Steve Vistaunet is an Art Director for a company in Lehi, Utah by day and does a number of creative projects by night. His banners currently hang in Provo promoting the summer Rooftop Concert Series, but his distinctive approach to hair and beards can be seen in murals around town and filling up his Instagram feed.

How did you become an artist? I grew up in Newport Beach, California. My parents were both music fans so I grew up listening to music and going to concerts. They were always very supportive of the arts and always encouraged my music and my art. The perfect day for me during my youth was to sit at my desk, play my favorite record, and draw. And to be honest, that is still my perfect day. Ha! My silkscreen class in high school made me realize I wanted to do art for a living. There is just something so amazing about printing your own art on a t-shirt and then wearing it around. I’ve always loved the do-it-yourself mindset.

How is the Provo art scene these days? Provo is the place to be! It is really fantastic here. There is a great art scene, loads of fantastic local bands, and creative people all around town. There is definitely a great creative vibe happening in Provo right now and it’s rather contagious. There is a wonderful monthly event called The Creative Collaborative on the second Tuesday of each month where someone in the creative field talks about their career, how they got there, what inspires them, etc. The presentations are great and it’s a perfect place to meet and network with other creatives after the presentation.

Who are some of the artists you work with? During the past year, a group of six local artists including Brian Kershisnik, Fidalis Buehler, Andrew Ballstaedt, Greg Caldwell, Jacob Haupt, and myself (how’s that for a bunch of last names) have done a couple of murals in local restaurants. It was great to be with other artists creating art together. Brian Kershisnik and I also play music together and we are currently recording our first CD of music which should be out in a couple of months.

What’s your next project? I am currently designing and illustrating the concert posters for the 2015 season of Downtown Provo’s Rooftop Concert Series. I am also creating a t-shirt for the next concert. My wife and I are working on a mural for a new building in downtown Provo, and also have a coloring book in the works! For the past several years my kid’s friends, and my friends for that matter, come over to our house and we have coloring nights and just color my drawings and the coloring sheets I would make, so I decided it was time to publish a coloring book.

Follow Steve Vistaunet on Instagram.

Brian Crane, creator of the Pickles comic strip, won the 2013 Reuben Award for ‘Cartoonist of the Year’ from the National Cartoonists Society. Previous winners include Charles Schulz, Garry Trudeau, and Bill Watterson. Crane was born in Twin Falls, Idaho; grew up in the San Francisco Bay area; and graduated from BYU in 1973. He worked for 17 years as an illustrator, designer, and art director before realizing his dream of creating a comic strip—and the strip has been running for 25 years. He lives in Sparks, Nevada with his wife, Diana and they have seven children and fourteen grandchildren.

Pickles features Earl and Opal Pickles who have been married for over 50 years. As his bio states, “Whether observing the differences between genders and generations or taking a wry but sympathetic look at life in the twilight years, Crane’s good-natured wit and dry humor are sure to please readers of all ages.” In 2013, Baobab Press published a Pickles collection entitled, “Oh Sure! Blame it on the Dog!”

You have said comic strip artists are the hardest working artists on earth. What is your daily routine? My daily routine is comprised of a lot of thinking and a little drawing. It is hard to tell that I am working sometimes, because the hardest part of my job is trying to come up with a funny or clever idea for a comic strip every single day of the week. Keeping the ideas fresh is a challenge. But I find it to be somewhat easier now that I am closer in age to the 70-something-year-olds that I am writing about. It has become a case of art imitating life I guess. After I finish writing and drawing a week of strips, which usually takes most of the week to do, I scan them and email them to my daughter Emily, who colors them with Photoshop for me.

You probably grew up with Pogo and Peanuts. Which comic strips really sparked your imagination? The first comic strip I remember reading and being inspired by was Li’l Abner, by Al Capp. Then came Pogo, by Walt Kelly and later on, Peanuts and B.C. They inspired me to want to be a comic strip artist when I grew up. But by the time I was in high school I had given up on that idea, mostly because I didn’t think I could come up with enough funny ideas for a week of comic strips, let alone months, years and even decades. It wasn’t until I was approaching 40 that I decided to finally give my childhood dream a try.

Images courtesy Brian Crane, BYU, and Deseret News.

Visit the Pickles website.

Brooke Smart is a talented Utah-based illustrator who creates, among her many projects, a fascinating collection of custom portraits of individuals, couples, and families. She has also completed the first two legs of the Mormon Triple Crown with her work in The New Era and The Friend.  As her website explains, “she spends her days gathering ideas for stories and her nights telling those stories with her pen and paintbrush.” She graduated in 2007 from BYU in illustration and is cousins with another talented artist, Hillary Henslee.

You do a lot of custom portraits in your distinctive style. My artistic career thus far has taken many turns. I’ve always loved to draw, and to draw people, in particular. Growing up, I was drawing and painting constantly. This led me to the illustration department at BYU, where I fell in love with fine artists and illustrators alike. Along with my illustration courses, I ended up taking figure drawing and head painting classes each semester. Portraits became my passion. There is so much to be said in the human face and form, and it’s an exciting challenge to capture each specific person in paint. After college, I studied with Jeffrey Hein and began my career as a fine artist. Since then, and with many moves around the country, I’ve done a lot of fine art, illustration, and design work, including many jobs designing patterned paper and craft supplies. These portraits are sort of a marriage of all that I’ve learned to love in my art. It combines my oil portraits and my illustrative style into one.

I think your backgrounds are sometimes more fun that the subjects of your paintings. I’d never thought of it that way. The patterns in my backgrounds are meant to enhance the portrait and tell a story about the person I’m painting. I have each of my subjects tell me about themselves before I paint them and I like to think that their face as well as the pattern I’ve made for them describes who they are. My goal with these portraits was to do something new and all my own. I like them to look formal, as traditional portraits do, but to also have personality and whimsy, with a touch of folk art, like my other illustration work does. I want them to tell a story, and I hope that is what the backgrounds are doing.

How would you describe Mormon art these days? Mormon art has definitely evolved over the years. It parallels the message that is being conveyed through the ‘I’m a Mormon’ campaign, which is that our points of view within in the church are varied, beautiful, and often unexpected. Like music, it’s a way to worship God. I am constantly in awe of many painters within the church and hope to be numbered among them someday.

What projects are you hoping to do next? I would love to do more published work, perhaps illustrate middle-grade novels. And after pulling out my oils recently, I’m excited to do a lot more fine art in the near future. The goal is always to create beautiful, meaningful work and I want to constantly continue with that goal in mind.

Visit Brooke Smart’s website.

Follow Brooke Smart on Instagram.