Jesse Starr can’t remember a time when he wasn’t sketching. But he does remember the first time he realized he was a good artist: as a sixth grader who doodled on manila folders and the arms of his fellow classmates.
Since then, the freelance graphic designer and artist has come a long way.
Starr recently finished drawing a catalog cover for BIC Graphic, done completely in ballpoint pen. The picture, which he drew based off of a photo given to him by BIC, will appear in 2016.
BIC first took notice of Starr after an employee saw a print of a ballpoint pen drawing he had done of actor Christopher Walken. The drawing, completed around 2009, was one of the first pen portraits that Starr had done.
INK SLINGER
Around the time he first drew the Christopher Walken portrait, the idea of creating such detailed pieces with a ballpoint pen wasn’t widespread.
Starr was laughed at when he went to an art store and asked an employee what pens were best to draw with. But it was that sense of impossibility that may have been what caused him to begin using pens in the first place.
“It wasn’t really anywhere,” he said. “I like taking things that you wouldn’t normally be able to produce and doing it.”
The Christopher Walken piece took about 70 hours, which Starr completed while he worked full-time and owned his own business. He went through seven pens while working on the portrait.
“It took forever,” Starr said. “I was determined. I was going to do this. You can’t screw up, you can’t erase.”
As he was entering the final stretch of the drawing, his ballpoint pen exploded. He had to take an X-ACTO knife to rub off a layer of paper so that he could fix and finish the portrait. Later, he sold it in an eBay auction.
“I don’t try to sell them really,” he said. “I should try to do more shows. Everything I do is kind of under the radar. I don’t care if people know about it.”
Although the amount of work involved in completing one piece can seem daunting, Starr doesn’t rush his creative process. He said his mood has a lot to do with his projects, and that many things have to align for him to shift into his creative zone.
“There’s coffee involved,” he said. “Music can help, as long as there’s a beat that gets me in the mood.”
Starr lives off a main road in Plant City, so filtering out noise and the sounds of traffic is a necessity. He often listens to NOFX or Radiohead when working, and enjoys dubstep.
“There’s a certain flow in certain songs that kind of help,” he said.
Mostly, it’s the roadblocks that he faces during the artistic process that truly serve as his motivation. He describes himself as an impatient person, but finds the limiting, tedious details — such as making the tiniest of pen marks on paper — almost cathartic.
INNOVATOR
The ballpoint pen drawings are mostly done as Starr’s artistic hobby.
He says that 90% of his work comes from doing freelance graphic design in Plant City. He has done design work for vehicle wraps, including a boat wrap for Shaquille O’Neal, and he created the upcoming football guide cover for the Plant City Times & Observer. He has also designed a number of book and album covers, and logos for businesses.
Starr doesn’t restrict himself to the 2-D world. He purchased his own 3-D printer and other cutting edge equipment, which he uses to design monster trucks. After the trucks are designed using computer software, he prints the prototype pieces out and builds them out of styrofoam.
“It’s very tedious and technical and very hard, but for some reason I like doing it,” Starr said.
He hopes that the monster truck designs will soon become one of his main projects.
“All of that is going to eventually help me in the future,” he said of the technology he owns. “Most of the projects I do … people have this weird idea, and I have to figure out how to do it. It’s really hard to find people who are like-minded in this department. I meet them every now and then, but it’s few and far between.”
Starr is currently looking for other innovators and designers to work with, as well as new clients.
His ultimate dream is to have a studio where he can produce any item that a client may need. The facility would double as a location where those interested in the field can come and teach themselves new technology.
Starr prides himself on being self taught and calls himself a computer super nerd. The only training he’s ever had was from his high school art classes — which he failed — and College for Kids during the summer, at Hillsborough Community College’s Plant City campus.
“I failed every art class I ever took,” he said.
In high school, Starr didn’t do his homework and instead chose to go home and design rotating logos that were used in the school’s morning announcements.
He believes that any aspiring artists should take time to learn on their own and become self-taught.
“The more people that know how to do it, the more people will want to do it,” Starr said. “I’ve touched on a lot of different things that are off the wall and different, and made a good living. I want to be able to make enough money and keep doing what I want to do, and create things.”
CONTACT
Jesse Starr
Website: JesseStarr.com
Email: jessestarrart@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/JesseStarrArt
Instagram: @JesseStarrArt
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.