Conversations with Steve Atkinson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Atkinson.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was lucky in that I knew what I wanted to do from an early age. I would grow up and be an artist. Ever since the drawing class that was offered by my elementary school in the Summer when I was 12 (probably created to keep us, school kids, out of trouble). It was along the creek in my hometown where I went to draw on location every morning for a month. I had my transistor radio, sketchbook, and some pencils. Sometime during that class, I realized this was what I wanted to do for a living and I never looked back. Fast forward through high school to university. I chose the college that offered traditional representational drawing/painting classes, instead of abstract painting. I worked 2 jobs and commuted from home to attend.

While there I took an illustration class and found that I had a talent for it and loved it, not to mention, illustration was easier to make a living at than fine art, so I became an illustrator. Once out of school I was hired to do storyboards and comps for an advertising agency in Cleveland, Ohio. Then I worked as an illustrator in an illustration house, back when they still existed. Eventually, I started freelancing and Steve Atkinson Studio was born.

The work was hard and the deadlines were short, but it taught me to work under deadlines and developed my professionalism. I did this for 25 years. Along the way I moved to Minnesota, got married, and my passion to paint was reignited. For 5 years, before I started my illustration day, I would get up and paint for 2-3 hours every morning.

On Saturdays, I went out on location and painted. I had a goal to work as hard as I could, learn as much as I could, take workshops and classes, and at the end of those 5 years win some awards and be represented in a national gallery. And wouldn’t you know, that’s just what happened!

But everything wasn’t in place yet. The problem was that I love the American cowboy and chose to paint western art.

But living in Minneapolis wasn’t the best place to do that, so we started looking for a home in Arizona that was centrally located, had good western history, and had a strong western art community. Prescott was perfect for us and our vision. We live in Williamson Valley Ranch, about 30 minutes northwest of downtown Prescott. Our gallery and studio are in our home, so the commute is pretty short, and no more rush hour! My sweet wife Ann is now my studio manager and does everything except sling paint. She is incredibly supportive and sacrificed much for this dream. She had her own thriving IT business in Minneapolis and was willing to leave it behind to allow me to live my dream and paint my passion. She also builds beautiful websites to help artists have a presence on the web.

I am represented by Trailside Gallery in Arizona, Illume West Gallery in Montana, and Texas Treasures Gallery in Texas. I truly believe that this is the best country in the world. That if you have a vision, work hard, and delay gratification, you can realize your dreams and do whatever you set your mind to. To see more of my work, please visit www.steveatkinsonstudio.com

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a pretty smooth road for me. But along the way, I did everything I could to smooth that road out. I worked hard to get better every day. Where I was deficient in my skills, I concentrated on making that area my strength. I try to sit down every night and draw, even when I don’t feel like it, because I know I’m in a very competitive profession.

If I don’t work hard, someone else who works harder or is more talented will come along and take my spot. When aspiring artists or my students, ask me how they can become full-time fine artists, I tell them that it’s an incredibly difficult way to make a living. They need to know that they’ll probably struggle financially, especially in the beginning. Do it only if you can’t imagine doing anything else and are willing to sacrifice certain things along the way. I was fortunate because I took the commercial artist/designer route to earn a living until I could get my skills to where they needed to be to make the transition to fine art oil painting.

Do that if you can. If you still live at home, make sure Mom and Dad know what your plans are and support you if you plan to live there for a while. If you’re married, they need to be on board with your plans and dreams. Being a fine artist is tough enough, but it’s doubly so if your spouse doesn’t share your vision. I was incredibly blessed in that my parents were enthusiastic (at least to me) about my taking the art path in college. I don’t come from a wealthy family and I worked while going to school and took out student loans to pay for university. My wife Ann has been my biggest supporter. I don’t know how artists who have spouses who don’t support them are able to do it, truly. It takes everyone in your life to smooth the road in front of you. But it will be completely worth it if, like me, you can’t imagine doing anything else!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As I mentioned earlier, I specialize in oil paintings and drawings of the American West with all the mystique and colorful history associated with it. I grew up loving western movies along with the music of the cowboy and never left it behind. So when I started painting I painted what I love… cowboys and Indians. Since I was an illustrator and many of my artist heroes were illustrators themselves, naturally I wanted to paint stories, well, the west has a never-ending supply of those. So my work focuses on all aspects of western life, from large to small. From something as simple as lighting the branding fire, to a party of cavalry soldiers with a Crow Indian guide tracking a band of Nez Perce Indians. I also love to paint the airplanes and trains that came along to open up the west to the masses and how that impacted Indians and cowboys alike. But I don’t just paint historical scenes. I also paint today’s cowboy and try to tell his story, since many ranches still do things much like they were done over a hundred forty years ago. Landscapes and wildlife of the Southwest are a favorite of mine, as I paint the light effects and mood of this stunningly beautiful place.

I believe one thing that sets me apart from other artists is my ability to paint commissions. I love when a collector comes to me with an idea for an image they have in their head and trust me to bring it to life on the canvas. From doing the research to gathering the reference and working on the composition to turn it into a work of art. To me, there’s nothing better and no bigger honor.

What were you like growing up?
I grew up outside of Youngstown, a blue-collar steel town in Eastern Ohio, and though it was a good place to grow up, I always knew I was going to move out West. I’ve had jobs for as long as I can remember. My parents gave me a strong work ethic and I don’t think I’ve had a job that I didn’t enjoy. But the play was important to me too. Fishing was a big part of my childhood, and I loved it. When I got old enough to bicycle there, I’d be hired by the owners of a lake close to my home to pick up branches that had fallen along the shoreline during the Winter.

In exchange, they’d give me a fishing pass for the entire season. Believe me, for a kid of 13, I was in hog heaven (or fish heaven). Drama club, art club, marching band, concert band, jazz band ( I played trumpet), it didn’t matter what kind of arts it was, I couldn’t get enough. I loved taking my sketchpad and going down along Yellow Creek and spending the day drawing what I saw. I wasn’t any good, but that didn’t matter… it instilled the love of drawing I have to this day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.steveatkinsonstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steveatkinsonstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steve.atkinson.902
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2S16YZu54MD6iwo5VqCIyw?view_as=subscriber