Today we’d like to introduce you to Carl Hunley Jr.
Carl, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My art journey began at an early age. My mom is the first artist I’ve ever know. Whatever she touches turns to gold. My greatest influence came from my older cousin. I was eight years old when I first saw my amazing, talented cousin Shahid “Shah” Wonders creating art that I had never seen. He has always possessed an elite amount of what we today call “swag.” From his clothes and kicks all the way to his choice of music, I loved it all. His room was in the basement of my aunt’s apartment on Millicent Street in Buffalo, NY. Myself along with my other cousins knew that his room was off limits. Well, for whatever reason one day, I decided to sneak down and see what he was doing. I was only able to successfully achieve this because of the thumping hip-hop coming from his radio. I sat in amazement as I watched him drawing the most creative illustrations that I’d ever seen. Even his art possessed swag. I was hooked.
As time went on, he began to notice that I took a liking to art and he encouraged me to go all in and draw every day. Shah attended an art school, Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts where he majored in art. This school starts at 5th grade and goes all the way to 12th. It was a no-brainer as to what school I would attend when I moved up from 4th grade. I never for one minute considered or applied for another school. He went, so I was going. I auditioned during my 4th grade school year and the rest is history. I’d become a very skilled artist thanks to some amazing teachers at B.A.V.P.A. They took my God given talent and taught me the fundamentals of art.
Originally, I planned to get into some form of art after high school but, unfortunately, art didn’t seem like a career that would be rewarding financially so I decided to go into sales after high school. After close to ten years in sales, I decided that I had to find a way to do what I loved but in a way, so that I could support my family. So, I enrolled back into college and after two years I graduated with a degree in graphic design. This allows me to earn a living while also being creative. I still continue to draw and paint every day for the love of art in hopes that one day, I can share my work with the world and inspire people in the process. I do it all while thumping hip-hop from my Beats Pill.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I love all styles of art, realism, abstract, I just love to create. My favorite medium is black ink and my go-to tool would be my Rapidograph pen set. Things can get a little messy using these pens but the rich, black ink delivers beautiful illustrations on stark white paper or illustration board.
My mind is constantly creating and I’m consistently putting those thoughts on paper. I usually find myself illustrating people that I’ve seen throughout my day. I love to take mental pictures of people and then see how many I can accurately sketch. More recently, I’ve dived back into painting. I’m in love with the way it feels to put paint on a brush and applying it to a canvas to create beautiful images using life experiences, reference images or just your creative thoughts.
I’m pushing myself to find a way to combine my two favorite mediums to produce bold, colorful, exciting images. I want people to look at my work and feel visually satisfied as well as inspired to be creative or to do or produce something positive and exciting that’ll inspire someone else. A never-ending cycle.
Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
I think it’s an amazing time to be an artist. Social media connects you with people that in years past would have never been able to see your work. It’s exciting to see how many amazing artists are in the world. There’s a potential downside to that as well. I know some people start to compare themselves with other artists and are less likely to stick with art. The beautiful thing about God is that he created everyone to be themselves. I’m not supposed to draw like my cousin, I’m dope in my own right. His dope-ness encouraged me to discover my dope-ness. I’m new to Houston so it’s hard for me to answer that question. I’m from Buffalo, NY which is not a city like this. I’ve seen some pretty cool events that I’m looking forward to getting involved in. I’m sure I’ll have a better answer soon. Ha!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I currently have an online portfolio, www.workbycarl.squarespace.com. That’s where you’ll find my most up to date work. I also use Behance, www.behance.net/carlhunley299e and in Instagram https://www.instagram.com/workbycarl/. I also have an online t-shirt store on SpreadShirt.com. The link to my store is https://shop.spreadshirt.com/1145071/.
Contact Info:
- Address: 19327 N. Cottonwood Green Ln
- Website: https://workbycarl.squarespace.com/
- Phone: 716-348-8947
- Email: carl.hunley@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workbycarl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorkbyCarl/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarlHunleyJr
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chunleyjr/
Image Credit:
Carl Hunley Jr
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