Art is hard. Music, I get, for the most part. But paintings, sculptures, architecture, sketches, and all that visual stuff can be so challenging, even when it’s supposed to be simple. I can appreciate a film like Memento but abstract art from the 21st century is beyond me. That’s why I gravitate towards Gangster Doodles. Created by Canadian Marlon Sassy, what seems to be simple drawings on Post-It notes with some markers has given him an out from his day job and a new outlet for a full time job. I spotted my first Gangster Doodles on 100′s Instagram, who now goes by Kossisko, and was drawn to the simplicity yet accuracy it captured. Once I peeped his other work, I could tell that Marlon appreciated the subjects that he was drawing, rappers for the most part, to an extent that most professional artists couldn’t with days of work. Peep our interview with him below and some of the great work that he’s posted up over the months. Please excuse the glitch we’re experiencing with the images. To fully appreciate the drawings included throughout the post, I highly encourage you to click on each to load on a new page.

Keep up with Gangster Doodles on his Tumblr and his Instagram. You can also purchase prints of his work HERE (second edition prints of DOOM are coming soon).

Where do you currently work?

A TV production company. Mostly reality TV stuff, a few documentaries. I’m the office manager. Nothing creative. It’s more if like someone needs a chair or office supplies.

So that kind of set you up for the supplies for Gangster Doodles?

Well every week, I order office supplies–from like Sharpies, Post-Its, highlighters, and they’re always kind of around everywhere. And I’m always making notes on Post-It notes so I’d make a note and then a little doodle, and it kind of evolved.

Tell me about the first ones that came about.

At break time we have a lunchroom, but I usually stay at my desk and I listen to music. So I was listening to Snoop Dogg’s Doggfather and I had my Post-Its, and I was looking at the album cover and I thought it’d be cool if I could draw it. And it went from there. In Hip-Hop, the characters are larger than life so it translates well, drawing. They’re interesting looking. I’d draw the cover of whatever I was listening to. And I’d draw them super rough like 4 minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes. The first one looks so fucking shitty. But that’s because I drew them super quick and I’d scan them in. I’d have a printer underneath my desk so I’d, on the down low, just scan them in and quickly adjust them in Photoshop and post them. And it’d get to a certain point where I’d be doing the pictures when I was supposed to be working. But I’d always have a work document up so if anyone came along I’d start typing, to make it look like I was working.

But then it’d get too much where I was like, “I’ll do these when I get home tonight.” Then it transitioned to me doing them at night where it took longer for me to do. Now they take me an hour or two to draw and maybe two or three hours to Photoshop. It went gradually from 5 minutes to 20 minutes and when it got to like half an hour to draw, that’s when I thought that with work, I can’t do it. Some of them take up to 5 hours.

Oh wow. Which one was that one?

A Tribe Called Quest. It was all the members and it was a matter of when I scanned them in, I originally scanned them in at a high resolution and it basically blurred the image. I had to retrace all the lines. And I did it with a mouse, not a stylus pen.

Have you thought about getting a stylus?

I thought about it but I’m at a point where I feel comfortable using a mouse.

So were you always that kid doodling on his notes in class?

Not really. I’ve always been drawing except I’ve been working at this job for 9 years. For like the last 8 years I’d go home and paint or draw. Nothing really happened with that like painting and trying to get shows. I couldn’t get anything off the ground so I was at a crossroads. I was thinking about saying, “Fuck this,” and try something completely different. And the Post-Its just happened to be on my desk by chance. And I showed a couple people at work and they liked them. And as soon as I started posting them to my Tumblr page, it was an instant response. I stopped painting and drawing and just doing Gangster Doodles.

So what were you drawing before Gangster Doodles?

That’s the thing. It was nothing to do with Hip-Hop stuff. It more your landscapes, animals, creatures, large 18×24 paper mixed media. Totally the opposite of what I’m doing now. Nothing to do with Hip-Hop or Post-It notes.

And the internet stretched out its hands and changed your life…

Yeah, basically. It’s really being growing over the last year. Three or four months ago, people started contacting me to do stuff for them. And then I made an Instagram page. That helped a lot.

Have you turned down a suggestion because I know you field them pretty well?

(laughs) I have. I have the doodle list. It’s almost at that 200 mark. So it’s at a point where I do what I can. I’m doing a new one every, single day. I even get a response on my Tumblr page, saying, “Why haven’t you done my doodle yet?”

So what’s on the plate tonight?

I might do Warren G tonight or Nate Dogg. I’m leaning towards Warren G. I kind of have an idea of what I’m doing but I don’t. I don’t start drawing until 10/11 at night. And then I’ll go through my library of reference photos and find something to be inspired by. That’s how it works. Or if I’m at work, if I find something I like, I’ll save it and then I’ll do that.

What are some of your favorite ones that you’ve done?

I would say the new ones. I made a few for a guy in Australia and they’re all 6×9. I made a MF DOOM, Pusha-T, and another one. Those were strong. When I finish each one, that one is kinda my new favorite. Some of the old ones, I can’ actually look back at them. I think they all suck. If I look back at the old ones, it makes me angry and I want to go change all of them.

Have you sent any of them to the artists that you’ve drawing or have they seen them and responded?

At first, it’d be a random person asking me to do this cover or design a t-shirt and I would. Right now, I’m doing it where Jon Wayne is releasing a new song every week and I’m doing the releases for that. He reached out to me for that and that’s pretty sweet. I’m doing stuff for Knxwledge too. I do a lot for Stones Throw I guess.

And I saw that you did a book with them.

Yeah, I put that one two or three months ago. And it was published by Valley Cruise press. They’re a publishing start up in L.A. And I kinda had a relationship with Jeff Jank so I reached out to Jeff and told him that I’m putting out this book, and I asked if he wanted a copy. And he brought up the idea of maybe he could sell some on the website. So I was like, “Hell yeah.” And I did the Freddie Gibbs Piñata cover and he reached out after I did that. He posted it on his Rapcats Tumblr page and that’s kinda how that relationship started.

Do you coworkers or boss know about the fame you’ve earned on the internet?

No. No one really knows. I kinda keep that on the down low. There’s one or two that know but a majority don’t. They’re not really on the same wavelength. I tried explaining it to them.

I’m gonna have to get that book as a coffee table book. That’d be perfect.

I think it’s sold out but I’m gonna do a second volume. I’m also doing a limited edition t-shirt with The Back Forty. Mark Johnson, Kenny Anderson, Chris Roberts. They started a new skateboard store and they asked if could use one of mine for a t-shirt.

Do you ever see the end to this?

I’m at the point where I have enough commission lined up where I might quit my day job and just do that full time*. I’m working on a bunch of different stuff. So I would like to do it longer if I could.

Editor’s note: Since the interview, Maron has left his job at the TV production company and has takes on Gangster Doodles full time.

Bryan Hahn is saving up for that dope addition to his coffee table that doesn’t exist yet. One day. He’s on Twitter (@notupstate).