January 14, 2025 |

Artist Interview with Jordan Rhodes

How and when did you get into art?

As long as I can remember, I have been drawing since childhood. My early inspirations were cartoons, comic books, and especially Spiderman. I remember tracing all of the original 150 Pokémon from a guidebook, and afterward I was able to draw them freehand. I also remember being amazed when my dad showed me that you could use your finger or a cotton ball to blend and smear graphite for a smooth gradient, which instantly made the cloud I was drawing look real. Throughout elementary and middle school, I would draw all the time, but eventually my interests shifted more towards sports in high school and college. Eventually my early passion for art would return during my time in graduate school as a way to relax and unwind and has been here to stay ever since.

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

My favorite piece of art made in 2024 was a fan art painting of the character Morpheus from the Matrix, in my Strathmore 400 Tan Mixed Media Art Journal. The painting was my take on the key moment of the film where the main character has to make a choice between remaining stuck in the artificial world of the Matrix or being exposed to the truth of that particular world. I had fun exploring a wider more cinematic composition that spanned across two pages of the sketchbook, and the hand is my favorite part of the illustration.

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

The art advice that I like to constantly remind myself of is to remember to have fun with whatever I am doing. In this age of social media, it can be easy to get attached to all of the external factors that come with sharing your art online, but at the heart of it you have to remember to make the art that you want to make. Likes and validation can certainly feel good in the moment, but it is fleeting and for me at least, it isn’t enough fuel on its own to want to keep making art. When I find myself struggling with art block, I like to switch up subject matter and materials just to keep things fresh and fun.

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)

A technique that I find really helpful, especially for drawing people quickly, is the idea of having a shorthand placeholder for certain features. Ideally it is a simple shape that is very quick to draw and communicates the position and perspective of that feature. For instance, when drawing a nose, I like to first quickly lay down a simple diamond shape to roughly estimate the size and placement of the nose, and then with a second pass actually detail the features of that specific nose.

What do you look for in a reference photo before creating a portrait?

My criterion for reference a photo typically is just that it looks cool or some aspect of it captures my eye. It could be as simple as an interesting shape of the ear or the silhouette of it in general. When using references, I like to have them zoomed out and small for most of the process because it allows me to focus more on the big shapes and leave some of the details up for interpretation. I found that to be a helpful way to not feel so constricted by the reference and free to add my own artistic touch.

What is your favorite Strathmore paper? Why?

My favorite Strathmore Paper is tied between the 400 Series Toned Tan Mixed Media paper and the 500 Series Mixed Media Art Journal. The Tan Mixed Media paper is a nice thick paper at 300gsm with a smooth surface, so it withstands wet media like gouache and acryla gouache quite well.

The 500 Series Mixed Media Art Journal is great because it is 100% cotton, so watercolor behaves quite nicely on it as well. I love sketchbooks/ art journal that I can sketch or paint in so the versatility of these two books makes them my favorite.

What’s the most common art-related question you get from your followers, and what’s the answer?

By far the most commonly asked art related question I get is related to my choice in underpainting color when painting portraits. In a lot of my timelapse videos I like to begin with a seemingly strange color like blue or green. The idea behind this actually comes from an old technique called verdaccio painting where a green base layer is used to compliment reds in skin tones. I take this same idea and just use blues as well when skin tones are more brownish/orange. Besides looking for complimentary colors as the base layer in a painting, I also like to just experiment with weird colors just to see what effect they may have on the final painting. With more opaque media such as gouache and acrylic goauche I am more explorative since they are more forgiving. But with a more transparent medium like watercolor, I still like to experiment, but it just has to be very dilute so as to not overpower the layers that will be painted on top of the base layer.

Jordan Rhodes is an artist based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. After graduating with a Ph.D. in chemistry in the midst of a global shutdown due to the pandemic in 2020, the opportunity to switch focus onto an art career arose. During his time in graduate school rediscovered his passion for art, and developed an online presence which has been instrumental in providing creative opportunities. Jordan’s work primarily focuses on portraiture, and he works mostly in traditional water-based media such as gouache and watercolor but loves digital tools as well. One of his goals is to help others realize that is never too late to pursue their artistic dreams, no matter where they come from or when they may have started.