Friday, March 9, 2012

An Interview With a Graffiti Artist

Today is my turn to post for the Teens Can Write, Too! March blog chain.  This month's prompt is: Choose your favorite of any of your characters.  Conduct a ten question interview with him or her.

Oh, this is going to be fun!

The character I chose is Chad Kintz, from my Lizzie Evans story.  Chad is Lizzie's brother's best friend, and a graffiti artist.  You'll find out more about him in a minute.

For this interview, I decided to set up a situation in which Chad is being interviewed by Albert Fishguy, a reporter from the local newspaper, for an article about teen artists.

Albert Fishguy: *Pulls out notebook and pencil* For starters, tell me a little about yourself. 

Chad Kintz: I'm Chad Kintz, Outdoor Art Wizard Specializing in Aerosol Borne Pigment...

AF: Excuse me?

CK: It's my title.

AF:  Okay...


CK: I'm in 11th grade, and I attend school at my kitchen table.

AF: What?

CK: I'm a homeschooled Junior. 

AF: Oh.  

CK:  I do all the posters and artwork for the local band Sonic Sardoodledom. I think that color is underrated, and that most common graffiti is an insult to the world of artistic expression.


AF: That actually brings up my next question.  One of the other kids I interviewed said you don't consider your art to be graffiti. Is this true?

CK: Yes.  Graffiti and what I do are similar, but different.  Graffiti is words and weird scribblings on abandoned buildings and train cars, and is generally an eye sore.  I do that too, but my words actually mean something. I don't write "Jenny heart's Reginald" or "Kitty Katz R Kute".  I quote Shakespeare.  I paint really out-there words like "Graviloquence", "Hymnicide" and "Whifflery" and include the definitions. If I can find a good spot, sometimes I'll do a really colorful mural.  Like the one I did of the ship The Anteloper.  My art is not an eyesore.

AF: What's an example of some of your best work?

CK:  The dragon I painted on the water tower, hands down.


AF:  That was you?  

CK: Yep.  I meant to make the scales glow-in-the-dark, but... something came up.

AF: What is your favorite medium?

CK: Spray paint.  That's why my title says "Specializing In Aerosol Borne Pigment".  Old stop signs are good too.  Like the ones that have been hit by semi. Those are fun.

AF: Where do you get your inspiration from?

CK: Various places.  Sometimes a lyric in a song will inspire an image, sometimes I'll find a new word.  Facebook is a good place for inspiration too. And sometimes even homework is inspiring.

AF: What else did you do besides graff-- I meant art? 

CK:  Well, I do lots of homework, I hang out with my friends, *thinks "I answer stupid questions"*, the usual.

AF: *Closes notebook* Thank you for your time, Chad.  I'll let you know when the article is published. *He leaves*

CK: *Pulls out cellphone and texts to best friend "Interview over.  Next mural will be of a clown fish with a notebook."*

Do you have a question for Chad?  Don't hesitate to ask!  (Thanks, Oliver Dahl for this idea!)

Do you wish to follow this chain of awesomeness?  Here's a schedule of where it goes!

March 5 — http://kirstenwrites.wordpress.com — Kirsten Writes!
March 6 — http://www.maybeteenauthor.blogspot.com/ – Struggles Of A (Maybe) Teen Author
March 7 — http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com –This Page Intentionally Left Blank
March 8 — http://www.thedreamersadventures.blogspot.com/ – The Dreamers Adventures
March 9 — http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com — Lily’s Notes in the Margins
March 10 — http://www.journeyofascholar.blogspot.com/ – A Box of Letters and a Cup of English Tea
March 11– http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com –From My Head
March 12 — http://thewordasylum.wordpress.com –The Word Asylum
March 13 — http://oyeahwrite.wordpress.com –Oh Yeah, Write!
March 14 — http://delorfinde.wordpress.com/ – A Farewell To Sanity
March 15 — http://noveljourneys.wordpress.com — Novel Journeys
March 16 — http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com — Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish
March 17 — http://oopswasthatoutloud.wordpress.com/ – Oops Was That Loud?
March 18 — http://herestous.wordpress.com — Here’s To Us
March 19 — http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com — The Incessant Droning of a Bored Writer
March 20 — http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com –Teens Can Write Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)


Also, this was my 25th post. Yay!

12 comments:

  1. I love this! Chad sounds like a really fun character.
    ~Sarah F.

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  2. Chad is hilarious. I heart Chad.

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  3. Great post. Chad seems like a fun character to have. Shakespeare quotes?

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    1. Oh yes, he's a barrel of monkeys. Very colorful, Shakespeare quoting monkeys.
      Yes, Shakespeare quotes. I don't think he's actually quoted The Bard in a story yet, but he does in my head.

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  4. I like how Chad is so unique as a character- a 'grafitti' artist who paints Shakespeare quotes and big long obscure (but awesome) words...that's something I would never have thought of. Is he in a novel, and if so, does it revolve around his art?

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    1. Chad is in a novel as a side character. But I like him so much that he may have a novel of his own one day. It's funny, 'cause I actually created him to be a suspect in my first "true" novel. Then he grew and I liked him so much that I kept him around.

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  5. Great post! Chad sounds like a really awesome character. Street art mixed with Shakespeare? It's a match made in heaven.

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  6. Chad has the sort of humour I'd like to see in more teenage boys, but don't usually find. (No surprise there.) This was a great post--I'm actually visualizing the clownfish with the notebook in my head. It was that well-written!

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    1. Thanks! I only know one boy like Chad, and I actually like Chad more.

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  7. Great post! The MC really came to life in my head--so realistic! Also, I like the touch of humor. :)

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