Student Spotlight: Beautiful Hand Drawn Creations by Brian Mohler

November 20th, 2014 | Brian Mohler

Student Spotlight: Beautiful Hand Drawn Creations by Brian Mohler

Platt College Web Design student Brian Mohler is not only talented in the world of coding but also traditional art. We recently discovered his beautiful and intricate art pieces when he was submitting them for our Lyceum Art Exhibition that is currently running in downtown. Brian’s work is very personal, thoughtful and inspiring so we were thrilled to sit down with him to talk about his creative process.

Interviewer: Many artists start creating early in life. How long have you been drawing for?

Brian: I have been drawing since elementary school. I started out expressing myself artistically by experimenting with the method of cutting out snowflakes from pieces of paper and cut up spaceships instead. Which initially lead to drawing. I had so many of them my mom didn’t know what to do with them all.

Interviewer: What would you say inspired you to keep up with your craft and who was the first person to acknowledge your talent?

Brian: I believe it was a gift from God and it would be a waste of my talent not to pursue it and I might as well embrace it. My mom definitely encouraged me to pursue my talent. She has been the biggest inspiration for me. She has been a quilter all her life and I have taken a lot of inspiration from her to use in my art.

Interviewer: How would you describe your style of art?

Brian: The current style I have now, started the tail end of high school and it’s transformed into what I have been creating lately. I focus on using patterns and color and enjoy experimenting with those. I originally wanted to be a comic book artist. However, I realized I was really good at creating the characters but couldn’t create sequential art to save my life.

Interviewer: What would you say is your favorite piece you’ve created?

Brian: Jubilation. I did it during a week long prayer event at my church, where for the entire week it was non-stop prayer. The idea for that piece came to me during the event when I was there for about six hours. Jubilation was the piece that took me to the next evolution of my artistic style.

Interviewer: You mentioned that a lot of your art pieces are based on songs. Do you have any favorites?

Brian: Fully Alive and Take Heart. Take Heart was a piece that brought me through a really tough time in my life. Music really influences a good chunk of the pieces that I create. The argument could be made that almost every piece was inspired by a piece of music. I have a love for heavy metal music but I enjoy creating these intricate art pieces that don’t seem to quite match up with what you would expect.

Interviewer: On average how long does it take you to create one of your pieces?

Brian: 6 to 10 hours depending on the piece and they are all done with sharpies. I have been using sharpies since high school, which is over ten years now. I have a goal to create a new piece every week for a year. So far I’ve completed 52 pieces total.

Interviewer: Do you have any advice for other aspiring artists?

Brian: Keep practicing and you will get better. Emulate artists you like but put your own spin on it. It’s important to cultivate your own style.

Interviewer: Any last thoughts you would like to share with us?

Brian: Every piece I do is inspired by my faith. Christianity sometimes gets a bad wrap, but I try to convey my beliefs in a way that are easily accessible. Conversation starters that have a lot of depth to them. Typically, I include long descriptions with every piece. I like to put a lot of detail and meaning into my pieces. I view them as a celebration of God’s creativity in this world. Although there are a lot of evils there is still a lot of beauty in this world as well. I want to convey a portion of that.

If you would like to check out more of Brian’s artwork you can follow him on TUMBLR or INSTAGRAM!