Have you always known that you wanted to do art for the rest of your life?

“I actually did not know. I thought that I wanted to be a teacher until this year. Savannah Haneline was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Savannah College of Art and Design’ on it, and I looked it up, and it looked pretty cool, so we went down there to look at it and I just really liked the place.”

What was the general reaction from your family when you informed them that you would be pursuing an arts degree? Did they always know that that was your path?

“Well, they didn’t always know that, but they’ve been really supportive of everything I’ve looked at; when I wanted to be a teacher, when I wanted to do other stuff, they’ve been really supportive.”

If you were to go to an art museum, what would be the first exhibit you would go to?

“I really like expressionism. But me personally, if I’m going to pursue a career in the arts, it’s not going to be necessarily just illustration/painting kind of stuff. I’ll go corporate, maybe. Really, the only way to make money as an artist, unless you’re Picasso, is to be either a teacher or a sellout, so I’m hoping to sell out probably.”

What about expressionism do you like?

“I guess, to me, expressionism seems like there’s the most feeling in it, obviously, because there’s expressive strokes, marks… You can feel more of the artist’s emotion out of it.”

Do you have a favorite expressionism artist?

“Yes, definitely, Otto Dix or Max Beckmann, German expressionism.”

Is there a type of art you would like to pursue that isn’t really something you’ve shown interest in before?

“Yeah, I’m actually going to try to go into advertising. It seems fun. I do have kind of a background in graphic design so that helps, but it’s collaborative, which I really like. I like working with other people. And S.C.A.D. [Savannah College of Art and Design] actually has a 100% employment rate in the advertising department. I’m going to be a film minor, too.”

Do you think art is important?

“Definitely. I definitely think art is important. I mean, life would just be so boring without it. Art’s a relative term, you know, everything’s art. If there wasn’t art, people would be wearing prison clothes. What you wear everyday is art, you know, it’s fashion. Everything that’s around you, your cell phone, some graphic designer had to make the display for that. Art’s just everywhere, and I think without art obviously life would be so boring. But I do think it’s slowed down a little bit, art. I think people have gotten a little more lazy. I think you don’t see Da Vincis anymore.”

When did you become interested in art?

“Well, this might sound a little embarrassing, but it was around the time that Shrek came out that I realized that I wanted to go into film and art. That movie really had an impact on me. I think I watched the behind the scenes of that movie more than the actual movie. It was called, ‘The Tech of Shrek.'”

What was the general reaction from your family when you told them you would be pursuing a degree in film?

“They said, “Good, you can’t do anything else.” My mom encouraged it. She was like, ‘Yeah, you should major in film and minor in art because you’re not really good at anything else.’ I was like, ‘Mom, come on, I can’t do both. I have to get a job.’ She told me, ‘No, this is all you’ve got, ride this out.'”

Were your parents surprised or did they always know of your interests?

“They always knew. I’ve been making movies since preschool, and I’ve been drawing since as long as I can remember. My first movie I made was a Robin Hood movie with my brother; he was Little John and I was Robin Hood. It was on my sister’s Barbie camera. We had little hats and everything.”

When you view art, what’s something that pulls your eye?

“I’ve never been into art-art, where it’s like, ‘what does this mean?’ I’m definitely more into cartoons and stuff that’s easy to understand— dumb stuff like that.”

What is your favorite type of art, either to do or to view?

“I love, love, love animation. Think the cheaper animation, I’m talking like 2D, where I can tell that it was actually drawn, like Don Hertzfeldt. I don’t like 3D animation, if I’m honest. I also really like stop motion. Stop motion and 2D are my two favorites, but both of those are dead. They’re dead mediums that no one uses, except for Wes Anderson.”

Is there a type of art you would like to pursue further that you don’t normally show interest in?

“I would like to get more into painting. If I put more time into it, it could be good. I’m fine with watercolors, and I’ve made stuff that has turned out OK before, but then I’ve also made horrible, horrible stuff. I tried to make that Star Wars mural last year. I got to the very end and I just threw it away. I spent a month on it. I thought if you could add water to regular paint it would make it work but it does not work, it soaks through the paper.”

If you could choose any career path involving art, what would it be?

“If I could do just straight up art, probably animation. For me, the thing is, animation was made to do stuff that you can’t do in real life, so when they do these perfectly rendered faces, it’s like, why didn’t you just do a live action movie? All that pixar stuff that’s coming out where it’s like “oh, they look so real”, who cares? I live real life every day, I want to see more toy story.”

Do you think art is important?

‘I don’t know, I guess. I’m not one of those “I can’t live without art” people. I don’t really care, but some people really need it, and some people never look at it, so it depends on the person. And for me, I don’t really care.”