Lighting the Creative Spark

When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was be an artist. Well, not BE and artist. I just always knew I could draw and I enjoyed it. After I graduated college I felt a little spent with creating art. I had my degree in graphic design and I was now embarking on my career as a graphic designer. And for nearly 10 years... I shelved my fine art pursuits. I was burnt out on creating art for other people, which is what I did the last 2.5 years of college. I also didn't feel like I had a voice. Actually, I felt a lack of personal voice in my art for most of my life. I could replicate something and could draw pretty pictures but there just wasn't any of ME behind it. Then, after getting back to reading recreationally, I found that I was very interested in writing. Mostly fiction, free verse, poems, etc. I actually wrote a novel which I completed in 4 months, entitled October. It was never fully revised due to losing my focus in the revisional process. Then, once again life got very complicated and closed the door on my creative outlet, once again. I'd piddle around but for the most part, I was not writing or creating visual art. I was busy living and experiencing I guess. Then, I moved to Gainesville, Florida... and all of that changed.

Within a few months of living in Gainesville, I found myself very much out of sorts. I missed my old Orlando haunts and friends. Gainesville quickly proved to lack what I felt I fundamentally needed. And, I was very bored. I had my lady and my cat and a few add on friends... but felt my ability to connect with people (which I pride myself on) was somehow disarmed. I really felt myself going through a major metamorphosis. Forced to adapt and change many things about my life. It was a very unsure, turbulent time for me in many avenues of my life. And with the boredom and lack of place... came the birth of MY art.

I believe that the single major factor in my art finally coming out and being produced was when I got a sketchbook. I began writing in my sketchbook mostly at first. Talked about the shit I was going through and generally vented. I felt like noone really understood where I was coming from. Many of my friends felt like I just missed Orlando and couldn't adapt to Gainesville. There were a lot of factors involved in my unhappiness so I needed something to hold myself together. Something to make me feel like ME. Art was what I needed.

Within the 1st year of getting my first sketchbook, I had produced various drawings and created my first 2 major art pieces; Bliss and Captive Pleasure. They were shown in two art shows that first year and I learned a lot from those experiences. I felt like I was finally back on track for being who I felt I truly was meant to become. Kris Bristol - ARTIST! It was a title and personality designation I felt fit me the best.

In my second year of creation, I showed Bliss at another art show and had a very good response which almost led to me selling my very first art piece. When that deal fell through, I was a little bitter but it became my motivation to produce more and to push my art even further. This led me to produce my next two pieces; Calor and Primp, which are scheduled for their first exhibition in mid-February.

Also, in my second year... I found a platform that I felt fit what I wanted to share with the world. The graphic novel. This mixes my story telling and illustration, allowing me to share what all of the stories inside me in a visually appealing way. Ironically, when I first got back into making art again... I choose to tackle the two things I felt I had never mastered but had always been intrigued by. Pen and Ink & drawing the human female form. Two things that involved a high level or delicacy and restraint. Having always been a very gestural, fast paced illustrator, I knew I had to pull back and dig deep to grasp my new medium. I dove in with both feet and practiced until I got it right. I could see my improvement as the months went by and everything just seemed to take on a mind of it's own, almost in a serendipitous way.

After deciding to make graphic novels, I began my first graphic epic, the Home Film series. I started developing the 1st of 7 novels which combined made one seven-part series. Also, along the way I too a break to produce something for the Art House - Sketchbook Project. I decided to create a new graphic story for this book, which when finished showed a full story illustrated in rough form. It was my 1st completed graphic novel and it helped me learn about what I would need to do when I began illustrating the Home Film series.

All along... I have made it my mission to maintain my own ideals when producing MY art. I explored myself and the message I wanted to covey taking all of the skills I acquired in my day job as Art Director to produce a legitimate professional graphic novel, 100 percent independently. I felt that it was time to begin work on my personal legacy. To take my tools, hash out what was inside my head and finally see the concept of NOVEL, before me in a visual form. Anticipation of the end product is what continues to drive me forward.

I have also continued to develop my t-shirt design illustrations. I've research screen printing and ways which I can make shirt myself. Many amazing little gifts have been revealed to me along the way. Each step I make in my art career, I feel my confidence grow, my path clearer revealed and my creative fulfillment satisfied. The journey continues.