Pencil Artist of the Week: Mark Keller

Pencil Artist of the Week: Mark Keller

This week’s pencil artist is actually much more than just that. His name is Mark Keller, and he is a musician, songwriter, producer, painter, filmmaker, drawer and teacher. And that’s just scratching the surface.

As a boy in Oklahoma, Mark developed a passion for music. He took this passion into his adult life, playing in a number of bands and eventually making his way into the advertising industry as a jingle writer. Some of the most memorable commercials from the past 25 years, including the CLIO Award winning “California Raisins – Lunchbox” commercial, had their scores written by Mark.

After breaking into the advertising industry, he went on to become a producer, but his love of music did not stop at jingle writing. Recently, Mark Keller opened Loudville, a video and audio recording studio where artists can record and stream live performances to the Internet. Mark has dedicated his life to music, and this passion can be seen in his other forms of creative expression as well.

In addition to playing music, Mark is also a very accomplished painter and all around artist. He calls his paintings “Music on Canvas,” and it’s not hard to see why. Each painting features people either playing music or being affected by music in some way. The same can also be said of his drawings and studies; every piece is concerned with music in one way or another. For Mark, “Music is an endless reservoir of inspiration,” and it is a reservoir he taps into time and time again.

When creating a painting or a study, Mark starts with an idea and, from this idea, creates a scene. He imagines the subjects in these scenes as characters in a story, and uses his reference files to craft these characters (he also routinely shoots new references for his pieces with his wife, fellow artist and photographer Barbara Keller). Once the story has been developed and the characters have been established, Mark moves on to the next step in his creative process: translating the ideas into images.

Now, I know what you must be thinking: “I thought we were supposed to be looking at a pencil artist?” Well, Mark is a pencil artist in every sense of the title. While describing his creative process, Mark stated, “Every piece I do – every oil painting, every study – starts with a pencil drawing.” Only once the pencil drawing has been completed can Mark move on to creating the finished study or painting. Not only does every piece Mark creates start with a pencil drawing, however. Every piece also starts with a Palomino Blackwing.

When describing the types of pencils he uses for his pencil drawings, Mark said, “I’ve used all kinds of pencils over the years, but since discovering the Blackwing, I seldom use anything else.” And the product couldn’t be more impressive. Mark’s pencil drawings are not only characterized by the presence of music, but also by Mark’s use of texture. Mark uses the graphite medium’s unique ability to transfer the texture of the surface he is working with onto the surface of the paper. The result is an extra layer of depth that adds to the characters and the story being told.

Mark’s pencil drawings are the work of a true pencil artist. While not music on canvas, they are definitely music on paper.

Mark was invited to participate in the Sausalito Art Festival on Saturday, September 3^rd through September 5^th in Sausalito, CA. If you are in the area and want to check him out there, he will be in booth 410. More information on the Sausalito Art Festival can be found here.

What do you think Studio 602 readers? Let us know in the comments section below!