Today we’d like to introduce you to William Freeman.
William, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve always been interested in making artwork. When I was a kid I would sit in my room for hours on end drawing the characters I loved from comics and listening to music while creating album related pictures. When I was in high school back in the dial-up days I got my hands on a copy of Adobe Photoshop and immediately fell in love with creating digital art. As I got a bit older I also found a real passion for photography and videography. Around that same time, I started to take an interest in the way people would create art by customizing vehicles.
This eventually led to my best friends and I starting a video/photo/art production company that was directly focused on the custom automotive world. We traveled the country meeting wild varieties of car and truck enthusiasts, documenting their projects and always putting a large focus on creating enjoyable original content. We had a unique style and our teamwork helped each of us create a product that was always a step out of the box for its time. More recently we have all been trying to find our own personal niches while still keeping the spirit of the team in our individual projects.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’ve always enjoyed mixing up the mediums I’m working in. Sometimes it’s drawing, sometimes it’s painting, sometimes it’s digital. I’ve never really fallen into one specific style, but the times I am happiest with what I’m creating are when I’m behind the lens of a camera and again when I’m sitting down to edit and enhance those images. I find it deeply relaxing spending hours in Adobe Lightroom fine tuning an image. I try to give a fresh feel to every image I work on and I try to let each image lead me to a feeling that is specific to that individual capture and I hope that comes across when people look at my work. The majority of my subjects are automotive related, but I enjoy shooting anything that catches my eye including nature, street art or people.
More recently I have taken to creating digital watercolor styled edits of my photography. These edits let me put an even more centralized focus on the subject and add some really great splashes of color and texture that I hope draws the viewer in. I’ve always had a soft spot for watercolors and when I look at these edits I immediately want to frame them and put them up on my walls. I really hope other people will look at them and have the urge to do the same for their home, office or wherever they have a blank space that could use some original art. I take a lot of pride in knowing that these pieces were made from my own photos so it really feels like me from start to finish.
I take my inspiration from the hard work of others who create automotive masterpieces and I hope my art can be an inspiration to future generations of car art lovers as well. My son is a toddler and he enjoys decorating his room with all types of pictures including pictures of cars and trucks. The thought of my art hanging on the walls for those who are young as well as young at heart is really enjoyable.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
My biggest piece of advice is to take inspiration from the amazing work of other artists, but don’t let their work stop you from creating for yourself. I have spent most of my life comparing my personal artwork to others and I have probably held myself back by thinking “Wow, I could never create something that good.” or “Man, if I only had the tools or equipment that person has.” far too many times. If you enjoy the work you’re creating and take pride in how you make it that will show through in your projects. Art is subjective so don’t subject yourself to any unwarranted personal criticism. Just make art that makes you happy with the tools at your disposal.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I recently launched a new website/webstore that was a lot of fun to make as well. It is mainly focused on the new watercolor prints I have been making. I try to keep the store updated often and I also plan to add a blog section soon that will cover my art as well as my travels and anything else I think people may find enjoyable to read and see. You can check it out at www.surfacewillfreeman.com
I also try to stay really active on my Instagram where you can see my newest art including personal commissions that don’t make it to the webstore as well as my most current photography. My handle is @surfacewill. https://www.instagram.com/surfacewill
Contact Info:
- Website: www.surfacewillfreeman.com
- Email: info@surfacewillfreeman,com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/surfacewill/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/surfacedvd/
Image Credit:
William Freeman (All My Personal Images).
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