Interview

Written By Editorial Team

Jordan Woolfork

Jordan Woolfork is a creative and enthusiastic illustration student seeking early career opportunities to further develop his visual development and design skills while gaining real world experience with an industry leader. He is passionate about creating visually captivating and meaningful artwork that resonates with the audience. Through his work, Jordan aims to evoke emotions, spark imagination, and communicate powerful narratives. He is dedicated to continuous learning and growth, exploring diverse artistic styles, and pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling.

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“I grew up in Pasadena California, I was raised there my whole life, and for as long as I could remember I loved to create. Whether it was creating armor out of shoe boxes, designing tools out of carboard, or drawing superheroes engaged in epic battles; I was always creating. If I wasn't outside playing, I was in the house filling up notebooks with drawings of animals, superheroes, or portraits of my family. I never got serious about art until I was a junior in high school. I started to take more advance art classes, and my teachers were starting to notice that I had a very creative and skilled eye for creating characters and environments. I elevated this passion more and more leading up to graduation. Now that I am four years into college, I have learned so many different techniques, design tools, and avenues in which I have elevated my artistic designs significantly!”

What inspires you?

“My inspiration comes from the people and the media I have experiences in my life. I grew up consuming various types of media and all of them have heavily influenced what I create. I love pop art, Roy Lichtenstein's work especially, because it is such a fun an expressive way of entertainment and storytelling. From the cartoons I grew up watching (Phineas and Ferb, Looney Toons, Tom and Jerry, All the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles iterations, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, House of Mouse) to the movies I can quote by heart to this day (Cars, Ratatouille, Aliens, La La Land, Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller's Day Off), all of this media has influenced the art I create. The people in my life have been a huge source of where I find inspiration for the personalities of my characters. One of my oldest passion projects of mine has been a superhero I called Current, and the idea for him began because I wanted to turn my father into a superhero. Every character I design, I envision the personality that I want to portray based on the various people I have interacted with. And I know I'm only 21 but trust me I have meet a lot of people!”

What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?

“My work varies in themes and messages because of how broad of a scope my creative design is. I have fine art pieces that express my faith in Christ, power/confidence, aggression, action, and some are just unique character pieces that are up to the views to determine for themselves what the story is. I create projects with my own intensions and that intent is always to make something that entertains people's minds and cause them to think further about the project beyond what I have designed. Questioning, ‘Where is the cowboy going?’ ‘How did this superhero create his super suit?’ ‘What is the motivation this hero has to fight?’ ‘Why is the Roman King's sword bloody and yet he is unharmed?’”

How would you describe your work?

“My work is made to entertain a wide arrange of audiences, with the intent to tell stories. I am striving to become a visual development artist in feature animation, so I create a lot of concept art. I create stories and use design elements to visually portrays these stories. I am a character-based artist, who also designs environments, props, illustrations, and even graphic design posters/products. My passion lies in character design, but I am also the type of artist who is constantly learning new skills to advance my ability to create innovative design projects. My intention is to visually portray stories through artistic methods of creative design.”

Which artists influence you most?

“I have always been a fan of Roy Lichenstein's work in the Pop Art space for years. I love his use of color, detail, and expressive story telling. I personally have always appreciated colors that by themselves give the viewers an emotion without them even understanding the whole piece yet. I believe my love for this style was always influenced by the media I grew up with. Whether it be cartoons or comic books, both media's design/arrange color in shocking and prominent ways to portray various emotions within the story. Studios such as Disney Animations, DreamWorks Animations, Sony Pictures Animations, Nickelodeons, Angels Studios, Sky Dance Animations, are right now using various forms of design techniques to portray stories with meaningful messages to viewers all around the world! I aspire for my art to be a part of that beautiful process.”

What is your creative process like?

“My process varies based on the project, but they all contain similar aspects. If I'm designing characters, environments, props, vehicles, or advertisement I always begin with research. Based on the idea I had or was presented to me, I will research references so I can get an idea of what I want to create. After constructing a moodboard of my research I create ideation sketches (The amount usually ranges from 10 - 20). From there I select and create more variations with additions to the selected design (Clothing variation, shape variation, color variations, etc). After that I will finalize the chosen design with better line work and an overall cleaner look. Then I'll add color, shading, lighting, and contrast. Finally, I'll add some variation perspectives or put the design into a larger keyframe art piece and gather up my process to be presented. For an illustration project/fine art project, I have a very similar process, but I spend more time on refining the piece rather than making various designs. I spend more time refining these because there is usually less room for error based on the medium I am using (acrylic paint, acrylic colored pencils, charcoal, watercolor paint, etc). These are also usually passion projects of mine, so the project can change and adapt in various ways.”

What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?

“In my opinion, I believe an artist role in society is to be visual storytellers to the world. The mediums in which we do this is every expanding, and I believe it is our job to use them to expand the bounds of creativity. I use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender, ZBrush, charcoal, acrylic pencils, watercolor, and so many more mediums to bring my stories to life! We should never limit the tools in which we use to create. Without designer and artists, the world of visual expression would be lost in our society. And when we think about that, none of us could live our lives the same way.”

Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?

“As a young aspiring visual development artist, finishing up college, I am constantly looking for opportunities to expand my career. In this process, I have had my work selected and presented in CBU's Yearly Art Gallery in 2023, presented and sold work at CBU's CAVAD 2025 Spring Show Case, and was published in by CBU's The Banner News article, later that year, to discuss my work and where digital art is heading in the future. And as of now, I am continuing to expand my portfolio and search for early career opportunities in the animation space.”

 
Editorial Team
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