December 14, 2021 |

Artist Interview - Jason Morgan

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Jason Morgan I am a full-time professional nature artist and run a successful online art teaching community – Jason Morgan Patreon art community – www.patreon.com/wildlifeart

Why do you do what you do?

I have always loved art, although I never took it in school, but now as much as creating I also love to teach my techniques. It gives me a wonderful feeling to pass on my techniques to others so they can enjoy creating even more.

What’s your favorite piece of art that you’ve created? Why?

Elephant baby – has been my favourite drawing for a couple of years, as teaching takes up most of my time I don’t often get the opportunity to do something purely for myself. This particular drawing pushed my ability to its limit back then and I am very proud of it.

What’s the best piece of art advice you’ve been given?

I haven’t really been given much advice, but this is something I tell many would-be artists -

In the comments on my artwork posts quite a few people say something like “I wish I could draw or paint like you”, but my advice to artists that want to get better and maybe even become a full-time artists is this – DON’T rely on a wish to make your dreams come true – make a plan, and don’t let anything stand in your way, and most importantly practice and then practice some more.

What’s one art tip/technique you can share with us that you find really helpful? (can be any tip or technique, big or small)

In 99% of your drawings, it will be MUCH easier if you start by using mid-toned paper.

What is your favorite Strathmore paper? Why?

I love two equally, Artagain for my white on black drawings because I have NEVER found another paper that is as black as Artagain and Toned gray for everything else, working on a toned paper makes drawing the darks and highlights so much easier, it feels like the drawing almost completes itself.

What types of colors are you drawn to for your art and why?

As a predominantly wildlife-oriented artist, my colour palette normally consists of natural and subdued colours, although of course on occasions I get to delight in using some of the brightest possible colours too when I draw certain birds and insects.

Is there anything else that you'd like to share with our readers?

Sometimes as artists we can live in our own little studio world so it's nice to be able to share with you a little about myself and how I got into art etc.

Well, I kind of fell into being a professional artist, I never for one minute planned on being an artist, and in school, I never took art as a qualification (I didn’t like the art teacher telling me how to draw). It's not that I didn’t like art, as I had always drawn off and on, due to living with my craft-loving mother, I just never thought it was possible to make a living from it.

So how did I become a full-time artist?

Well I have always been interested in animals and it was MANY years ago that I saw some wildlife paintings by John Banovich, I was absolutely awe-stricken, I never knew paintings could look like that, we never get to see wildlife art on tv or rarely in major publications, so it was a big surprise to me that something could look so real, and looking back on it now I realize that those painting images got burned into my subconscious brain.

After that I just continued through my life as normal, (forgetting about the Banovich paintings), doing the occasional graphite sketch when I felt like it, maybe I would do a few one week, then go months doing nothing at all, I was working full time as a research and development technician in a factory so time was limited.

Then one morning Bob Ross came on TV and once again a lightbulb went off in my head. I, like many others, was captivated by his techniques and demeanor, he made it look so easy – I had to have a go. There was no way I could get my hair like his, but perhaps I could maybe paint half as good.

So, I bought all the supplies and set up my easel in our tiny front room, the smell was strong and it was getting messy as I “beat the devil” out of my brushes, but I was well and truly hooked. After a couple of months, I wanted to paint something other than mountains on big canvases and I decided I would try to paint the animals I loved.

But when I looked in the library and book shops (there was no internet buying WAY BACK then! I know I’m showing my age!) ALL the instruction was either very basic, or the artist would miss out so many steps that it was never possible to follow the instructions fully, they would basically go from a stick figure to finished painting in one jump! I’m sure you have seen books and videos like that too. So I started to photograph my trial and error as I attempted to teach myself, in our spare bedroom.

Well, it was at the same time that the internet was starting to take off SLOWLY, so I thought it would be cool to upload my step-by-step photos onto a website I built myself so others could learn from the mistakes and successes I was finding, plus the website also became a great resource for me to look back on to see what worked and how I did it.

I did that for probably a decade and even started to video some of my paintings (I only did oils back then). And many beginner and novice artists seemed to like my no-nonsense tutorials where I left nothing out and it got to a point where I had to make a decision, stay at the safe/easy money, mind-numbing, boring factory job or quit and take a massive chance for myself, wife and VERY young son, on being an artist. Well as most of you know I took the chance and went full time as an artist. It was the scariest thing I have ever done.

It was not easy at all, and a few things happened at the wrong time which made it touch and go for a while whether or not I would have to go back to a standard job again, but fortunately, things turned out alright in the end.

I didn’t try pastel pencils until much later, I think it was back in 2017 when I gave them a go because I was looking for a change from oils, doing a medium that I could just pick up and put down when I wanted without having to wash brushes etc. Coloured pencils were too time-intensive for the number of details I wanted to do and working negatively was just difficult to get my head around after 15 -20 years of painting with oils, but pastels just worked for me and were so intuitive, it was just like oil painting but with pencils. Once again I was hooked artistically.

There is nothing I enjoy more than sharing my techniques with others, I love to hear the wonderful stories of how art has helped people in so many ways, so if I can help them to enjoy art even more then that fills me with happiness and pride. So about 4 years ago I started an art channel where I could gather all these students together in one safe place where we could enjoy art and each other’s company together, my Patreon channel now has over 1,500 members.

So, as you can see I am VERY fortunate to be a full-time artist and have been for a good decade, but I don’t class myself as lucky. EVERYTHING I have achieved so far I have worked hard for and I have put in the time to get to the stage I am at now, it's all about making tiny little improvements, and building upon those and eventually, you can look back on you work and see a huge improvement.