Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Brunner.
Hi Zach, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a New York transplant currently working full-time as an illustrator for an entertainment advertising agency. I began working as a freelance artist twelve years ago in storyboards, comics, and concept art. In my free time, I have been using my personal art as a way to explore my queerness and sexuality. I’ve been chronicling my art journey on my Instagram account Zachary is Wackary, for the past eight years or so.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a fairly smooth road, albeit a slow one. My personal career as a queer illustrator has always taken a back seat to my professional work (gotta pay the bills somehow). Only within the last year did I set up my own online store to sell prints of my personal work, as well as start up a patreon. I have also begun collaborating with a clothing company, Homo London, where t-shirts with my art is available. The biggest struggle is maintaining motivation to keep creating art, especially since the last thing I want to be doing after a full week of illustrating at my job is more illustrating. However, I still keep it up because I feel that drawing and creating is the central way I express myself. It’s been a big part of helping me work through my own identity as a queer person. It’s interesting to look back at my body of work and see how my emotional state at the time presents itself in the art. One challenge I constantly face is how to evolve as an artist, and not just draw the same thing in the same style over and over. I think every artist, who has been working for years, needs to learn to change and grow, which can be daunting.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I grew up in the 90s, obsessed with comics, movies and all things pop culture. However, there has always been a lack of queer representation in media, and I wanted to use my art to change that. Whether it’s gender-bending superheroes or drawing pokemon as sexy drag queens, I try to view all things pop culture through a queer lens in a fun, energetic way. During quarantine I started a series called Quarantine Boyfriends, illustrating queer couples in their normal everyday routines while trapped inside their homes. It has since evolved a bit to just show couples in their quiet, intimate moments together. Most of these pieces pull from my own experiences in past relationships. My goal with this series is to present an authentic portrayal of queer life as I know it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zacharyiswackary.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zacharyiswackary/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-brunner-6b428b1a/
