This week’s artist’s spotlight focuses on Steven Ray Brown, who does just about a little bit of everything!
The Artist’s Spotlight is a Hypable weekly feature that will focus on someone who has caught our attention for fandom-related art, whether it be drawings, songs, crafts, or more! Every week you can expect a new talented artist we think you should be aware of!
Hypable: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Steven: I’m Steven Ray Brown. Some people know me as StevRayBro, but you can just call me Steven or Stev. I’m originally from Louisville, KY but moved to Indianapolis, IN for school. I kind of just stayed here. On my YouTube channel StevRayBro I do a series of videos called “Watch Me Draw” where I try to post videos of me doing speed-art to music. Typically the artwork takes me 1-3 hours and the videos are sped up to be about two minutes long with some catchy music. I occasionally do animations for my channel too.
I also animate for an online studio called Toonocracy, where I get paid to make videos for channels like YoMama and Animeme. Clearly the highest brow of comedy. I’m also animating a show called “Flagon” for Toonocracy’s channel. It’s a pixelated adventure written by my friend Jonathan Hardesty about a bartender being dragged off on an RPG quest by a mage.
I just realized I was asked to talk about myself and all I did was mention stuff about my work. Other than drawing and animating, I’m a casual gamer playing games for the 3DS and collect little figurines to put around my desk. I recently got an awesome bearded dragon named Kaiju. We make similar facial expressions and both have beards. (Best Friends).
What first interested you in art?
The earliest drawing I remember doing was at a funeral. I started drawing an RC can from a vending machine and one of my aunts really liked it and keeps it on her fridge to this day. Looking back at it, I obviously didn’t know what perspective was. It’s a terrible drawing. But back then that put me in the mind-set that I could be talented. I was a really big fan of a lot of cartoons shows, the earliest thing I remember drawing was Ninja Turtles and Sonic the Hedgehog. I even had a really terrible original character that was basically Tails in pants called Bob Kat. You know he was cool because I spelt his name with a “K.” I remember taking a loose-leaf notebook and making a comic about him. It was terrible. I think Sonichu was better, but again I had a lot support from my classmates.
But at the end of high school was when I started downloading programs like Photoshop and Flash and started getting into what I wanted to do. One of my first big achievements was I got hired by Bowling for Soup, a band that was really popular with the song “1985” and now does Phineas and Ferb‘s theme song. I sent them some character designs I did for them and got an email back about doing some work. I’ve done a lot of work for them over the years including album art for their 11th album, Fishing for Woos.
You have a really fun style. Where did that come from and who influenced you?
My style is just a huge mish-mash of anything I’m really digging at the time. One Piece, Clone High, Danny Phantom, Scott Pilgrim, The Nintendo Power Mario comic, Clerks, and Steven Universe are all stories that effected me and my art at some point.
Can you tell us a bit about your process?
My process isn’t anything too exciting. I basically thumbnail the idea and concepts on paper or in a blank Photoshop file. After I get the idea how I want it, I’ll make a larger (typically 11×17) image in Photoshop and start sketching the overall composition with my Cintiq. After that it’s the basic ink it and color it. Nothing super exciting.
What’s the biggest challenge you face when you create some of your work?
A lot of my work is recorded while I draw, so a lot of times I don’t zoom in. I’ve seen some videos where people zoom in and it can get a little chaotic when you zoom in and out for the viewer. So I don’t zoom in all that often. I miss a lot of details that way. It’s also hard for me to get out of the habit of making things really fast and take the time to enjoy the art.
Your portfolio covers all sorts of categories and genres, but what are some of your favorite characters to draw?
You know, I was looking through my gallery and I don’t have much double dipping when it comes to repeat characters drawn. I know that I enjoy sketching Chell from the Portal series in my notebook. And I never post them but I tend to draw Mario in random styles and shapes. So I guess it would be those two, haha.
You also do quite a lot of mashups. What makes them so intriguing to you?
Mashups are a lot of fun in general. I think what gets me going with them is that they start with a small fuse of an idea and then I get a chance to expand on them. For example, the Justice Friends piece I did with Dexter’s Lab and Avengers. Actually, quick story time — the Justice Friends and Duck Knight Rises pieces are very much a “set.” I got the idea for both of them back-to-back when I had made plans to see all six Avengers movies and all three Christopher Nolan Dark Knight movies in theaters all at once. Since the movies had just come out they were popular and I wanted to do something with it. With Dexter it just simply clicked that the Justice Friends were a parody of the Avengers and not the Super Friends, so I started filling in the roles from the poster: Major Glory, Val Hallen, and Krunk.
After those roles were decided, I had to figure out who the other Avengers would be. They had characters in the Justice Friends shorts that were already parodies like the Living Bullet as Iron Man or Captial G as Nick Furry. But instead I made it more of a Dexter’s Lab fan piece by adding Dexter, Action Hank, and the archer from the one D&D episode. I even included Monkey into the piece. He’s in the fireball; a lot of people tend to miss that.
The Duck Knight Rises parody poster started from the more recent Darkwing Duck comic books, “The Duck Knight Returns.” I took that and expanded on it. I had to figure out a proper proxy for Bane in the Dark Knight Rises poster, and it had to be Taraus Bulba! He is a great counterpart, because he is the one villain in the Darkwing Duck series that Darkwing is truly scared of. It’s one of my favorite pieces because of how well it came out and I’ve got it printed movie poster size and signed by Jim Cummings, the voice of Darkwing. Now if only I can get Tim Curry, the voice of Taruas Bulba, to sign it!
| “Work on your craft every day: all skills are about mileage and the more you do something, the faster and better you get at it. Remember you are on your own path, and try not to crush yourself because you’re not as good as your idols, because they were in your shoes once.” |
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Which characters have you never drawn before that you’d like to tackle next?
For me, personally, I really want to take the time to develop my own characters, haha. But I know that Attack on Titan and anything Creepypasta oriented is highly requested. I also feel like doing something Nintendo oriented, been playing some DS on my down time.
What advice would you give to other artists?
All the advice I can give is super cliché and over said. Work on your craft every day: all skills are about mileage and the more you do something, the faster and better you get at it. Remember you are on your own path, and try not to crush yourself because you’re not as good as your idols, because they were in your shoes once. As far as getting found, collaborate with others. It’s a great way to build a fan base as well as make a great new friend out of a fellow artist.
Oh! One more thing: trends are great for the now, but doing something timeless has a longer lasting effect.
What’s your ultimate goal as an artist?
It’s going to sound a little cliché or maybe even a bit dumb, but I truly enjoy making others happy with my work. If I can make a living giving people some entertainment or make illustrations that can put a smile on someone’s face, that’s when I am truly successful. Obviously I have bills and have to live, but if I can get to a point where my work is funding itself and I can make YouTube videos for my channel or tell stories with my artwork, that’s when my goal is achieved!
Steven is all over the place on the internet! Be sure to chat him up on Twitter and Facebook, and check out his work on Instagram, Tumblr, and DeviantART. You can see him working on his creations on his livestream channel, as well as check out his YouTube channel.
Steven can also be found on Patreon, Google+, and Newgrounds.
And we weren’t kidding when we said you should check out his YouTube channel. Watch him make this hilarious “Wrecking Ball” parody piece.
