dm www.​may​il​lus​tra​tion.com
www.​flickr.​com/​p​h​o​t​o​s​/​d​anmay

Do you con­sider your­self to have a com­mer­cial style?

Well, my work seems to have taken two direc­tions. On one end I find myself taking on assigned work for var­i­ous pub­li­ca­tions, advertising/design agen­cies, etc. On the other end of things is my per­sonal work, which is con­stantly evolv­ing, but for the most part sur­real in nature and more char­ac­ter driven. I would like to think of my style as a healthy mix of com­mer­cial and per­sonal work that can be applied in a vari­ety of settings.

In your cur­rent port­fo­lio is there any work from Syra­cuse Uni­ver­sity, if not why not?

Nope… I phased that stuff out long ago. In fact, it’s funny, I was going back through the work I did just last year and was scratch­ing my head won­der­ing what the hell I was think­ing! For me, it’s all part of the process though. I try to learn some­thing new from each piece and carry this knowl­edge on to the next one. There is a great deal of per­sonal com­pe­ti­tion in my work. In a sense, it’s what drives me… I always want to “out do” my last piece.

You were a bar­tender for 3 years; could you pull a mean pint?

Ha! Yeah, I poured quite a few pints in my day… don’t miss it all that much though. It’s more fun on the other side of the bar! How­ever, it was a nice gig early on when I was trying to get my stuff out there, I got paid to social­ize with patrons (picked up a few nice jobs that way), it helped pay the bills, plus it kept my art sup­plies well stocked… and on top of it all, it’s how I met my beau­ti­ful wife!

Who are your favourite artists/illustrators alive today?

Oh man, that’s a tough one… there are so many amaz­ing artist’s out there these days. I’ll go ahead and ramble off a few of my faves in no par­tic­u­lar order… Colin John­son, Doug Boehm, Robert Hard­grave, Jeremy Pruitt, Aaron Nather, Jere­miah Ketner, Jason Proudler, Katy Horan, Chris Buzelli, Gina Triplett, Dennis Hayes, Mike Maxwell, Elsavet, Craig LaRo­tonda, Travis Louie, Neil Swaab, Julie West, Chris Ryniak, Martin Ontiveros, Amy Sol, Bren­dan Monroe, Mike Bur­nett, Dave Cooper, Amanda Vis­sell, Jordan Isip, Jamie Zol­lars, Sam Weber, Eric White, Mark Burkhardt, Mars-1, Scott Mus­grove, Jeremy Fish, Chris Sick­els, Daniel Chang, APAK, Naoto Hat­tori, Chris Rec­ca­rdi, Ronald Kur­ni­awan, Johnny Yanok, Nathan Spoor, Joe Vaux, Doze Green, Jeff Soto, Mark Ryden, Todd Schorr, Tim Biskup, Gary Taxali, Charles Glaub­itz, the Clay­ton Brothers… and so many more. I have to say I really admire any artist who is con­stantly push­ing the enve­lope, and putting him­self or her­self out there.

Which gal­leries have you shown at and which gal­leries would you like to show at?

The whole gallery scene is still pretty new to me… this summer I took part in a few group shows at M Modern Gallery, in Palm Springs, I’m part of a five- person show at DvA Gallery in Chicago, which opens in Octo­ber, and I have a few other shows lined up here and there before the years end. As far as gal­leries I would like to show at go… I have a list of places I will be send­ing my stuff out to in the coming year. So, I guess we’ll have to wait and see!

Are you involved in any col­lab­o­ra­tive projects at the moment and is there anyone you would like to work with?

I think col­lab­o­ra­tions are great. This is an excit­ing time to be an artist, and to me there’s noth­ing better than seeing tal­ented people join force… the result is usu­ally pretty stun­ning. I’m cur­rently work­ing on a couple col­labs with some friends of mine and hope to work on more in the future… stay tuned! Recently I took part in the Said And Done col­lab­o­ra­tive project, put together by Dustin Koop and John Antoski. Those guys have man­aged to com­pile a really nice list of artist’s for their project. I was cer­tainly happy that they asked me to take part. Check it out at www.​saidand​done.ca

What’s next in the pipeline for Dan May illustration?

Sky’s the limit! Some­times I wonder how on earth I’m doing this for a living… then I remem­ber to stop ques­tion­ing things and just con­tinue to go with the flow. At this point I have some projects, gallery shows, etc. lined up for the coming year. For the most part though, I just hope to con­tinue evolv­ing as an artist. Each day seems to bring about a slue of new oppor­tu­ni­ties and new ideas. My goal is to see just how far I can push things… bigger, better, more!

Shouts?

Big up to Ape­fluff for find­ing me intrigu­ing enough to inter­view! A huge shout out to all my Flickr peeps, friends and family, and of course my beau­ti­ful and inspir­ing wife Kendal.

Cheese and Onion or Salt and Vinegar?

Cheese and Onion

X-men 2 or City Slickers?

X-Slickers

You can see more of Dan May’s work at
www.​may​il​lus​tra​tion.com
www.​flickr.​com/​p​h​o​t​o​s​/​d​anmay

Inter­view posted by theApe
www.​ape​fluff.com

Con­tribute an inter­view to the LCS

Related News

• Dan May Inter­view on Underspray
• Dan May – Hi-​Fructose Group Exhibition
• New Dan May Prints on Blue­Fip Art

Cats: Recent News
Tags: Aaron Nather, advertising/design agencies, Amanda Vissell, Amy Sol, Brendan Monroe, Charles Glaubitz, Chicago, Chris Buzelli, Chris Reccardi, Chris Ryniak, Chris Sickels, Colin Johnson, Craig LaRotonda, Dan May, Dave Cooper, Dennis Hayes, DOUG BOEHM, Dustin Koop, DvA Gallery, Eric White, Gary Taxali, Gina Triplett, Interviews, Jamie Zollars, Jason Proudler, Jeff Soto, Jeremiah Ketner, Jeremy Fish, Jeremy Pruitt, Joe Vaux, John Antoski, Johnny Yanok, Jordan Isip, Julie West, Katy Horan, Kendal, M Modern Gallery, Mark Burkhardt, Mark Ryden, Martin Ontiveros, men 2, Mike Burnett, Mike Maxwell, Nathan Spoor, Neil Swaab, Robert Hardgrave, Ronald Kurniawan, Sam Weber, Scott Musgrove, Syracuse University, Tim Biskup, Todd Schorr, Travis Louie, www.apefluff.com, www.mayillustration.com www.flickr.com/photos/danmay, www.saidanddone.ca