A friend of mine just turned me on to a write up on the LAist, about cartoonist Doug Davis, who is having his first gallery exhibition tonight at the Gary Leonard Studio in Los Angeles.
Now, you may read this, and say "Wtf is Doug Davis and why should I care?". Here is where I wold retort with "It's not about who he is, but what he is". He is definitely an inspirational figure, in my opinion, especially after reading his interview with LAist and his feature in Los Angeles Downtown News, where Doug was previously the art director and is a current contributor to its political strip "Urban Scrawl". Considering my interests in illustration as a hobby and as a potential career, I very much identified with his answer to one of the LAist's questions.
[LADowntownNews]
How did you get started in illustration? I was one of those kids who drew all the time, and I pored over comic books and “Peanuts” collections. In my twenties, I didn’t draw as much, but did other things like travel overseas, play the banjo, major in philosophy in college. From one perspective, it was an eclectic approach to life; from another, unfocused. Either way, it provided a variety of life experiences that are good for cartooning. I did editorial cartooning for my college paper, eventually landing in graphic design and art direction. I worked my way back to drawing again, and find my greatest challenge and reward in cartooning and illustration. [LAist]It sort of put things a little into perspective and gave some harmony to the chaos that I dwell within. Not everybody has to have a defined contingency plan and I feel ok with where I'm headed and the road I'm choosing to travel to get there.
