Featured Artist Samuel Mike

Enjoy the delightfully quirky portfolio of artist Samuel Mike, who interprets the natural world in his own distinctive style. Visit his website to see more.

 

 

I was raised in Douglas, Arizona and now live in Tucson. I’m immersed in Arizona’s scenic vistas, mountain views and desert vegetation. I love creating majestic twisting saguaros, trees with branches and roots that reach out for open sky, and precious water.

 

 

In my drawings of animals, I enjoy using intricate lines and patterns to create my vision of their unique, realistic features.

 

 

My artistic journey began early in school, when I added doodles and drawing to the margins of homework papers and did caricature drawings for friends and for my own amusement. I took my first art class in middle school, and discovered that art was an outlet for my innermost thoughts and feelings. It was a way to communicate those ideas and vision to others.

 

 

I was taught the basics of drawing and painting and allowed to explore and create outside of the rigid teaching curriculum (thank you Mr. Mosher and Mr. Levra!)  I enjoyed learning oil, acrylic and watercolor painting. The wide swashes of color, the buildup of textures. All the brushwork and pallet knife techniques were amazing to learn and then apply to canvas, board and paper. But I always returned to drawing.

 

 

I was given a Badger airbrush for my birthday. After playing around with it and learning the basics, I quickly realized that airbrushing transparent and opaque colors into my drawings worked much better than pencils and painting ever did. Now I use fine and ultra fine point permanent pens and inks on Bristol board paper and illustration board for my creations.

 

 

Quite often, I anthropomorphize and add a touch of whimsy to the faces of animals that I draw. I also add intricate lines and shadings to trees and cacti, giving them movement and flow as if they are reaching out from the paper to the viewer.

 

 

I’ll sometimes add hidden figures to my detailed artwork. I enjoy when viewers find them and are eager to look for more, telling others what else they see.

 

 

My black and white ink drawings hold their own, but adding lightly airbrushed clouds and sky can give added depth and motion to draw the viewer into the artwork. I add broad layers of airbrushed color, splattering techniques and thin sprayed lines over and under my line drawings to create my finished visions.

 

 

Having managed pizza restaurants and a beverage warehouse, I have been a top salesman, supervisor and manager. I even drove a train in an underground copper mine. My wife and I have raised two wonderful daughters and enjoy seeing our three granddaughters grow into amazing young women. And through it all, I always return to my inner artist and the enjoyment of creating and sharing my drawings!

 

 

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