Posts Tagged ‘grant hanna’
Meet the F&F lead designer Grant Hanna
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Every business is composed of many cooperative, moving parts. It’s a balance of weighing one’s strengths and weaknesses, creating ways to fill deficits without compromising one’s objectives. Doing something you are passionate about, with people you believe in. Those relationships are NOT often easily found. It is in that spirit that we would like to introduce you to our lead designer, head of creative, branding expert extraordinaire….Grant Hanna.
Approx 3 years ago when we (Jason and Jim) began hashing out the idea for Faith & Fortune, we were presented with one MAJOR issue; we have zero graphic design background. This was a slight problem which needed addressing. Enter Grant.
A world class guy and a supreme talent, we knew immediately that we had the potential for a special relationship. One look at Grant’s range of work will attest to the fact that this is one, incredibly well rounded artist who takes great pride in his projects.
We feel blessed to have come to know Grant not only as an artist, but as a person.
1) For the record, your name and where you are currently at school and what your area of concentration is there?
I’m Grant Hanna, Faith+Fortune’s featured shirt design artist. I got my undergrad degree in sculpture and graphic design at Gordon College in Wenham, MA, and then spent three years working as a web editor before I moved on to grad school. Currently I’m an Illustration MFA candidate at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia.
2) Why are you an artist, and how did you first decide that art was your path in life?
I think there are a lot of different answers I could give to this one, but the most basic is that I love to draw. The feel of moving my pencil across the page, and controlling and finessing the line until it creates something new and perfectly formed, is very powerful. I have a big imagination and getting stuff out of my head and onto the page is really exciting for me.
3) How would you describe your style?
A lot of people have described my style as very Asian influenced, which makes sense as I grew up overseas in Thailand, a country with a very rich visual tradition and a pervasive cultural sense of design that flavors every aspect of life there. Other influences are Art Nouveau and anime. I guess the broadest thing you could say about my style is that I find delight in the details.
4) What artists have influenced you, and why?
Probably the first artist who influenced me was Beatrix Potter. My mother used to read us Beatrix Potter books all the time, and if you smell my personal work, the scent of small furry animals living in the British countryside is one of the basenotes. Probably the first artist that I looked at consciously as an art-maker to emulate was Alphonse Mucha, the father of the Art Nouveau movement in the late 1800s. Nowadays the two artists that I think about most are probably the Japanese painters Hokusai (the greatest designer who ever lived? maybe?) and Takashi Murakami, whose contemporary works deal with Japanese pop culture and global greed.
5)How does fashion related design differ from more “traditional” artwork? What challenges are presented here?
One of the biggest differences is that my fashion designs are for a wide audience and are 100% commercial in purpose. Yes, I do things that I think are beautiful, and try to weave meaning into the designs, but ultimately these images have to have a broad enough appeal to sell to a varied audience. Of course I hope that my personal work will sell too, but I make it for me and then hope that someone will like what I did enough to buy it. With apparel design you have to be aware of trends in color and imagery, and of how the design will interact with the body that wears the final apparel. Unlike a painting that hangs on a flat wall, these designs are draping and moving with human bodies, and you have to take that into account when you design, especially here at F+F where we’re rebelling a bit against the ‘design in the center of the chest’ norm of the t shirt.
Grackle from the series "Ex Nihilo"
6)What other interests do you have (besides art)?
Cooking! I love cooking and eating with friends. Cooking and then eating a meal with people you love is one of the greatest things there is in life. I also dabble in songwriting, but most people don’t hear those.
7) How have you handled the business side of being an artist?
The most important thing for me is to never be afraid to ask questions. I would say that most of the clients I’ve had have never worked with an artist before, and are happy to have as many questions and details hammered out as possible before they seal the deal. You might feel awkward talking about money, legal rights to your work and other “business” matters at first, but it’s way less awkward than having to do it afterwards if you or your client feels that something has been unfair. Also, get yourself a copy of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines, put out by the Graphic Artists Guild. It covers everything.
8)What advice would you give to artists just starting out?
Buy art books – they can be expensive but they are totally worth it – and study the art of people who inspire you. Hang out with other artists. Talk about your work and their work. Draw or paint or whatever you do EVERY DAY. Art is a discipline and it cannot grow without community and hard work. Sometimes art will not be fun. Do it anyway. Gummy bears will help. Your art does not exist in a vacuum; it is part of a conversation going on with your peers and with those who have gone before you. The richest art comes from internalizing this conversation and using it to feed and build your own skills and ideas.
You can see more of Grant’s work by visiting his website
Tags: artist, faith and fortune, grant hanna, interview
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