COLE GERST

Animator, Designer, Artist Cole Gerst recently won the Sundancechannel.com ‘Greenimation’ competition with his ‘green’ themed animated short ‘Yung Yeti’. Cole is now creating a 5 part animated online series for Sundance Channel based on the ‘Yung Yeti’ short in addition to his many other art projects.

Aaron Ruell is an acclaimed photographer, director, writer and actor. He is currently starring in the film ‘On the Road with Judas’ that screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. Aaron also played Kip Dynamite in the film ‘Napolean Dynamite’. Aaron recently caught up with Cole for this exclusive interview for Sundancechannel.com’s Spotlight section.

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AARON: Let's start at the beginning. Did you have any formal training or are your mad skills self taught?

COLE: Well I did have formal training. I went to 4 years of art school, but I think I abandoned most of what I learned and kind of started fresh. I dropped using the computer as the start of my creative process and just busted out a pen and paper and decided to do it all that way from now on.

AARON: On the professional side of things what came first, you're clothing line, design/branding, or your illustration series that runs in the LA Weekly?

COLE: I basically started out in the music industry, designing record covers and posters etc. That’s what I always wanted to do and still do. I’m always trying to expand my reach. I like seeing my art and design applied in new ways. The clothing line is something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s just basically making my art more accessible to more people. I like the fact that someone can buy a $30 shirt with art they like on it when they don’t have hundreds or thousands to spend on original art. The LA Weekly comics happened after they commissioned me for a cover illustration. They asked if I was interested in a monthly comic - so I pitched an idea and they liked it and I’ve been doing it for a few years now.



AARON: Did all these different arms of what you do naturally spread out, or did you make a conscious effort to move from one medium to another?

COLE: A little of both. I guess with the painting… I had always shied away from it since school but I kind of made myself jump back into it to help my overall creativity. Sometimes opportunities just present themselves at the right place and the right time though…….and that’s just life.

AARON: When did you start creating animation?

COLE: I think the animation was just a matter of time. I have done animation in the past but it wasn’t really in my current style. I started toying with ideas and images I already had and making them into short animations. I’ve been pursuing more and more animation now for the past 2 years.

AARON: You even have a couple of wallpaper designs out there.

COLE: Yeah, my dad is an interior designer. I remember as a kid going through hundreds of wallpaper books just amazed at all the patterns and combinations.

AARON: How did that come about?

COLE: I was approached by a company to do some designs for them and I jumped at the chance. I’ve designed some furniture too and that is something I hope to get more into in the next few years.

AARON: Which of these areas of art are you currently most busy with?

COLE: At this very moment I’m finishing up a series of silkscreen prints for some art shows. I think I have 13 new designs. I’m about to start the Fall/Winter t-shirt collection for option-g and I’m working on a few record covers and posters for bands. I think what is going to take up most of my time going forward is the Yung Yeti animation series I’m working on for Sundance Channel. I’m also writing some pitches for other networks.

AARON: I think your posters are exceptional.

COLE: Thanks

AARON: How did you get started designing those?

COLE: I’ve been doing that since I was 18 or so. It just started for my love of music. I just think having a nice poster to take home with you after a show just extends the experience a little bit. It’s something to put on your wall to help you remember a great band and a great performance.

AARON: That seems like such a niche area.

COLE: It is kind of a niche area. I either approached bands or promoters wanting to do a poster for a band I loved or they approached me and it just got bigger and bigger.

AARON: Do you listen to music while you're designing?

COLE: Constantly. It helps me focus, gives me inspiration and ideas. I think I get most of my ideas from music. It just gives me an overall feeling and gets my brain churning. If I’m designing for a particular band say, for a poster or cd cover, then I’ll listen to their music to help me visualize ideas for them. I can pretty much always count on music to inspire me in some way.

AARON: What's in the tape deck now?

COLE: I’ve been listening to the new Spoon record a lot. It grows on you. It’s a very good record. I’ve been listening to Peter, Bjorn & John and the band Menomena as well . I listened to some Miles Davis over the weekend and right now I just put on The Clash.

AARON: You're originally from the south but now live in LA. Are you in LA for good, or is it just a temporary pit stop?

COLE: Yeah I was born and raised in Albany, GA. I lived and went to art school in Atlanta and then moved out to LA to work about 12 years ago. I guess I wouldn’t exactly say it is temporary, but I intended it to be. I originally planned to move to Seattle or New York before I was offered a job in Los Angeles. I said to myself I’d give it 5 years and then think about moving on. I’m still here. I’ve toyed with moving again and I think I will, but for right now, I’m good living in LA.

AARON: You've been creating a lot of pieces as of late that include clever takes on energy/animals/and the environment. Either way, what is it that draws you to these topics?

