character, the essence is as follows:

MB: There is this deep-seeded excitement and passion for creating. If something is good, I can’t stop looking at it. I continue because there’s energy – a fire in the belly.