PHILADELPHIA - Illustrator Leanne Biank loves how forgiving the oil painting medium is. Armed with a unique style, she set out in the freelance world to get her start in the business. www.leannebiank.com
LOS ANGELES - Artist Kim West felt the pressure to take a traditional career path, but in the end, she could not shake her desire to be an artist. She followed her dreams, and the contemporary art world is better for it.
SAN FRANCISCO - Vulcan is an amazing graffiti artist, painting walls and collaborating with other artists. See the many colors he's trying to accomplish in this piece. www.vulcandesigns.net
LOS ANGELES - Originally from Staten Island, Rime got into graffiti and went to school for art. Take a walk up the Griffith Park trail and he talks about his art. www.jerseyjoeart.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Ryan Shaffer is an artist based out of San Francisco. He did a gallery at WhiteWalls and is currently a tattoo apprentice. www.ryanscottshaffer.com
LOS ANGELES - We hung out with Natalia Fabia in her studio where she was doing a photo shoot for a painting. She also had a solo gallery at the Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. www.nataliafabia.com
CHICAGO - EWOK's mom would always have to hide her pens and pencils cause he'd be drawing on any and every paper material available. Check out his video as he talks about how he was introduced to graffiti, getting back to oil painting, and the crew and artists that have inspired him. www.knowngallery.com
LOS ANGELES - Big Gus has been tattooing since he was 14, which blessed him to travel around the world and win awards for his art work. Check him out as he shows us some of his paintings and tattooing. www.myspace.com/dementedimage
LOS ANGELES - Evol One is not only a graffiti artist, he's also an animator in fine arts. Come chill with him in Central L.A. as he talks about the graffiti movement and how he got started. www.myspace.com/samirski
SAN FRANCISCO - Alex Pardee is an amazing artist that's done art work for clients, such as The Used, and is currently working with Warner Bros. on an animated series called, Chadam. Don't forget to check out his new clothing line, Zerofriends. www.hurley.com/treeplewww.zerofriends.com
LOS ANGELES - Hang out with motorcycle builder / artist, Roland Sands, in his studio as he has some of the top of the line artists spray a couple backgrounds for their photoshoot with models Rachel Sterling and Justene Jaro, with Estevan Oriol taking photos. www.rolandsands.com www.rachelsterling.net www.justenejaro.com
LOS ANGELES - Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Houston, Dan Quinones talks about his amazing artwork and defines what an artist is. www.poabstyle.com www.poabdesigns.com
SAN FRANCISCO - Graff head Sam Flores brings a street inspiration to tremendous fine art. He is proof that the self taught artist can thrive. A former skater, he now brings a wonderful since of color to the world. Listen to him explain his process and talk about his collaboration with VIMBY friend, Roland Sands.
www.samflores.com
SAN FRANCISCO - We caught up with Mear One at the 1AM Gallery in San Fran where he talks about how he got his name and how he started doing art. www.mearone.com
SAN FRANCISCO - When Ian turned 18, he moved to SoCal where he got a BFA in ceramics. Check out this clip as Ian Ross talks about his methods and inspirations for his artwork. www.ianrossart.com
ATLANTA - People thought Dubelyoo's art was too black. So his response was that he was going to make it blacker. Check out this piece on Dubelyoo, who's a phenomenal caricature artist. www.dubelyoo.net
SAN FRANCISCO - See why Mike got the name "Giant" and how he kept pushing his art form limitations as he talks about his tattooing and is solo gallery opening at White Walls. www.mikegiant.com
LAS VEGAS - Shawn Barber does a live painting of a collab piece he's doing with Sullen Clothing and talks about his newly released book, Forever & Ever. www.sdbarber.com