Q/A: Billie Michael

Posted by Sandra Schonenstein in Visual Arts

Billie Michael is a 17-year-old Studio Arts major from Pennsylvania. Her art combines sweet cinematic images with a gory twist.

Jackalope Magazine: Why are you studying art in Santa Fe?

Billie Michael: Because my mom moved here a couple of years ago when she met a guy here. I wanted to get out of the northeast because I lived there all my life and the southwest sounded very interesting, so and I tried schools in the area and this is close to where my mom lives.

JM: Do you like it here?

BM: Yes, I feel it has more character than the Northeast, like the deserts and all the adobe. In the Northeast, I was just in the suburbs with identical looking houses; it wasn’t really interesting.

JM: Why are you studying art?

BM: I’ve been drawing all my life; both of my parents are artists. My dad was a cartoonist so I just thought I had art in my life. When I was really little I just started drawing and my parents encouraged me to keep going.

JM: When did you start taking your art seriously?

BM: I stopped drawing for several years when I was around 13-15, those early teenage years. I was more into other stuff, like writing and journalism. I kind of forgot about art. But then, last year, I was an exchange student in France. The early months I had to go to high school classes in French and it was hard to understand. It was pretty boring and to kill time I would doodle in my notebook and I just started doing that more, that is when I started taking drawing seriously. Also, shortly after that I broke my ankle and I was confined to the house for a month and so I did art all the time.

JM: How did you feel at that time?

BM: It was such a stressful time; living with host families I sometimes had problems with. Drawing was something that helped me get through some of the harder times.

JM: Did you use your art as a way to deal with your problems?

BM: Yes, for example I was trying to make a comic book and I did this because I was trying to feel better about the hardships and embarrassments by doing something creative.

JM: Could you tell us more about your experience in France?

BM: I liked being assimilated into French culture and doing everyday things that a normal French teenager would do. I lived in this nice small town, Saint-Avold, and I could just walk around in the mornings and get a baguette or go to a café, it was all very beautiful too.

JM: Most of your art has a sweet feeling but at the same time it is very dark: Why is this?

BM: I just like that sort of juxtaposition; sickly sweet and cute with gory and scary. On the surface things can seem sweet, but if you go down deeper there is sort of a dark side. Plus I really like pink and stickers and sparkles.

JM: How would you describe your style?

BM: I like drawing portraits and cinematic scenes. I just like to think of scenes in my head. I would like to describe it as darker art.

JM: Do you create stories for the characters in your drawings?

BM: Yes, I usually do. I just like to do art that has a narrative feeling and in my head there is usually a story that goes with it.

JM: What artists inspire you?

BM: I like comic artists like Lynda Barry or Daniel Clowes, I also like old horror movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Shining. A lot of my art is horror inspired.

JM: What is the next level to which you want to take your art?

BM: I’ve never taken any actual art courses in the past, so I’m just more self-taught and I really don’t know a lot about perspective or anatomy. I want to know more about the technical side of art. I want to explore more mediums. I have no experience with paint, I mostly do drawing line work.

JM: Where do you see yourself in the future?

BM:  My aspiration is to do freelance art. Recently I illustrated a cover for a book. It was a book that a guy from my hometown in Pennsylvania was writing. I offered to do the cover and it just came out a few weeks ago. This was very cool; this is the sort of thing that I would like to do in the future.

More of Michael’s art can be found on her Tumblr account.