Artist: Sanford Greene

Hometown: Columbia, SC

Bio: Sanford’s been in the comic game for over four years now. In that time he has worked on everything from Planet of the Apes and Star Wars to Galactic, his own project for Darkhorse’s adventure line Rocket Comics. Currently he is in production on a new hiphop book called “Joe” that takes a look at social issues effecting kids today. He’s also one fourth of the Arxilla crew with Keron Grant, Ed Mcguinness, and LeSean Thomas. Outside of the comic world Sanford gets his freelance on doing some illustrated covers and inserts for indie hiphop crew Non Phixion and up and coming SC emcee, Spectak. Oh and this kid’s knowledge of independent hiphop is thorough too don’t let the accent fool ya.

Notable Works: Galactic Series (Rocket Comics), Star Wars Tales (Darkhorse), Planet of the Apes (Darkhorse)

Websites: Sanford Greene, Artxilla Studios

So, what is there actually to do in Columbia, South Carolina?

I thought this was an interview about me as an artist, not how wack South Carolina is. That should answer your question right there. Haha

What’s up with the hiphop scene? We don’t know anyone from South Carolina who did anything, so you know you gotta put your spot on the map.

Actually, there are a couple cats right now that are doing some really nice things from this area. It’s this cat named Spectak, he’s an emcee right now that’s coming out with some stuff early next year. He’s already making a decent buzz underground. Being from this area in order to really be known on a more national level he had to branch out, so he moved up to Raleigh. I don’t know what the difference is between Columbia and Raleigh, but he got a job offer up there plus he is putting his album together and he just got down with Little Brother. 9th Wonder is producing half of his tracks and he contacted me to do a comic insert for his new album. This other cat named Omari just got some stuff in the works with the new Tribe album. You got two guys right there that are doing some pretty nice things in the underground hiphop scene. Then there’s DJ Eclipse who does a show called Halftime in New York at WNYU. He’s from here too.

Oh yea I remember that show from back in the day I think it used to be called New York Live on 89.1.

I figured you knew some cats, but you didn’t know they was from here. Either they failed to mention it or they are just ashamed of it, but those guys are putting some things down and I’ve got an opportunity as an illustrator to do some cool things here. I’ve been in the comic game for about three years now and that’s been moving along really well. I just recently came off of a run with Superman from DC Comics. I did [Star Wars Tales] a comic related to the Star Wars movie and Planet of The Apes when that movie came out, that was my first gig. So I got in doing some movie related stuff and I kept climbing from there. I’m contracted with this company right now called Metron Press, they gonna be pretty huge next year and their doing a comic that’s gonna be hiphop based, but it’s not gonna look like the stuff you see in the back of The Source. It’s gonna have a nice crossover appeal to it like what if you could take Juice and turn it into the Matrix. It’s gonna have those two genres crossing over and I’m going to be using a lot of hiphop references as far as underground stuff so I’m pretty excited about that. I was told they are trying to do a soundtrack for that book as well. For some reason they are trying to get a hold of Def Jam to do it. It will be big, but I don’t really like anyone on Def Jam.

How’s the graffiti scene back in South Carolina?

It’s not that much because there are too many open spaces unless you want to tag a barn or something. There aren’t too many high rises or trains and downtown is like spotless. So the graffiti scene is not prevalent, although growing up I was really into it I never got into it. Even though I didn’t do that genre of art it had the same principle behind it. They think the same way, they go about doing their art the same way and come up with the end result. That sparked with graffiti, Picasso, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, etc. The overall feel is the same. You get inspired and you put it down. If you can’t get it down sometimes you get frustrated with it and you want to quit. All of those things we relate to as artists.

As a child were you one of those kids who got in trouble for always drawing in class, on the desks or on walls?

Definitely. Actually that turned out to be a blessing because if I hadn’t gotten caught by the teacher she wouldn’t have known I could do it. I was in the 4th grade when this happened and the teacher that saw this was like oh man you can do a little scribbling and decided to put that to use and give me some direction. She let me design the school newspaper and do a comic for it. So I did a lil comic strip for it that came out once a month and that was the beginning of people knowing that I could do this. I was a kid that had some type of talent.

What brought you into drawing? Did you hang out with the artistic group of kids or were you just bored as a child?

I hung out with thugs man. There were not too many artistic kids around. It was kinda like one of those things like you hang out with a bunch of cats and you’re the only one that can draw so you’re the man. I used to always be in the forefront and as far as they were concerned, no one could touch me in that area. I let them do the braggin for me. It was different when I went off to college because everybody and their grandma can draw then, your just a little fish in a big pond. So just being around those guys that had the interest, but didn’t have the ability put me in a cool situation because I was like the man when it came to that kinda stuff. That was my ticket to be cool.

Do you ever have cats constantly in your face about designs for clothing lines and things like that?

If I had a dime. That needs to be a song. Through time I learned to decipher what’s the real deal and what’s just a bunch of cats talking. Unfortunately, there are a lot of dudes who just talk a big game. I just put the ball in their court. If their real serious I give them my number and lay out to them what I would be expecting and ask what they are willing to pay or what their budget is and say give me a call. If they call me back, I know they are a little bit serious and if they start talking money they may be on point.

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Posted by Halftime on Monday, December 15th, 2003 and is filed under SLICK TALKIN'.