An Interview with Mike Fudge by Kidrobot Boulder

Mike Fudge is one of those toy customizers who captivates your attention immediately. Existing within each piece is craft, artistry and certain mystical elements that are not only seen but felt. KR Boulder recently sat down with Fudge for an exclusive interveiw. Read on to get to know this incredible artist rising above and beyond up and coming status.

KRBLDR: Your work seems to emits an emotional experience for the viewer. For me, the experience is like a wave of beautiful melancholy. Can you elaborate more on what that feeling is (for you)/what you wish for the viewer?

MF: In most cases I want the feeling my art gives to have more than one definitive answer. I hope to make artwork thats able to morph with the viewer. There are pieces that I make that I do want to convey a particular emotion. For myself It became a challenge to me to say what is happening in my artwork through things like color and lines. Is the over all feeling sad, angry, indifferent ? Those are the questions I ask myself while painting or drawing. Its all an attempt to make art that best represents the world that is in my mind.

KRBLDR: Your lines and color pallet are SO clean! I remember you mentioned once customizing a paintbrush for a micro…. Can you talk about your technique?

MF: When it comes to the color pallet its an easy explanation. For the most part the colors I use are the colors I want to see and surround myself with. They are or appear to be earth tones but I do what I can to make them stand out. It isn’t my goal to have them stand out because of color alone. I want to be more subtle than that and also not have the pieces go completely unnoticed. On the subject of lines I would say through all my artwork this is the most important part for me. Im obsessed with clean lines and tools that assist in making them. In my drawings it is my goal to make them look questionable whether they were created by hand or digitally made. There is only a couple tricks to the technique. One being long time practice and the other and harder part …patience. Making those lines takes me so long and my process does not allow for me to turn a piece of any kind of artwork that I do on a ultra fast deadline. Its very easy to customize a brush for yourself and your needs at the time. A lot of time I change or customize the brush many times before it is unusable. That happened because I couldn’t always access every brush type. At this point manufacturers make more brush types and sizes than you can think of but its so fast and easy to make what you have work just by cutting the bristles to your preference.

KRBLDR: What does a day at the studio look like?

MF: A day in the studio usually begins with a massive dose of caffeine, some pacing, and responding to as many emails as possible before I start warming up to paint etc… I try to get some music going as I jump from project to project. Most days I work on many different things in the same day unless Im juggling deadlines. I work late most of the time and usually get a creative boost sometime around 11 pm or so that keeps me up through the night. Im there almost all day everyday. Its my favorite place to be because all my tools and supplies are there so when a bit of inspiration comes Im able to act on it.