10 QUESTIONS WITH MIAMI KAOS
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Searching For Chet Baker: How did you get started doing graphics?
Miami Kaos: I was always an artist, but I wanted to learn Graphic Design to enhance my drawings.
SFCB: Who were your influences when you were first starting out?
MK: Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Tim O'Brien, Takeshi Okazaki and Vaughn Bode.
SFCB: You have a fairly unique style that when people see it they can almost always say "that's a Miami Kaos" piece. At what point did you decide that that was the type of style you were going for?
MK: Around the time that I was doing airbrush T-shirts, I had a lot of orders for portraits. So I started learning to draw more realistic, because I wanted my art to look as real as possible. Since I very seldom draw the exact reference pictures that I may look at, I felt that if I was creating a scene, I wanted it to look as real as possible.
SFCB: Being that you are an in demand artist, I can imagine that there are many people who might think that they can't afford a Miami Kaos original cover. Just for the record here, what is your pricing?
MK: My pricing varies depending on what it is. 90% of the clients never tell me what they want upfront. I do photo covers as well, and while they are not as strong as my paintings there are still a lot of orders for them. However most people will not say what they are looking for. I mostly get "how much is a cover?" So I don't know if it's a photo, a cartoon, 1 sided, 2 sided, 4 panels, etc. The easiest and least inexpensive work I do are hip hop CDs, where the DJ's just give me a track list and do whatever I see fit.
SFCB: I understand that you are a spiritual personal. Seeing as how you work in a field that sometimes require you to depict images of a violent and/or sexual nature, How do you balance your religious beliefs with your job?
MK: By first knowing that it's a job and not always my direct beliefs. The funny thing about this are people who know my spirituality,and when they comment on things like some of my more explicit work, it's like they feel I should know better. However I look at it like, what about yourself then? Do you hold me to a higher standard than yourself?
Secondly, it's my platform to actually give God praise. When I worked as an office clerk, were people all over the world contacting me to tell me they love how I file records? No, but the work I do now allows me to give my God praise for my talent to the people all over the world, who contacts me, or when accepting any award I may win.
SFCB: What is your opinion on the state of the mixtape game as it pertains to the mixtape covers. It seems that a lot of these covers depend on the same basic ingredients.
MK: Most covers now do not seem so much to be about the actual people anymore. It's become all about the accessories around the cover. For example,if it's a Gucci Mane CD and you have a penguin with his chains on and an igloo, the kids all go crazy for it. To me, the golden era of design was when it was Paperwork, NOJO, PDA and I. We all had different styles that stood out. Now I see dudes who are proud to bite and the fact that there's like four dudes whose work all look exactly the same, and others who aspire to be numbers five and six.
SFCB: I can imagine that you have had some horror stories dealing with artists when it comes to what they want you to do. Anything you can share?
MK: Well, that was the basis for me doing the "Diary of a Mad Artist". I stopped chronicling these stories because it started to look like I was picking on DJ's. All I can say, though, is that there is a lot of people calling themselves "CEO" and "Businessmen" that need social skills training. Some dudes are just weird. Some people just believe that the more ignorant they sound, the cooler they are, I guess.
Miami Kaos: I was always an artist, but I wanted to learn Graphic Design to enhance my drawings.
SFCB: Who were your influences when you were first starting out?
MK: Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Tim O'Brien, Takeshi Okazaki and Vaughn Bode.
SFCB: You have a fairly unique style that when people see it they can almost always say "that's a Miami Kaos" piece. At what point did you decide that that was the type of style you were going for?
MK: Around the time that I was doing airbrush T-shirts, I had a lot of orders for portraits. So I started learning to draw more realistic, because I wanted my art to look as real as possible. Since I very seldom draw the exact reference pictures that I may look at, I felt that if I was creating a scene, I wanted it to look as real as possible.
SFCB: Being that you are an in demand artist, I can imagine that there are many people who might think that they can't afford a Miami Kaos original cover. Just for the record here, what is your pricing?
MK: My pricing varies depending on what it is. 90% of the clients never tell me what they want upfront. I do photo covers as well, and while they are not as strong as my paintings there are still a lot of orders for them. However most people will not say what they are looking for. I mostly get "how much is a cover?" So I don't know if it's a photo, a cartoon, 1 sided, 2 sided, 4 panels, etc. The easiest and least inexpensive work I do are hip hop CDs, where the DJ's just give me a track list and do whatever I see fit.
SFCB: I understand that you are a spiritual personal. Seeing as how you work in a field that sometimes require you to depict images of a violent and/or sexual nature, How do you balance your religious beliefs with your job?
MK: By first knowing that it's a job and not always my direct beliefs. The funny thing about this are people who know my spirituality,and when they comment on things like some of my more explicit work, it's like they feel I should know better. However I look at it like, what about yourself then? Do you hold me to a higher standard than yourself?
Secondly, it's my platform to actually give God praise. When I worked as an office clerk, were people all over the world contacting me to tell me they love how I file records? No, but the work I do now allows me to give my God praise for my talent to the people all over the world, who contacts me, or when accepting any award I may win.
SFCB: What is your opinion on the state of the mixtape game as it pertains to the mixtape covers. It seems that a lot of these covers depend on the same basic ingredients.
MK: Most covers now do not seem so much to be about the actual people anymore. It's become all about the accessories around the cover. For example,if it's a Gucci Mane CD and you have a penguin with his chains on and an igloo, the kids all go crazy for it. To me, the golden era of design was when it was Paperwork, NOJO, PDA and I. We all had different styles that stood out. Now I see dudes who are proud to bite and the fact that there's like four dudes whose work all look exactly the same, and others who aspire to be numbers five and six.
SFCB: I can imagine that you have had some horror stories dealing with artists when it comes to what they want you to do. Anything you can share?
MK: Well, that was the basis for me doing the "Diary of a Mad Artist". I stopped chronicling these stories because it started to look like I was picking on DJ's. All I can say, though, is that there is a lot of people calling themselves "CEO" and "Businessmen" that need social skills training. Some dudes are just weird. Some people just believe that the more ignorant they sound, the cooler they are, I guess.
SFCB: What advice would you have for the up and coming graphic artist?
MK: Stay off of Graphic forums and don't bite someone else's style
SFCB: Being an artist, who were your favorite non-graphic artists?
MK: Greg Horn, Alex Ross, Frank Miller, Jim Steranko, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, All visionaries with different styles and influences.
SFCB: Where do you see yourself headed in the year 2009 and beyond? Aside from mixtape game, what projects do you have planned?
MK: Nothing that I can directly speak of, except to try to do more for the Kingdom, as well as be a better Miami-Kaos this year.
SFCB: Thank you for your time, Miami, and best of luck to you.
MK: Stay off of Graphic forums and don't bite someone else's style
SFCB: Being an artist, who were your favorite non-graphic artists?
MK: Greg Horn, Alex Ross, Frank Miller, Jim Steranko, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, All visionaries with different styles and influences.
SFCB: Where do you see yourself headed in the year 2009 and beyond? Aside from mixtape game, what projects do you have planned?
MK: Nothing that I can directly speak of, except to try to do more for the Kingdom, as well as be a better Miami-Kaos this year.
SFCB: Thank you for your time, Miami, and best of luck to you.
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