Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Perkins
Hi Luke, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Being creative has always sort of been a ‘given’ for me; I can’t pinpoint a moment where that switch flipped, but I know that I’ve been wired that way for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories where I can identify that feeling was when I was around 5 or 6 years old. I remember my parents explaining the concept of imagination to me, and mentioning in passing that it was something people lost when they got older. I remember pretty distinctly not wanting that to happen; how was I gonna play pretend if I couldn’t imagine anything? Doesn’t work, so I decided I was going to hold onto my imagination for as long as I could.
As I made my way through school, I always made an effort to maintain that spark. I wouldn’t say it was a conscious effort as much as it was a way of maintaining my joy and curiosity against the rigidity of the education system. I can recall several occasions where teachers would pull me to the side after class and tell me I needed to stop covering the margins of my assignments in doodles. I never stopped though, and not out of disrespect; I literally couldn’t bring myself to. Those margin doodles carried me through my schooling experience.
In my experience as a working illustrator, I’ve found that being open-minded to different kinds of projects is something that I really value. I’m a music illustrator at heart; designing album covers and merchandise for bands is really where I have my eyes set. However, in my time working I’ve had the chance to illustrate a children’s book, create physical murals, design logos, and create motion media graphics for advertising. What I’ve found is really cool about spreading myself out like this is that every different medium is a different lesson, in a way. Each project has different requirements, different standards, and different skills I need to hone to not disappoint a client (and myself). What I’ve found so far is that I come out of each new project with skills that I can translate to my work as a whole. The other upside of being multidisciplinary is that it keeps things interesting! Sometimes it’s nice to switch things up, even if it’s a medium I’m not completely comfortable with.
That’s the phase I find myself in, for now! I’m finishing up my time in college and I’m super excited to begin really honing my craft and being able to put my work out there.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve been very blessed to have a family that’s supported my journey as an artist. My parents, even though neither are creatives themselves, were very supportive of me taking the leap of going to an art school. I think it was probably hard for them to imagine me doing anything else either!
If I’m being honest about the difficulties that have come with the path I’m taking, I would say being creative can be mentally trying. I’ve had times where I’ve been able to produce some of my best work out of low points or negative emotion, but I’ve also had times where I can’t bring myself to make anything at all. Being a working artist is taking something organic, some kind of feral spark, and trying to confine it to timetables and punch cards. It doesn’t always work, and I definitely struggle between finding that balance of being ‘creative’ and letting myself rest and recover.
Overall, though, I feel extremely lucky to be where I am. Every time I catch myself complaining about being busy, I have to remind myself that at the end of the day I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I think in order to try and describe my voice as an artist, I have to start with the art I make for free. Over the course of my time in college, I’ve been slowly developing my own visual language through my personal sketchbook. I think about the sketchbook as a ‘visual diary’, where I can try to unpack emotions that I have a hard time wrapping words around. Doing these pages sort of emerged as a necessity for me, the same way as doodling in the margins did. I do each of these pages in around half an hour, and I try not to let myself use my frontal lobe on these things at all. I find that when I do it this way, they’re more subconsciously ‘true’ when I look back at them, if that makes any sense. Typically those personal pieces are super wild and psychedelic. That’s the visual language I gravitate towards the most; I love working with raw shape and color to try and get at universal ideas.
One of the biggest reasons I love music illustration, besides loving music, is that I usually get a ton of freedom to really push boundaries and see how far you can take ideas. Sometimes with other commissions, it can feel like I’m having to dial things back to meet the client’s needs. I do feel like this still makes for better art, though; I’d much rather dial back than not be able to do enough on a given project.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
To be honest, I think success for me isn’t tied to money, or even my art as a whole. I do art because I love it. I’m successful if I’m a force of good in the lives of the people around me. I think that my art can do that, for sure, and I’m constantly working to make my art more effective in that way. However, there are a lot of real, tangible choices I make every day that it’d be easy to neglect if I thought I was doing enough good from my art alone. In order for me to feel like I did a good job on this planet I want to lead by example with kindness, love, and forgiveness. We find ourselves in such a hateful climate and I think the way out of that starts at the center of your own soul. If I can find and keep that grace, then I’m successful in every way that counts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lukeperkinsatx.wixsite.com/lukeperkins
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lperkinsart/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-perkins-a76679323/
- Other: [email protected]
