Nick Dolan

Nick Dolan, illustrator of Vege Book & Vege Patterns

Help our followers get to know you. What does a typical day in the life of Nick Dolan involve?
I work as a geologist at a mine in the wilderness of the Mojave desert. A typical day for me right now involves waking up at 430 AM (!!!), driving an hour from Las Vegas to the mine in California, working a 10 hour shift at the mine, and then driving an hour back home. When I get home I typically make dinner and then draw/make music/work out/do yoga. On weekends my favorite thing to do is outdoors stuff like camping/hiking/backpacking/offroading etc. Summers in Vegas are terribly hot though, so during the worst few months of summer I typically stay inside like a hermit, or drive to other, cooler, cities on the weekends.

When did you first become interested in illustrating?
I've been drawing a similar sort of weird, abstract, squiggly line art since I was probably 10 or 11. I'm not sure why but it just came very naturally to me. As a kid and even up until about 4 years ago, my drawings were limited to compulsive doodles in the margins of notes or on pamphlets I got at work. Around 4 years ago, with the encouragement of a friend who saw my doodles, I started drawing *just to draw* (and not as a distraction from doing other things) for the first time ever.

What are your favourite things to draw?
Bizarre, squiggly, abstract, but seemingly organic shapes. If you're familiar with my art, you'll know I prefer curves over angles!

Where do you find inspiration?
The morphologies of life at all scales, the canyon country of the american southwest, and ancient incan and mayan art.

If you weren't an author/illustrator what would you be?
Well I'm also a geologist and a musician, does that count?

Why do you think adult colouring books have become so huge?
I'm not really sure... I think Johanna Basford deserves a lot of credit for her Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest books. I feel like they were just technical enough, but also accessible enough, to appeal to a huge audience, most of which turned out to be adults. Would coloring for adults have gotten so popular without her books? I like to think it still would have, but there's no denying her books were the perfect vector for turning tens of thousands of people on to the hobby.

What does your working environment look like?
Honestly, its more of a music studio than a drawing studio! I have keyboards, midi controllers, and speakers everywhere, but I always leave a little cleared area on the desk adjacent to my main desk thats just for drawing.

Do you listen to music when you work? If so, who/what?
Absolutely. I'm a huge fan of electronic music. My favorite genres are downtempo, minimal, tech-house, and dubstep/bass. Typically when I'm drawing I stick to the chiller stuff, like downtempo and minimal. My favorite artist to listen to while drawing is Bluetech.

What are your favourite things in life?
Spending time with the people I love, exploring the wilderness, and dancing in front of giant soundsystems.

Finally, please give 3 words that describe your work.
Bizarre, psychedelic, organic.

You can find Nick's books on Amazon.