HM Newton of Los Angeles on Life, Lessons & Legacy

HM Newton shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning HM, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What do you think others are secretly struggling with—but never say?
A conflict that some creatives, including myself, struggle with but rarely talk about is knowing how much they want to sacrifice their idealized artistic practice in order to make a living from their work. For image makers that are strictly illustrators (someone paid to solve a visual problem) or strictly fine artists (someone making work to be sold in a gallery) that dilemma is less ambiguous. However, as someone who is interested in both fields, it is a question I come back to repeatedly. There are image makers that only care about solving problems, and for them visual communication is a sport. They aren’t picky about what they are communicating. This framework is perfect for people only looking to break into commercial art, and there is nothing wrong with it. Meanwhile, some image makers want to solve their own visual problems, in the sense that what they strive to communicate in their work is more specific or personal. I love the process of solving visual problems within itself but I also have a personal artistic drive I feel the need to satisfy. As I forge my career, I need to balance these two frameworks so I can fulfill my personal visions while maintaining a portfolio of real world commercial projects or applications. It’s a dilemma in the back of my mind that I suspect other creatives whose work spans across several niches also consider.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m HM Newton, a freelance artist and illustrator based in Los Angeles. My work is fantastical, yet macabre and uncanny with a campy sense of humor. I’m interested in a variety of ways illustration is applied, including poster design, publishing, packaging, and more. Additionally, I’m interested in fine art and printmaking. While my work spans a variety of visual fields, all of it is evocative of another time.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child I believed that I really wanted to pursue a career in animation and work at a single entertainment studio. However, as I’ve evolved as an artist I’ve come to understand that I don’t want to limit myself professionally to just one field or work with one set of people. Also, neither my work or my temperament is best suited for the animation industry. The amount of collaboration that comes with freelance illustration is perfect for me, and I value the independence it provides. Additionally, through my prior experimentation with animation, I’ve learned that I enjoy illustration much more, as it’s better suited for my instinct to make work that conveys immediate and direct ideas while remaining visually detailed. I’m still interested in narrative art and storytelling, however that manifests more in regard to comics and zines at this point.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
As cliché as it sounds, I would tell my younger self that doing the best you can is the best you can do, even if you think others’ ‘best’ is better than your ‘best’. It’s important to push yourself, but it’s also crucial to recognize when the fear of failure that once started as a force of propulsion becomes a paralyzing one. You may struggle with something more than someone else and the answer is not to lie down and rot. The answer isn’t even to struggle through while still berating or punishing yourself. When you’re struggling to accomplish anything, some level of self patience and forgiveness will actually get you much farther.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
I believe that the skill and ‘goodness’ of a piece of art can be linked but are in some ways separate. Skill is objective while ‘goodness’ is subjective. Design and drawing fundamentals are a part of skill for example–these things are measurable and are based on how human brains typically function. A piece of art may be skilled, yet someone may believe that it’s not ‘good’ –wether they disagree with what it has to say, because it doesn’t have personal appeal to that person, maybe they morally disagree with the process used in making it, etc. Someone may appreciate a child’s drawing more than an objectively skilled painter’s work, and sometimes the naivety of an art piece is part of what is interesting about it. This framework can be helpful to people like me whose objective is to create polished, professional work, as it broadens their tool box of visual languages they can utilize in their craft.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If immortality were real, what would you build?
If I was immortal I’d probably be more inclined to create all the video/film/animated projects I’d want, almost completely by myself–Suzan Pitt style. Time and money is part of what holds me back. Also I know I said that the craft of animation doesn’t suit my artistic tendencies but if I was immortal and had all the time in the world that would be a non issue–since it is the practical aspects of animating that generally conflict with my instincts as an illustrator. I could also see myself literally building phantasmagoric sculptures and structures, though working with three-dimensional forms like that does not come naturally to me. I’d be a more self indulgent artist and person in general, if granted immortality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hmnewton.com
• Instagram: @sturgeoncola
• Other: [email protected]