NAME/AGE/LOCATION/MEDIUM(S):
My name is Cooper Malin, 25, Dixon MT - Student at UM
Mediums: pen & ink a lot of the time (comics, illustrations, handlettering), paint (acryllic & watercolor), I write, I podcast, I am trying my hand at design
I was born in Glasgow, MT and grew up between Worland, WY and Billings, I am the oldest of three, two sisters, and am currently living in Dixon. I started drawing comics in the fourth grade after moving to a new school. I thought that I could make friends by being funny. The comic was called "Mr. and Mrs. Alligator" and was about an old retired alligator couple. I've continued to draw ever since. I also began writing at a young age, keeping a journal through elementary and middle school and dipping into creative writing as I got older. There was a brief stretch of time there in high school that I performed a lot of poetry readings and competed in poetry slams. Now I am doing things that make me happy and have reached a point in my art where I'm looking to make a life with it, to be able to support myself and provide for my loved ones. It is a wildly exciting, and terrifying, crossroads.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN HAVING “FAVORITES”? IF SO, WHAT ARE SOME OF YOURS?
Benjamin Todd - Using Again
Charlie Parr - 1922 Blues
Fred Eaglesmith - Trucker Speed
My favorite author is Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
My favorite pens are Microns. My favorite paper is bristol.
My favorite coffee right now is Black Coffee Roasting Co.'s "Laura" (It doesn't hurt that that's also the name of my amazing partner)
WHAT CAN ART DO?
Art can do a lot of things. It can remove pain and inflict it. It can do absolutely nothing, which is still something, right? I think more importantly though is that it can soothe an aching mind.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF MAKING ART?
I make art because I don't know what else to do instead.
WHAT WILL ALWAYS MAKE YOU BURST OUT LOUD INTO LAUGHTER?
I'll bust a gut whenever I make fun of my best friend Scotty.
Originality exists in theory, but in practice is generally an amalgamation of everything that's inspired us.
FIRST CD?
My first CD I ever bought was Good Charlotte
WHAT DOES AN "IDEAL" ART SCENE LOOK LIKE? IS THERE AN IDEAL?
An art scene is something I've never really been apart of, but I would like to be. Generally I've been the one person who drew or wrote or something, and then it was stuff to make them laugh.
ARE YOU OPEN TO COLLABORATING? IF SO, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT THAT TO LOOK LIKE?
I would love to collaborate! Again, for how long I've been working, I haven't been the best at being open with it. I still have friends that forget that I "do art"
ARE YOU LEFT-HANDED OR RIGHT-HANDED, BOTH, OR NEITHER?
I am left-handed
DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR RELAXING?
Reading for pleasure relaxes me.
ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY PROJECTS CURRENTLY?
I've got way too many projects right now...I'm not complaining! Honest! There's just a lot that's come in.
DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST CELEBRITY CRUSH?
My first celebrity crush was Tara Reid...
DID/DO YOU PLAY SPORTS?
I played a gang of sports, chief among them was swimming for almost 10 years.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MEMES?
Memes are good. I do not like when people speak in meme. It makes me feel old and I don't like having to pretend to laugh anymore..