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Locating Baker in the VCT building
for our scheduled interview
took extra care. Expecting a loud
fellow in bright colors with overwhelming
energy, like the characters
he created for the cover
of SCC’s 2007 Student Planner, I
was surprised to find a quiet man
dressed head to toe in black, white
and gray.
Drawing has always been Baker’s
calling, and it’s obvious from his
growing fan base. “I draw because
I have to,” he said. “It’s who I am.”
As soon as Baker could pick up a
crayon, he was unstoppable. He
even uses his childhood nickname,
“Narboo”, when signing some of
his pieces.
Recently, Baker scored a deal
with mega-mall department store
Nordstrom who picked up one of
his t-shirt designs. “I just kept bugging
them until they paid attention,”
he recalls.
In addition to his Nordstrom
success, Baker just finished up a
gallery showing at the Belltown
gallery.
Even while rattling off success
after success, Baker’s humble demeanor
is impossible to ignore.
When asked if he views himself
as “successful”, he shrugs with a
smile – he’s obviously heard this
before. “My girlfriend always says
I need to give myself more credit,”
he said.
After looking through his drawings
and paintings depicting animals
participating in various human
activities, I had to wonder…
where are all the people? “I wait
tables to pay for school, but I’m
not a people person,” said Baker,
“When I draw, animals are higher
on the list.”
Clearly animals provide Baker
with inspiration – but seagulls smoking, Bigfoot surfing, and birds
drinking Slurpees? Surely there
must be more on the inspiration
train than just animals. “Well, sleep
deprivation has a lot to do with it,”
he said with a laugh. “My girlfriend
will wake up and say ‘Did you sleep
at all?’ and I’ll say ‘No, but look at
all this stuff I drew!’”
It’s clear that Baker is headed for
great things. He attributes his recent
success to attending SCC as a
starting point. “Everything started
rollin’ after I got back into school,”
he says.
However, his persistence, talent
and drive are also much to blame.
He offers sage and honest advice
to anyone trying to start an art career.
“It’s definitely not easy. You
just have to get out there – there’s
no place you can go to ‘become an
artist’. You just have to do it.”
If you’re interested in seeing
more of his work, you can visit his
images at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/narboo/
http://myspace.com/narboo
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