Meet Will McNeil | Artist & Architectural Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Will McNeil and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Will, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
As a kid I was always drawing. I loved anime and video games and was heavily inspired by those at the time. Although, eventually I moved away from those, not wanting my work to be thought of as “anime-style”. As I got older I considered pursuing art professionally but was hesitant since I did not want the pressures of an art career to take away the joy from creating art. In high school I developed an interest in Architecture and decided to study it in college. The Architecture program at UIUC taught me a lot about both architecture and art, especially while studying abroad in Spain. I currently work as an architectural designer as my day job but have realized over the years that art is my real passion, specifically painting and illustration. A couple years ago I had saved up some money from working and decided to quit my job and take a few months to work on my art and take it to a new level. Those months were invaluable and were the jumpstart I needed to focus on my craft and the type of art that I want to make. Since then my work has been featured in exhibitions throughout the United States. I also started at a new architectural designer job that allows for more creativity than my previous job and have been able to carve out more time for my art practice on the side.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My work examines the relationships between humans and nature. I am interested in our roles in nature, as a part of it, separated from it, and the myriad ways we attempt to exert control over something that is ultimately uncontrollable. I mostly work traditionally and want the hand of the artist to be visible in my work as a response to an age defined by computer graphics and artificial intelligence where mistakes can be undone, imperfections can be airbrushed away, and highly rendered images can be made with the click of a button. I’ve been working at my art for several years now and have had some successes, but still feel like I’m just getting started, which is exciting. There’s no better feeling than selling a piece of art, just to know that other people appreciate what you make enough that they want to own a piece of it.
Recently I’ve been trying to step away from social media and build my real life connections but it can at times feel like I’m putting myself at a disadvantage by being off it. I stayed on it for so long since it has become the main way people engage with art. I’m just so fed up with it now, so the struggle recently has been figuring out how to market myself without much of an online presence. I do still have my website and my instagram account is still active but I haven’t checked it in months… baby steps.

Maybe the work I’m most proud of recently is the art/cocktail book I self-published with my friend/collaborator Avery Campbell, who works as a photographer. Avery and I both have a love for cocktails, art, and japanese music from the 70s, so naturally we merged the three to create a book of cocktails based on songs from a 1979 album by Haruomi Hosono. Instead of photographing the drinks, we paired each drink with an artwork created by splicing together my illustrations with Avery’s photography. The book is titled, Welcome to Paraiso, and while I love all of the solo work that I’ve created, the collaborative nature of this project gives it a special place in my heart and by combining our art to create images that evoke the feeling of our cocktails led to what I think were some really interesting results. All that being said, I am also really excited about the direction I’m going with the new art that I’ve been making. I somewhat recently discovered oil pastels and really like them as a medium. I feel like they allow me to bridge the gap between painting and drawing, since I’ve always favored doing pen and ink drawings but have recently wanted to do larger paintings.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’ve only visited Denver once, briefly, so my recommendation list is short. However, there were a couple places I really enjoyed. When I travel I really like to visit antique stores if I get the chance, and in Denver I went to Hampden Street Market which was a really cool store. I got an old Atlas mason jar there. I also visited the Death & Co Denver bar, I’m really into cocktails and when I saw there was a Death & Co branch, I had to go. I have their cocktail book, Cocktail Codex, and read through it front to back and tasting the cocktails in-person did not disappoint.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My partner Maria Alvarez has, since I met her, been the most important person in my life and I would not be the person or the artist I am now without her. She’s a writer and reading her writing and seeing how hard she works at achieving her goals motivates and inspires me to pursue mine.

Website: https://www.willmcneil.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wirrmcneir/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-mcneil/