ARTIST Q&A

Born: Bridgeport, CT

Currently lives: Somerville, MA

Title of artwork: Frogby in the Forest

What’s it about?
Lionel J. Frogby (The ‘J’ is for ‘just a little guy’) is a little frog with big dreams. This piece is multi-media, combining ink sketches scanned in then painted digitally in Clip Studio Paint and depicts Frogby traveling through the forest on an adventure where he comes across several other creatures in the meandering creek. Frogby is a frequent subject of my art and one of my favorite things to draw as well as sculpt – I’ve made him out of felt, paper, polymer clay, even cookie dough. I highly recommend drawing a goofy little frog sometime, especially this one – he’s basically just a potato with noodle arms and legs and a little face, give it a go!

Where else can we find your work?
You can find more of my work online on my website and I’m frequently tabling and exhibiting locally at comic art festivals and zine fests. I’d love to have my art and felted creatures in some more local shops, too!

Where is your favorite public art piece in the area?
Gift of the Wind by Susumu Shingu at Porter Station. I love how it changes depending on your perspective and also the time of day. It is beautiful and vivid when you see the colors of the work, but just as striking in silhouette, when backlit by the sun.

Who is your favorite Boston-area artist to follow?
Keytar Bear is an incredible artist and musician. I love Keytar Bear’s style as well as the performance art aspect. Every performance is something that is truly a joy to see and always a surprise. The serendipity of Keytar Bear and the magic of it all is true art.

What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?
I love going for a long walk and taking a sketchbook out and giving myself an ‘assignment’ like draw every neon sign I see, draw every entrance gate of parks I walk past, it helps get me out of creative ruts, to focus on something, but to observe the way it can change from moment to moment and object to object. It also is a fascinating way to get to know a neighborhood – looking at those visual patterns.

Favorite food spot in in Allston, Brighton or the surrounding area?
Cafe Weekend is great for brunch. I can always go for a slice and an Orangina from Pino’s Pizza in Cleveland Circle. I also miss Spike’s!

What have you learned about your creative practice in recent years?
When I would work on projects as I was starting out, I would be discouraged if I could not find the momentum to finish them and abandon them and never pick them back up, forever discouraged, but then also feeling someone hesitant to start the next project because I was leaving that old one unfinished. It made things unnecessarily difficult for me.

At some point in my creative practice, I realized it didn’t even matter. I hadn’t abandoned anything and I was still thinking about some of these supposedly ‘abandoned’ ideas anyways. They were still bouncing around in my head and from that point on, I started writing down the ideas, using the momentum, sketching down character ideas or plot points or color palettes, whatever it might be depending on the project, and instead of abandoning it – I’d ‘put it in the archives’ (mostly folders on my desk or on my computer) and going back to those ideas when I felt them pulling at me again. This has resulted in me being much more prolific in my work, as I no longer feel the restriction of ‘having to finish one thing before moving on to the next.’

One of those most surprising and rewarding things that has happened as a result of this is that I’ve been able to see how various ideas or projects I had kicked around for years could come together to be a single piece of art, it just took time for me to let them develop in my brain before they could come together to be that art.

What is a piece of advice you would give to your past self as a young artist?
Make a zine! If you’ve never made a zine, make a zine. There is nothing that will help you grow as an artist, designer or cartoonist as making a zine or comic from start to finish, no matter how small it is, you will learn something through the process and be able to hold it in your hand at the end and that will be invaluable to you as a creative.

You’re hosting book club next, what is everyone reading?
The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson, it is an exquisite examination of the oceans and water of the world. It’s gorgeously written and her way of depicting the visual of natural phenomena, the motion, the spirit, the essence of it in writing is second to none, with the companion book one that does much the same for a more specific subject: The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson.

What is your dream project to work on?
Something that involves collaboration with other artists and as many types of creativity as possible, so creative and visual art direction and concept design for fantasy and science fiction films, especially if I could incorporate my puppetry and sculpture or I’d love to creative direct a theatrical play or a tour for a musical artist.