| NANDA ORMOND talks Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Fred. |
| Written by Esther Blackwood | |
| Monday, 01 August 2011 15:24 | |
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Hailing from the deep south (Whangamata), NANDA ORMOND spends his time in a converted farmhouse/studio... the kind most artists dream of. He's one of those guys that everybody knows, for example, we know him as that guy dancing on the floor at our 90's party.
Not only a talented dancer, Nanda also know how to use a pen... and not just for writing! We caught up with Nanda to talk about his drawings, his website and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...
CDM: How did you get started? NANDA: My Dad met my Mum at the jazzercise class he was teaching. JJ's Jazzercise was the happening thing in early 80's Whangamata. My mum was the one at the back with the coy smile. CDM: Do you remember a specific moment in time when you knew you wanted to be an artist?
NANDA: Yeah, it was when my older brother helped me draw Donatello, the smart ninja turtle. Right away I knew that I was going to be amazing. I was like, seventeen. CDM: What did you want to be when you were seven-years-old?
NANDA: An environmental terrorist. CDM: What is was the first piece of art that you can remember doing? NANDA: When I was about six I drew this character called 'Doughnut Man'. His super powers were to be really stretchy like dough, I was into 'The Simpsons' pretty bad. He was easy to draw, a circle inside a circle with four sticks and a smiley face, maybe a cape as well.
CDM: What is your career highlight to date? NANDA: A girl came up to me and said: "Are you Nanda Ormond? I recognize you from Facebook." CDM: Do you have a piece of work that you're particularly proud of? NANDA: Uhm. NO. Not yet. Oh… maybe. Maybe one of my Fred drawings. I'm not exactly proud of the actual drawings, I'm more proud of Fred, he is the best dude in the world. CDM: Can you tell us a bit about 'Kids With Talons'? NANDA: Kids With Talons is dead. We've gone our separate ways, plus I always write things on there and kids hate reading things. What kids really want is photos of wolves hangin' out with young models on Raleigh 20s in the desert, and they're all smoking' cigarettes, and cute messages like "I'll tell you you love me then we can die living" typed on an old typewriter. So we're really blowing it… Nah. We're still killing it! We're probably the best thing on Tumblr. At least everything we put up is our own, so, that's different. We came up with the name after arguing for like three days and nearly crying, we thought it meant something but now I'm not so sure. I don't actually know what talons are? Are they something to do with phone wires? I'm just really glad we didn't call it a "collective". CDM: If you could collaborate with anyone - dead or alive - who would it be?
NANDA: Defs I'd want to roll around with Pablo Picasso, he was so short and ladies loved him! I'd look real tall next to him, and girls would be like "who's your tall friend Pabs?". CDM: Who/what do you find inspiring? Is there any particular person or item that influences you and your work?
NANDA: I listen to music, but I can't tell you what it is or else you'll listen to it then everyone will be drawing like me. I also trawl the arty blogs finding different things that I like and then trying to copy them without anyone noticing. CDM: Can you tell us a bit about your creative process?
NANDA: I have all my best ideas in the sauna. Then I'll sit down and stare at some blank paper for a while. Then I'll have a coffee and change what I'm wearing. Then I'll stare some more. I'll probably change outfits again a few times, then finally when everything feels right BAM, I'll bust out the best things you've ever seen, anytime, ever. CDM: Where will Nanda Ormond be in five years?
NANDA: Signing books in Prague. Not my books, just putting my signature on books at the library, it's like, library bombing, literary badassness. No no, I'll be the second guitarist for an experimental post-apocalyptic noise band called Transaplatic Doom. Hopefully.
CDM: Do you have any tips for young creatives?
NANDA: Yes. Don't be afraid to suck. You're young, you're going to suck for a while yet, because you're young. You probably suck more than me, which is pretty sucky, but you'll get better. No... wait, that sounds mean. Here, why don't we ask MILTON GLASER, a man who I know nothing about, but who apparently knows about art... "MILTON GLASER's 10 rules to never forget to remember about being creative:
1. You can only work for people you like.
2. If you have a choice, never have a job. 3. Some people are toxic. avoid them. 4. Professionalism is not enough, or the good is the enemy of the great (what professionalism means is limiting risks). 5. Less is not necessarily more - just enough is more. 6. Style is not to be trusted. 7. How you live changes your brain. 8. Doubt is better than certainty. 9. Solving the problem is more important than being right. 10. Tell the truth." 11. Nanda Ormond is a sexy genius man. Finish these sentences: OK. In another life I… was a woman. I've had my palms read by a palm-reader-to-the-stars, so I know this to be fact.
Best advertisement of all time…. Hertzfelds "rejected" series. Best movie of all time… 'Castle Of Cagliostro'. Best song of all time... 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC. I like it because I pretend it goes "NAN-DA… ohahahoooahahaoaha NAN-DA!" Best book of all time… 'Backwards Cat' and 'The Surfy Dogs' (my unreleased but guaranteed to be best kids book). If I could be anywhere right now I would be… In North East Africa, dressed like David Attenborough, finding a beautiful tall desert flower to bear my 1.5 children. |
