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

Hi Kevin, can you tell us what you are most passionate about?
I’m very passionate about creating my art and I truly enjoy the journey of each piece. I’m never sure exactly how each one of my drawings is going to turn out when I begin and it’s fun to see how It evolves and what the challenges are during the process. It’s interesting to me how my passion about the person I’m drawing affects the final piece.

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.
I believe that what sets me apart is my devotion to being a black and white portrait artist using graphite pencils. I’ve gotten some feedback in my career where certain people have tried to steer me to use other medium, water colors, oils, etc but I have stayed true to myself and my quest to master my skills in graphite. Life isn’t always easy and it’s no different in the artistic process but there’s nothing more rewarding than finishing a piece, sitting back to look at it and liking it. That feeling and the feeling of seeing others get some pleasure from viewing my work is the best. That’s what drives me to continue working. I think the biggest challenge is quieting your inner critic and not worrying about what others will think. That’s true about so many facets of life but probably more so in art. The freedom of being able to take my pencils and paper and create something from a blank page fills me with a lot of joy. I hope people can feel that in my work.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
Wow, a whole week,ok, here goes. I guess everyone always wants to see the hollywood sign so I used to live near there and I know a street that gets you extremely close so that would be first. I’m clearly very into celebrities and I’ve taken the bus tour of the stars homes numerous times so that would be next on the list. Downtown la is making a resurgence so I’d go to central market to grab a quick bite and putter around the last bookstore which is nearby. We’d then grab some soft serve ice cream at magpies in silverlake before heading to Griffith Park at night to gaze at the beautiful lights of la. Another must visit would be grabbing ice cream, are you sensing a theme here, at somi somi in koreatown before heading over to rodeo drive to shop with the celebrities (okay maybe just gawk at the celebrities.) then I’d head down to the Santa Monica pier and continue driving along the coast to Malibu and end with Cher’s house. Another favorite haunt is touring the Frank Lloyd Wright holly hock house at barns dale park in Los feliz and then off to forest lawn to use my mobile phone to locate celebrity gravesites. Driving through West Hollywood, we’d stop by house where Halloween was filmed before ending up at gus’s fried chicken on Crenshaw.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I was at a transition point in my fashion career and I had kind of lost my way when I traveled to Miami for a Madonna concert. I was staying with an old college friend who had a coffee table book of art by Ralph Wolfe Cowan and I was transfixed by his drawings. It got my creative juices flowing and I suddenly thought, “why am I not drawing anymore?” So I came back home to la and immediately started creating art and haven’t stopped since. It was Ralph’s work that moved me to focus on my art full time.

Instagram: KevinMischlerArt