Tyler Spangler on rediscovering his love of art

Tyler Spangler is a freelance graphic designer from Southern California with a love of explosive colours, digital media, and surfing. His bold and fun art style has captured the attention of brands like Adobe, Instagram, Tinder, Gucci, Nike, and Adidas. His self-taught talent and heart for helping Indonesian school kids were enough for us to reach out to him for a collab. For the December merch drop he had not 1 but 2 collab partners, Faris (12) and Alki (10). He created a vibrant and bold mashup of their 3 styles.

Drawing on surfboards and discovering graphic design

Tyler’s creativity and eye for colours was already showing at a young age. When talking about how he got into art, he recalls: “I always drew on surfboards during class as a kid. I was fascinated by album covers, magazine layouts, and other print media growing up. As I got older, I took a commercial art class in high school that allowed me to learn Photoshop and screen print posters. That is when I learned I could turn it into a career.”

When it comes to graphic design in particular, it was the blend of different media, such as words and images, that drew him in. “I was not a talented illustrator or painter, but I seemed to have a good eye for colour and composition.”

All these creative discoveries might make it hard to believe that Tyler went on to study Psychology at university. He explains: “I love thoughts and behaviour. I was fascinated when I took my first Psychology course in community college. I was really under the impression that I was going to be a psychologist for a while.”

From studying Psychology to booking punk shows

As we now know, Tyler’s career as a psychologist took a left turn and landed him right back into graphic design. But before that, he dipped his toe in the punk show business. 

“I was putting on shows in the basement of a venue for a little bit. It started because I saw a local band that I loved and I wanted to see them play more. I would gather as many local bands as I could and make cloth banners and homemade T-shirts to display at the venue. After a while I took that band on a tour from Southern California to Portland. On the drive, I came up with the idea to rent a small warehouse to put on shows. I ended up using my savings to pay for several months upfront and booked as many bands as I could every day.”

Unfortunately, this endeavour lasted 3 weeks before the organisation got shut down by the police. But don’t fret! This wasn’t the end of Tyler’s creative ventures, as he would go on to establish himself successfully as a freelance graphic designer. He even attended the Art Center College of Design for a year. He elaborates that he wanted to refine his style and give it a more professional feel. 

However, after the first year he made the decision to not finish the degree. “My choice to leave was partly financial and partly due to burn out. I had extremely high expectations for myself. I was doing the assignments, plus some, while still putting out my own personal artwork. I came to the conclusion that I could take what I have learned up until that point and start my own freelance business.” And so, he did. 

Developing his art style and working with Coach

If you’ve seen Tyler’s work, you’ll know that he has a very distinct art style. In his own words, his art is a “culmination of 90s cartoons, 80s punk, 60s colours, and 80s/90s Southern California surf culture. It was also heavily inspired by a motivation to do everything myself from what I knew at the time.” 

As a self-taught artist, he is not afraid to admit that he has shaped and developed his style over the years. “My style has grown and evolved but the core sentiments still remain the same: colourful, chaotic, peaceful, and curious.”

Another distinctive feature of his work is the blending of digital images, colours, and perspectives that creates truly unique compositions. What attracts him to digital art in particular are the endless possibilities for experimentation. “Digital art isn’t bound by physical space or expenses like paints, inks, brushes, or canvases. I love to be able to instantaneously try something and alter it without wasting money.”

This continuous experimentation has resulted in pieces that have drawn in not only 270,000 Instagram followers but have also captured the attention of lots of big-name brands. Think Adobe, Facebook, Instagram, Gucci, Hermès, and Adidas. One glance at his portfolio shows an interesting trend, with lots of his collabs being with social media companies and clothing and athletic wear brands. 

According to Tyler, the reason why these types of companies have gravitated towards him is because “bright and bold energy is very attractive for companies that value movement and attention. My work is hard not to look at, for better or worse.”

When the topic comes up of his favourite brand he’s worked with, Tyler’s answer is quick and without hesitation: Coach. He elaborates: “I got to make a custom pattern based on their monogram that was used as wallpaper for 2 different pop-up events in New York and Los Angeles. It was also used in several retail locations. A couple typographic pieces I designed were also used on handbags. I loved having such creative freedom combined with the enormous resources of a big fashion company, and seeing my work come alive in a physical environment.”

Collabing with Indonesian school children

When talking about children’s art with Tyler, it’s immediately clear that he has a deep appreciation for children’s creativity. “I love the carefree and spontaneous attitude of children’s art. It isn’t bound by expectations. I think the ideas and energy are really raw. It’s important to be able to hang on to that if you want to continue to make art into adulthood.”And how does Tyler hang on to this child-like creativity in his adulthood? Fortunately for him, he has a young artistic partner around him 24/7. “I have a son who loves to draw. We collaborate on artwork all the time. He draws on my surfboard, and we do art contests based on different themes. His creativity amazes me.”

With Tyler’s out-of-the-box creativity, impressive portfolio, and appreciation of children’s art, it was only inevitable that we would reach out to him for a Face This collab. Luckily, it seems that the excited feeling was mutual. “I was super excited. I love doing collaborations and this one had an additional benefit of being charitable.”

While most of our artists only have the task of working with one child’s drawing, Tyler had a more challenging collab. He was given both Faris (12) and Alki’s (10) drawings to combine into a final illustration. So, how did he tackle this task? “I had to figure out how to make marbles, family, and trees an interesting visual. I love to abstract things and add colour to give different meanings. I experimented with shapes and textures until it was balanced and fun. It took some tinkering, but the organic drawings found their way into the textures nicely. They now live harmoniously.”

We couldn’t agree more! The final illustration is a perfect example of Tyler’s signature style combined with Faris and Alki’s initial drawings. 

‘Makes you feel like home’

The children from the SDN 4 Batu Putih school in Lombok were given the theme of ‘Makes you feel like home’ when making their drawings. With this theme in mind, Faris drew his friends and brothers playing marbles, while Alki drew one of the trees he often sees around his house. 

It’s clear that both pupils have very distinct ideas of what home means to them. When discussing this, Tyler says: “Each person has elements and memories of home. It can be as simple as a small round glass ball or a tree. It really is the small sentimental things that give meaning to places.”

And what is it that makes Tyler feel at home? His response: “There are certain items that give me comfort and make me feel at home. My computer and my headphones are the most important. I have a huge part of my world inside my computer: my art, my music, my research. To me home is comfort, familiarity, and the ability to be yourself, doing the things you love.”

At the end of such an inspiring interview we’re curious to hear what takeaways Tyler has from his experience working with school children from Indonesia. 

“I learned about the similarities and differences between art styles, how to incorporate different techniques, and how to make them cohesive. I learned that every element can be used to add different meaning and layers to an artwork.”

Finally, when asked if he would collab with children again in the future, his answer is short and sweet: “Absolutely - I love seeing the creativity.”