Connect with us

Entertainment

Earnest Ernest: Talented illustrator, fine artist and cannabis enthusiast

 New dad and passionate artist, Ernest Castillo, recently
packed up and said goodbye to his Las Vegas home for greener pastures in
Seattle. With a background in illustration and design, Castill

Published

on

 

castillo1

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]N[/dropcap]ew dad and passionate artist, Ernest Castillo, recently packed up and said goodbye to his Las Vegas home for greener pastures in Seattle. With a background in illustration and design, Castillo is currently working on a corporate identity design for a cannabis management group. His designs are sharp and hold similarities to circa 1970s science fiction imagery. Castillo’s illustrations are fragile and fluent, often depicting animals and wildlife. His creativity and drive even won him second place in the OrganiCann High Art competition last year. He also spends time working with bands, designing varying album art work. Castillo says that after he gets settled down in his new home he plans on further exploring the fine art world of illustration. CULTURE sat down with Castillo for a quick interview.

What type of artist do you call yourself?

At the moment my work has a surreal illustrative style, but I’ve been open to adapting my style based on ideas and concepts at play. During my senior year in high school I took a lot of inspiration from the work of Alex Pardee, and recently I’ve been checking out the work of MARS-1 and James Jean.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

It depends on the context of the piece. The Organicann packaging design, for example, was inspired by vintage packaging designs, while the robotic animals are often inspired by music and looser ideas.

In a parallel universe or alternate dimension, one where you weren’t an artist, what do you think you would be doing?

Possibly studying architecture. Alongside art, I excelled in math and physics until the end of high school. I decided to focus on my art.

What are your thoughts on cannabis being legalized? 

It’s great to see the ball rolling. As a graphic designer it’s fun to design for this growing industry and interesting to see all the other ideas that advertise it.

castillo2

Animals are a reoccurring subject matter in your work. Why do you think that is?

Animals are excellent portrayals of emotion and symbolism. They’re easy to study and mentally dissect for me.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

Most people don’t know that I smoke cannabis and that I’m an artist. I’m pretty introverted so most people are like “Oh, you draw! Cool!”

Describe yourself in three words.

Father, artist, introvert.

castillo4

www.ernestcastillo.com

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *