Sit Down With Our #090 Featured Artist
KORP
Instagram / @korporate
Featured Artist / #105 ScrawlrBox
My name is Korp, I’m a full time artist and founder of the online Korp Academy. When I’m not teaching people how to draw with marker pens I can be found drawing and painting worms with eyes, arms and feathers.
Other than POSCA, what is your most used art supply?
My Artgecko sketchbooks! When they released the Freestyle sketchbook that was made for Posca it was a game changer, it was the first time I could draw in a sketchbook with Posca pens without pilling. Since then I’ve also fallen in love with the Classy sketchbook which I use for my fine liner drawings.
What is it about paint pens that make them so fun to use?
I always tell my students that the best thing about paint pens is that if you make a mistake it is easy to fix. This makes taking creative risks while drawing much more fun because you know that if it doesn’t work out you can paint straight over it. When your brain gets into that creative risk taking flow that’s when the magic happens.
Would you say your colour palette helps create the outcome to your illustrations?
To a certain extent, yes. One of the things I like about Posca pens is the limited palette and how well they all go together. This does mean I have “go to” colour combos that I like to use but I’m also very happy just to pick up a random fistful of pens and see what happens. On saying all of that the majority of my work is black and white on cardboard so it varies.
You have a growing community of budding artists in your Korp Academy - what made you want to start this up?
I love teaching people how to draw. I love unlocking the hidden talent that they thought was unachievable and seeing that confidence in their drawing flow into their day to day lives. Before that I also wanted to connect with my younger self. As a kid I could draw but had little artistic support around me to help me explore and grow as an artist so I ended up working an office job for 20 years before becoming a full time artist and I don’t want that path for anyone.
Do you have work that you are most proud of? What is it?
I think like most artists I always look at my work and see what I could have done better. I don’t think this is a bad thing as long as you channel that energy into becoming a better artist so I guess I’m most proud of the progress I make rather than a specific piece of art.
When was the moment you knew this is what you loved to do and it had to be the thing you do for a living?
There was about a 20 year gap between knowing what I loved to do and deciding to do it for a living. From around 9 years old I knew my ability to draw was better than those around me but it wasn’t until I got into my 30’s that I decided to put more effort into being creative as a living. That was brought about by realising I’d wasted my talent for too long. I often tell people that the sooner you start your creative journey the further down the path you’ll be hoping that they’ll learn from my mistakes.
What is your favourite part about running the Korp Academy?
The regular feedback I get from students who are living with mental health issues and how my style of tutorial helps them settle, focus and grow. I anticipated being able to get people drawing but the impact it has on their mental health surprised me. I like the fact that it links people all over the world. The Korp Academy WhatsApp group has adult students from Australia, New Zealand, England and Germany all having a conversation about artwork they created from the latest drawing tutorial. It’s also pretty cool to be able to teach whatever I want, some weeks the theme is drips so we draw snot and pizza. Some weeks the theme is horror so we draw heads being pulled apart or zombies. Some weeks we draw cute stuff but you can’t have it all.
What would be your dream project or client to work with?
When I first started out as an artist I made a decision to never do commissions or work for someone else unless I had total control over the artistic output so I don’t really think about who my dream client would be. I love working for myself and being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want.
What is the one thing that really went wrong for you, what did you learn from it?
I remember doing a Posca workshop on how to draw a fish and before the paint dried I accidentally swept my hand across the canvas and smudged paint everywhere. We were too deep into the workshop to start again so I got all the students to do the same and then showed them how to cover the smudge with loads of drips. In the end this fish looked like it was mid explosion but it was so much better than the original design (and I still teach the exploding fish today). From that I learnt a lot about having confidence in my own ability to think on my feet but it also got me teaching with Posca more and turning the ability to cover up mistakes into one of the key lessons in the Korp Academy.