If you enjoy a nice bike ride or stroll on the south side of the Atlanta Beltline, you may have had the opportunity to gaze upon the talented artwork of Drew Borders. We caught up with the budding young creator from “The A” to discuss art and the experience of growth.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in Atlanta. I am a 2020 graduate [from the Savannah College of Art and Design] with a B.F.A. in animation and motion graphics.
We came across your mural on the Beltline. Tell us about that piece and how it came about.
It came from an event called “Because I Love You Atlanta.” It was an event of live mural painting. I love to paint Black women. I wanted to paint this particular piece listening to music, and I just thought it would be something artistic and cool on the Beltline.
Does this selection have a name?
Actually, no, but most people call it headphones, so we can call it that.
You graduated from SCAD. Tell us about that experience.
Savanah is a lot different from Atlanta. It’s a small but active city. There’s always something going on, so it’s very easy to be inspired. But the best thing about the experience was the faculty at SCAD. They were very supportive and straight from the industry.
Did the experience prepare you for the real world of art?
Yes and no. In the learning process, the student has a business-employee-style relationship with their professors. You have deadlines and checkpoints to meet. You could not procrastinate. But after graduation, the support seemed to drop off. I get it was 2020 and the art field is very competitive, but I would have loved to have had more support and direction in the employment field.
What really caught my eye when I researched your work was your illustrations and two-dimensional animation. How did you get into that discipline?
Actually because I felt my people were underrepresented. As a child, I wanted to see people who looked like me [and] my family and friends in cartoons. I want kids [to] have that inviting feeling of belonging.
What’s one of your favorite projects?
I had the opportunity to illustrate “Desus & Mero,” and since that’s a show that I love, it was an honor and a thrill to illustrate them.
What’s next for Drew Borders?
I would love to get picked up by a small independent 2D animation company where I could share and collaborate ideas in a more intimate setting. I think that would work better for me, and maybe one day in the distant future I’ll start my own 2D animation firm.
Check out some of Borders’ work in the gallery below.
