Painter/Graphic Designer
Nate Qualls isn’t a household name yet in the Deaf community, but he’s working his way there. Nate is a talented painter/graphic designer from Detroit who has an affinity for painting buildings, rooftops and cars. He has a knack for detail and color blending. If you’ve been following the D-PAN website or seen us live over the past several years, chances are you’ve seen a lot his artwork – he’s done a lot of graphic design for our organization; creating flyers, banners, advertisements & website artwork, not only for us, but for Sean Forbes as well. Nate has been a valuable asset to our organization, and we wanted to shine some of the spotlight on him, and bring him out from behind the scenes. Take a moment to read his interview and check out some of the artwork from his personal collection he’s shared with us.
What kind of paintings do you do (pen/pencil, oil, watercolor, etc…)?
I tend to use different art mediums and materials. I’ve noticed that most of the time I like to work with oil paint, ink and black marker on canvas. I also do illustrations. I use the black marker to make details pop out and look sharp. I also love to work with different materials ranging from ink to color chalks. I am still experimenting with all different materials to find the medium that I like the best.
When did you start painting and when did you realize your talent and potential?
I was pretty young, around 2 or 3 years old. My family was not aware that I was profoundly deaf until I was around 2 years old. They put me in an oral program where I didn’t do very well…. so, I started drawing around with pictures to get ideas out of my head. I had a big imagination and no one to communicate with as my family nor I knew ASL yet. I used to draw with color markers or mostly ink and create models from paper and wood, occasionally setting them on fire or blowing them up. In the winter I sculpted characters in the snow. Art remains a very deep part of my personality. It has inspired me to push myself more into the art world. I’ve always loved to draw the weird scary stuff like skeletons, vampires, and abandoned buildings. My father and my grandma are artists, too. That’s probably where I got my talent.
Can you share with us a little bit about your painting process (how you start, the choice of colors, how long it takes, etc…):
First of all, I begin my process with sketching outlines with pencil on the canvas. Once I am satisfied with how it looks like and I begin to paint with oil paint in a very thin and light layers and build it up from there with color that fits my mood for the painting. After I am done with painting all around the outlines, I start with the background with exact color that I want. It takes a while for me to co
ntinue painting the layers. I need to stop frequently to let the paint to dry for while so that way I am able to paint on the different layers once it dries up (that way it won’t get all mixed up with the other colors). Oil paint usually takes a long time to dry up. I like working with oil because it is quite easy to handle and if I make a mistake, I can simply remove the mistake and re-paint. I continue to paint layers after layers until I am finished with it. I usually let it to sit there for a week to dry up then I draw with the black marker for detailing or just without black marker. Overall the process depends on what the painting looks like.
You also do graphic design, have you created art using both your graphic designs and paintings & do you prefer graphic design or painting?
I do prefer Fine Arts more to graphic design. However, I do enjoy graphic design too. I typically do some drawing or painting of something then transfer the design by scanning it in the computer as a mixed media and usually I think it is effective and makes it much more interesting.
What or who inspires you to pick up a brush and start painting?
I was always drawing when I was very young. All my teachers encouraged me when I was growing up, especially in my teen years. I went to Gallaudet one for a summer-camp art program. I met the art professor there and we became really good friends and I eventually learned to how to use oil paints with brush and from there I fell in love with it. She has inspired me a lot to start painting.
You live in Detroit, how has that had an impact on your art background? Are there any other cities (i.e. Austin, Chicago, San Fran) that have any influence on your style?
I used to live in Detroit until I was three years old and moved away to grow up in “Metro Detroit.” Detroit is a great city with beautiful abandoned ruins. It is quite well known around the world. There lots of abandoned buildings that used to be beautiful and rich with history of the architecture. Most of the beautiful architectures are demolished and no longer around. They sit there in ruin like the ancient Greek or Roman structures. I love how much they present a character with scars in state of ruin and decay. It tells a lot of stories from their big scars. It is a big influence on my artwork and me when I grew up. I would always look at the ruins while my mother or my grandma drove on the freeway through the city all the time. One big impact on me when I saw a tall lonely building called the “Michigan Central Station” also known as Michigan Central Depot just right outside of downtown Detroit. The MCS has thousands of broken windows, beautiful Corinthian columns, cornices and details. MCS is a grand Beaux-Arts building. It has aged a lot with black soot all over the façade of the building. It reminds me of ancient Greek or Roman architectures.
Detroit is well known to be capital of automobile of the world. I love old vintage and classic cars. We don’t make cars like them anymore today. I also like to paint or draw old classic cars since they are a huge part in the painting that I do because it goes well with old decaying architecture and automotive history of Detroit. Old buildings and old cars in the painting usually turn out great and more interesting. I usually put them in an interesting composition that makes you feel like you are in the other time.
You tend to paint rooftops of buildings, and the front ends of cars (especially older buildings and cars), is there any particular reason why? Are those your favorite things to paint?
I like to paint different perspectives of the front end of old classic cars with abandoned or occupied vintage buildings in the background with people wearing different vintage clothing styles. It gives it more character to the painting. It is part of my signature style that I do in my paintings. Sometimes I want to paint something that feels like a fantasy or traveling back in the old times.
I like to paint several of rooftop details of old buildings that are around Detroit because each building has something unique about it. There is one specific building in Detroit with the green cooper patina rooftop that is my favorite and that building is called the Book Tower. I feel that building is the one of the most beautiful buildings in Detroit and Michigan because we’ve lost a lot of great architectures throughout the years. I could say the same thing about America.
What challenges you and how do you challenge yourself as an artist?
There are many different challenges about being an artist sometimes. When I want something exactly just what I have envisioned but it didn’t end up or turn out what I wanted. It would also turn out something that I was not expecting. I usually would continue painting until I finally find the image of what I really want.
Do you think being Deaf has had any impact on your art, and have you experienced any challenges because you are a Deaf artist?
No. I don’t think my deafness does not make any impact on my artwork.
Do you think there are any advantages to being a Deaf artist?
I believed that there is somewhat of an advantage about being a Deaf artist because we use our eyes more for details and use a lot of imagination with our hands. However, there isn’t really anything different between hearings or deaf because we all use our eyes and hands. It depends on individuals with skills and gift.
Who are some of your favorite artists and what are some of your favorite artworks?
I have a many favorites. Ralph Steadman, Van Gogh, Aubrey Beardsley, Claude Monet and Henri De Toulouse Lautrec and many more…
I love vivid imagination drawings from Ralph Steadman, one of my favorites of his is the art poster for movie “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” I also love the work “Scream” by Van Gough. I love Aubrey Beardsley’s artwork and there are too many favorites. There are so many colorful paintings by Claude Monet I like. Henri’s painting “At the Moulin Rogue” with the green face lady appears on the left side is one of my favorites
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