Design Q&A Part 2: NOPATTERN : Earz Magazine

Design Q&A Part 2: NOPATTERN

July 22, 2008 · Words: Martin S ·

They Call me Mista Chuck... Anderson, Chuck Anderson Interview

For the second and final part in our series talking to young graphic design geniuses [link to part one- an interview with Diftype] we caught up with illustrator, photographer & photoshop trailblazer Chuck Anderson, known mostly to the design world as NOPATTERN. With a resume of clients that would make even the most established designers blush- from fashion brands and hollywood studios to drinks labels and A-list rappers- Anderson’s career recieved a helping hand early on from the internet, where his work has to date been published on literally hundreds of influential sites, including the Behance network and CoolHunting. Read on to find out Chuck’s opinion of Lupe Fiasco, and what has say about his online detractors.

EARZ-MAG [MS]: How is it going & what have you been up to?

Chuck Anderson: It’s going well. I’ve been busier than ever before - which is a good thing - but I’m feeling pretty worn out and exhausted right about now…I have a lot of jobs happening all at once and on top of that my wife and I are moving to Grand Rapids, MI after living in the Illinois suburbs our whole life. We’re excited but of course it’s just a very busy time right now. Trying to keep my head from spinning too fast… As far as work goes, I’ve been working a lot lately with AMP Energy Drink, Honda, and Vans. All really good stuff I’ll get up on my site asap for people to see.

They Call me Mista Chuck... Anderson, Chuck Anderson Interview EM: What are your tools of trade for creating your art works? I know a lot of people who aren’t so design savvy (myself included) would wonder how you take the raw subject of a photograph or illustration and end up with one of your colour-dripped pieces.

CA: Most of the time for most of my work I use Photoshop. Especially with the photography stuff. I take a photo, get it into Photoshop, and add the lighting effects, colors, etc. in there.

EM: The Green Label Art project for Mountain Dew was extremely cool. What was the background to that project, what kind of spec. were you given?

CA: That was the beautiful thing about that project - they didn’t really give any direction. We got to do whatever we wanted to do with it. That’s certainly a rarity in big client projects like that so I just got to have fun, make a fun drawing - which is something I usually just do for personal work - and go crazy with the colors. They were very open to all of our own ideas.

EM: Have you heard Lupe Fiasco’s second album “The Cool”? What did you think of it. (Ed note: Chuck created the artwork for “Food & Liquor”, Fiasco’s debut release).

CA: I have to be honest - I haven’t had a chance to really dig into the whole thing yet but I’ve heard most of it and I think it sounds great… He’s such a fresh voice in music.

MS: I’m interested in how the personal and commercial worlds of art combine and collide…If the work and sales dried up would you still be doing your thing?

CA: I try not to think that way. I figure as long as I continue to expand on what I do, make new things, keep people interested and up to date with what I’m doing, then things won’t dry up. I like to keep a really positive outlook on work and life. I don’t ever let myself get to thinking about “well what if work just dries up entirely”… If those kinds of doubts enter my mind I try to just scratch them out with new, bigger, and better ideas. And yes - even if that did somehow happen, I would still manage to find a way to keep creativity in what I do for a living.

They Call me Mista Chuck... Anderson, Chuck Anderson Interview

MS: You pretty much exploded onto the online scene a couple years back, getting tonnes of praise for what you were achieving at such a young age. How have things changed now, and has anything gone differently than expected?

CA: Well first off, thanks for that comment. The online community has been a really amazing support system for me and a lot of other designers as well. I know there are a handful of people out there who are always talking nonsense behind their screennames on messageboards and forums and would never say half those things in real life, but people like that are usually jealous, frustrated, bitter cowards who are stuck at a job they don’t like very much. Strong words, I know, but you’d be surprised how seriously some of these people take themselves online.

For the most part, people are respectful and at least if they don’t like my work they are respectful but critical at the same time which is a great thing. I don’t really have any expectations of how people will respond to me and my work - I just put it out there and hope people appreciate it and get something good out of it. As for my age, I’m still just 22 and I feel like I have a lifetime ahead of me to still learn so much. (Answer continues after images)…

They Call me Mista Chuck... Anderson, Chuck Anderson Interview

“These last 4 1/2 years have gone very quickly but I try to learn as much as possible from everyone I work with and meet. That’s the best way to grow as an artist if you ask me. Learning from others.

MS: What are you working on just now? Any interesting projects in the pipeline?

CA: I mentioned a few in a previous answer, but I do have some other cool things coming up as well. Working with a ski company on, guess…some skis… Doing some work with Dymo as well as some pro-bono work for an annual report which feels good to do.

MS: Is there anything you’d like to add- any shoutouts, links etc?

CA: Thanks to all the people who support and encourage me in real life and in emails, the clients and people who trust me enough to hire me to do work for them, the people who criticize what I do and make me open my eyes to things I didn’t realize or see before, and just everyone who is passionate about creating and being an artist of any kind. I appreciate all of you. And thanks to the internet. What in the world would we all be doing if it wasn’t for you?!

They Call me Mista Chuck... Anderson, Chuck Anderson Interview

Well that’s it- super-thank you to Chuck Anderson for the interview- to check out an extended portfolio of his work head over to NOPATTERN, and Chuck also contributes semi-regularly to blogs over at Format magazine and The Brilliance.

This is the second in a two-part series with young graphic design geniuses, in part one we spoke to Niklas Lundberg a.k.a the graphic designer Diftype, who has also been making waves around the internet with his work- click to read Design Q&A Part 1: Diftype.

Images top-bottom: A:Illustration for brand collaboration with Reason NYC, B: Aluminum bottle designed for Mountain Dew’s Green Label Art program, C: Project: Pages from Chuck Anderson’s NoPattern Book, D: Excerpt of work for XLR8R magazine.

Posted in Graphic Art & Interviews