COLE: I guess some of that does go back to where I am from. I basically grew up in the country, surrounded by nature. It is a great contrast to where I live now and makes me appreciate it much more. I feel like there isn’t really a better cause to help promote than the environment. Sometimes I don’t want to be too serious about things and I like to put funny twists on serious topics. A draw a lot of deer, fish and bears. There are deer everywhere where I grew up and its just something that makes me think of home. My dad is a fisherman and I think that’s where the influence comes from. I haven’t encountered any bears in the wild, but I did let a trained 900 pound grizzly bear eat a marshmallow out of my mouth once. He could have fit my whole head in his mouth. A lot of the energy imagery is from my fear of electricity. I got shocked pretty bad as a kid and just recently got to the point where I could plug in a lamp without having an anxiety attack.



AARON: Are you still finding inspiration in these areas or do you find your work moving somewhere else?

COLE: I think I will always find some sort of inspiration in nature, but I do want to branch out and explore other ideas too.

AARON: Who are some of the artists that you appreciate?

COLE: I used to collect a lot of folk art and art from untrained artists primarily in the south. I don’t buy as much now but I’m really fascinated by a lot of them. Howard Finster is one that I admire. I used to visit him and his Paradise Gardens. I have a photo of him and I together on my dresser. I’m always drawn to good photography. I admire Lewis Baltz’s work. He had some of the same sensibilities as I have when it comes to photography. I actually get really inspired by architecture as well as music and art. John Lautner is by far my favorite architect. I think LA is kind of unique when it comes to good architecture. It’s everywhere! Some contemporary artists I admire would be Sage Vaughn, Tim Biskup and Jeff Soto. Sage is a friend of mine and I’ve watched his art grow for years now. He is amazing. I have to give a shout out to you as well. You have a really great eye in your photography and it translates brilliantly to your film work as well.

AARON: Thanks. So working the kind of hours/days in front of a computer like you do can be a pretty isolating and lonely thing. Do you like that element of your profession, or do you find that you have to monitor how much time you've been away from the world and make sure that you get X amount of hours in the sun per week?

COLE: Yeah I struggle with that constantly. It is very isolating. I live and work out of my house. I try not to be tied to my office and computer but sometimes you have to be. I sometimes realize I haven’t left the house in days. I try to make myself get out as often as I can though. I think finding the right balance of isolation to concentrate and socializing and getting out in the world is key. I travel a lot which helps break up the monotony of day to day office type work. I have a couple of awesome German Shepherds that keep me company when I’m at home.

AARON: What's your favorite food when it comes to a)take out b)dining out c)making it at home?

COLE: That’s a good question because I’m really hungry right now. I like cooking at home, but I tend to eat out just to get out of the house. I grill a lot at home. It’s just easy. I like sushi but don’t eat it a whole lot. I guess to simply answer your question is I love Italian for dinner and Mexican for lunch.



AARON: This question is for the tech geeks out there...What programs/equipment/computers do you use in the process of creating your illustrations, animations, clothing, and all the other stuff you do?

COLE: I’ve kind of developed my own way of working after experimenting with different methods and trying not to rely on the computer too much. Basically, I start with pen and paper and draw. I scan into the computer to work with color and to finalize my layout. Depending on what my final output or product is to be, I’ll either use Photoshop completely or take parts of my drawings in pieces into Illustrator to finish it up. The animation is similar but much more complicated. Again it depends on if I will be using Flash or After Effects, but there are so many layers and combinations of things for each element that has movement. It all starts out with pen and paper though.

AARON: What's your favorite color combo at the moment?

COLE: Well like any good American its Red, White and Blue! No really, probably at this moment I’m digging Brown and Orange. I always love seeing many shades of blues together and I have been experimenting trying to make colors that normally wouldn’t work together, work by using them in a pattern or alternating and almost forcing the colors so they just seem to work.

AARON: What kind of Cole Gerst work can we look forward to next?

COLE: Well I really want to buckle down and just paint for a few months, but it’s so hard to find the time, but I will. I think you’ll see more and more animation work soon. I hope to just expand on the themes that interest me. I definitely want to eventually bring my sensibilities to more live action work. I’ve been writing and talking with people and the response is good so far, so we’ll see what happens with that.

AARON: What's on the horizon?

COLE: I honestly don’t know. I’m trying to focus more on animation but I don’t want to give up some of the things I do now. I think I need to find the perfect balance of everything.

AARON: Lastly, what's the end goal for Option-G?

COLE: I want to feel like I did my part in making the world a better place to live in. I want to leave a little bit of me behind you know? If its just making someone smile or think about something in a different way than they normally would have, then I’ve accomplished something. I hope I might inspire other artists to do the same.

Check out Cole Gerst's original art works, posters and t-shirts at Option-G.

Photo credits:
Bio image: Lisa Sheridan
Focus image: Nikolus Jung