Meet Sidney Howard

From massive murals, intimate sketchbooks, and charming blankets Sidney Howard carries their fantastic whimisical style through all their work. In addition to being a terrific artist, they also make some wicked playlists. Catch up with Sidney in our latest interview below.

TV VIEWING TIPS A: a Mad-lib by, Sidney Howard

"Everybody Loves DEAN": Tonight we learn what happens to a GROOVY husband when he forgets it's his anniversary and invites his buddies over to the house for an all night poker ICECREAM.

"Monday Night THROAT Ball": The New York TODDLERS play the St. Louis MODELS in a game that will decide who goes to the BLOODY Bowl.

"60 RED-HEADS": Investigates the GREASY practice of laundering counterfeit RATS through SPARKLY banks in the ARTURO Islands.

State of the DIAPER Speech: The President is scheduled to deliver his DELICIOUS address before a HAIRY session of Congress, telecast from the House of SCIENTISTS.

Would You Rather

be able to smell the future or hear into the past? Please explain why.

I would definitely rather smell the future. It’s never good to focus on the past.

Some questions with Sidney Howard

Your Instagram features many illustrations while they’re still in your sketchbook. Is that the place where all of them begin or is the sketchbook more like a testing ground for ideas?

I’d say more of a testing ground. Sometimes my sketchbook drawing translates directly to a finished drawing. Other times it changes a lot between the sketchbook and final or I start on my ipad and my sketchbook isn’t involved at all. This is because I get in moods where I’m sick of digital drawing and need that analog experience and other times I get impatient and want to draw digitally right away (the undo feature is very alluring). What keeps me in this constant limbo is the perfectionism in the digital - it’s easy to keep undoing - there’s something special that happens on paper, I challenge myself to keep going, to make something from my “mistakes”.

What was the best piece of advice you ever received?

I don’t remember where I heard or read this but the best advice I’ve taken to heart recently is don’t compare yourself to others - compare yourself to your old work, be inspired by your past work. Look at work you’ve made recently that you think is successful and be inspired by that and keep working to improve upon that. It’s really easy to compare yourself to others constantly (thx Instagram) but it’s way healthier and beneficial to build on your own strengths and successes.

Can you remember the last time you spilled something? What happened?

I spilled coffee on my seat in the car. I wiped some up with my hand and the rest with a cleaning wipe later on. I’m always spilling coffee because I’m tired while drinking it and I want it in my body ASAP - I’m very impatient - something I’m working on it! 

Can your creative process be broken down into a mathematical formula?

Definitely not. Like I said before my process is not set in stone. Sometimes it starts in my sketchbook, sometimes it starts on iPad. Sometimes I create a mood board first, other times I just go for it. The most concrete thing I’m trying to stick with is surrounding myself with past work I’ve done that I am excited about. I took a pretty mediocre painting class at my local art center in high school and this was my only take away from my teacher - surround yourself with your work while making new work - it’s something I still think about 10 years later. 

What is the all-time best toy from your childhood? Why?

A magnetic drawing board. Making drawings that were always going to be erased was a great way to learn not to be too precious and to make lots of work from a young age!  

Your murals have been super-sized to murals, woven into rugs, and explained the CBD craze on the internet. What have you learned by translating your work between these different forms?

I try to stay consistent with my style while also thinking about how people will interact with each medium differently and catering to that. For example, when designing a rug it’s best to stay away from huge amounts of bright or light colors, because it’s something people will walk over and it will get really dirty fast if you don’t use a darker color for the majority of the design. 

Your website dedicates a link to your Spotify playlists. Does music play a role in your work?

Definitely. Music is very important to me. I’m always thinking of ways I can be inspired by and incorporate my love of music into my work. I draw a wiggly cloud shape a lot which was inspired by the clouds coming out of the subway on The Velvet Underground Loaded album cover. To me it can be morphed to mean many things - simply clouds or smoke or more abstractly - an essence of mystery or intrigue. Something I’m working towards is translating how some of my favorite songs make me feel into visual art.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Someone hire me to do more murals! I’m really itching to do an outdoor one so more people can interact with my art (preferably in a warm climate ;).

Also I just put up a new playlist for anyone who wants to have a listen: Playlist here