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Two weeks ago, local sketch artist Brandt Peters launched his first project on Kickstarter – two hours later, donators blew past his goal of $6500.
The Kickstarter for MUSE No. 1, a collection of sketches by Peters, sits with $23,000 pledged as of Tuesday evening. In addition to being the first book in a now-forthcoming series, it’s Peters’ first crowd-funded effort, and his first published book of purely sketches. Peters, the co-owner of local lowbrow art gallery The Stranger Factory, said the title MUSE came from an inspirational place.
“When you start out as an artist, the whole idea is that you can emulate other artists, see where they’re going, and try to be in their head… I just got behind that word of MUSE as being someone who inspires,” Peters said. “And it really wasn’t anything to do with ego at all. I just see these artists every day; they tell me that we (at The Stranger Factory) inspire them in some way – we inspire nonartists too – so I was just accepting of that whole process, and poking fun at it at the same time by just coming right out and calling it MUSE.”
The sketchbook comprises 140 pages of black-and-white sketches as well as 20 color pages of produced work. It features personal and commercial artwork done by Peters within the last eight years.
“About half a year ago, I found out that I had so many sketches from so many different points in my life … and there was never one place that collected all of those,” Peters said. “So it made a lot of sense and the timing was just right.”
Aside from the 20 color pages in the middle of the book, there’s no particular rhyme or reason to how the sketches in MUSE No. 1 are placed. Peters said he left the sketchbook purposely open and random because it fit in with the muse concept where readers can go to any page without prior introduction.
“I thought that by leaving it random, people would have a better sense about who I am as a person, because I’m sort of all over the place as well,” Peters said.
Peters’ art style comes from his childhood growing up around his parents’ collection of antique, Depression-era cartoon icons, like Felix the Cat and Popeye, lumped together with inspirations from anime and manga, toy design, graffiti, and a hodgepodge of other muses.
“It’s sort of like a neo-antiquated, post-Depression, street-art, toy design, I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-to-call-it,” Peters said.
Mikee Riggs, merchandise director of The Stranger Factory, said he is eager to see what comes of MUSE No. 1.
“(Peters) is such a strong choice out the gate because the man has stacks and stacks of sketchbooks and ideas. There are so many untapped stories in that book that people will finally see,” Riggs said.
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Visit Brandt Peters project on Kickstarter at www.kickstarter.com/projects/1933555525/brandt-peters-sketchbook-muse-no-1
