The Drew Milward Interview
I was sat waiting for Drew to reply, because anytime previously when I'd mailed him, his reply time had been second to non... However this time he just wasn't getting back. Impatiently I checked my sent box to recap on what questions I'd asked, wondering if I'd said something out of turn which could have explained his lack of reply... Surely i couldn't have, I had spent a lot of time over these questions... However when i actually looked back I found that I had never sent the questions, nor had I ever written them out... I had actually just dreamt that I had , and unfortunately it was ME who was in fact the ignorant one!
Sorry Drew... I really hope this doesn't start happening more in my life, It could cause a few problems.
Anyway, back to the reason why were all here... Ladies and Gents, here is one of my favorite artists, Mr Drew Milward...
PAUL:considering i already thought I'd sent you these questions in a dream a few days ago I'd like to ask you if you've ever dreamt about your work and woke up in a cold sweat around five am, feeling the need to start drawing??
DREW:Yeah, as a matter of fact, i have. It seems like a fucking blinding idea at the time, but you soon realise that the need for sleep is greater than the need to draw. It usually lasts aboutt 5-7 minutes and the following morning you are faced with incomprehensible scribbles, and more often than not, a wasted piece of paper.
How do your ideas come to you?
Sometimes in a flash of inspiration, others it's days of sitting around doodling and drinking coffee, others are inspired by things that have been over heard or misheard. It can pretty much come from anywhere, but mainly it's sitting down for stretches of time with a pen and paper, and eventually you stumble across something that is interesting enough to warrant carrying on with and getting to a finished stage.
Do you tend to be a perfectionist with your work, like do you find your self smashing your head into your art and screaming out load "who am i"?
I'm a perfectionist to a point. I think i spend a huge amount of time on a drawing, and eventually i sort of run out of patience with it, and get in a rush to get to the end.
Usually i find myself, naked as the day i was born, weeping onto a piece of paper, struggling to come to terms with my own mortality.
What kind of materials did you start out using and what kind of materials do you use now?
In my formative years i would favor crayola crayons. Later i progressed to pencils and felt tips, when they trusted me with sharp points and ink. I suppose i experimented with those solid blocks of poster paint around the age of 7-9, but ultimately they couldn't really deliver the accuracy and vibrancy i strived for. Now i use pencil (HB), Rotring Isograph Pens ?(mainly .50 and .35. Occasionally i will venture down to a .25) and Photoshop. Post Photoshop i usually screen print.
How much time do you spend on your computer?
Quite a lot. I like to read random articles on Wikipedia, and frankly when you are sat alone all day with no company, i can be somewhat of a lifeline in terms of being in contact with people. I have a lot of virtual friends.
I would say that i draw more than use the computer as i mainly draw everything out and layer it with tracing paper. I essentially use Photoshop as an assemblage tool and to add colour, but basically it's purely for ease. There really isn't anything i couldn't do by hand that i do on the computer.... I'm old fashioned like that.
How much paid work do you get and how much "fuck it I'll do it for free" work do you do?
Since i work for myself, and I'm lucky enough for this to be my 'job' I'm really less and less in a position to do work for free. I'd like to, but i need to keep food on the table and pay bills... you know, all the really boring stuff that detracts from fun.
I really try and work as much as i can on a sliding scale to make myself affordable to everyone. It allows me to charge less for projects I'm keen to do for smaller clients, while hopefully getting in slightly higher paid projects along the way.
It's not easy.
You use a lot of animals and monsters in your work, do you have pets yourself?
No. I'm allergic to practically every animal i have ever come into contact with. I really want a dog... but alas, it's not to be.
What's the deal with white fang? hows it all going?
Ethan Hawke was the shit in that movie!
Although I'm assuming you are referring to my the band in which i play. And yet another animal connection....
We haven't been together that long. We have all been friends for a long time, i think we just needed something to keep us off the streets. Essentially the formation was spurred on by that fact that Ian's Dad bought him a massive Marshall amp, and to save it from just gathering dust, we all went out an bought expensive musical equipment to augment the sound. That's friendship!
We had been talking about doing it for a while, but i didn't think it would really happen, but it did. I hadn't played drums for about ten years, so it was a pretty steep learning curve. But we play slow and heavy enough for me to keep up.
How much does music and art bleed into your personal life? does it all blend into one or do you keep them separate?
They are very much related. To be honest i can't really separate them.
If it weren't for music, i certainly wouldn't be making art. I started drawing to make posters for shows we were putting on in Leeds. That was about four years or so ago, and from there people saw my work and i started getting some small commission jobs here and there. Shortly after that i realised that that is what i wanted to do with my life, so i rather foolishly packed in my office job and started drawing. That was about three years ago, and i've never looked back.
do you drink, because i've found 'under the influence' really plays a huge part in the outcome of a painting? any drunken nights and then waking up to a huge canvas of weird shit?
I do enjoy the booze. Perhaps a little too much. I never do any work when I'm sauced up though. It just goes badly. And I'm lazy.
any last words, something prolific perhaps?
No, not really. I'm not that witty via email.
Click Here To See Drews website