First let’s start by giving our audience a quick introduction to you… In your words, who are you and what do you do?
Hi, I’m Patrick, Pat, OG Pat, whatever you wanna call me I’m a man of many names. I am a visual artist out of Dallas, Texas. I’m 22 years old. I do a lot of things with my art such as cover art, logos, flyers, motion graphics, clothing designs, and business cards. I’ve been designing since I was 16, but didn’t start taking myself seriously until I was about 20. I’ve come pretty far in the last two years, and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead of me.
What inspired you to become a visual artist?
When I was kid, I wanted to make animated movies. Working for Pixar was my dream for a long time. All I wanted to do was become an animator. When I went to college though, I gravitated towards graphic design, and the rest is history I guess. So shoutout to Pixar for inspiring me. I always wanted to make Incredibles 2 while growing up, but they beat me to it.
What’s your background in art?
I don’t really have one. Other than drawing all the time, cartoons, and the occasional art museum, I never studied, or looked at art like that. Nobody around me really cared about the arts like that, but my father was really into technology so I was always into technology by default. So now that I do what I do, I like to keep my technology up to date, and always want the best equipment.
What themes do you pursue in your artwork?
I don’t really have too many deep themes in my artwork. Most of the work I do is more along the lines of advertisement and branding, so there’s hardly ever a need for it in my client work. In my personal work, I love minimalism, as well as color. Simplicity, vibrancy, and heavy contrast are some things you’ll see a lot in my work if you pay attention. The look is just so beautiful to me. It’s going to be a while before I ever switch it up. I’d like to incorporate more meaningful themes into my artwork, but at the rate that I have been progressing, it’ll be a while before I have the opportunity to actually sit and create what I want to create.
What kind of creative routines or rituals do you have?
I’m a night owl. So I don’t do any work before noon, because when I do it never really comes out how I want it to. 1-6am is like peak creativity hours for me. I have to remember to take breaks from staring at the screen and when I do I normally either tweet recklessly, or take naps for way too long. Also, I always start more than one project at one time. This helps keep my creativity flowing. Sometimes when you work on one thing for so long you get tired of it so it’s best to keep your mind fresh with ideas by doing multiple things.
My goal is to become the best graphic designer, photographer, and videographer that I can be first and foremost. I feel like if I do that it’ll take me places unimaginable instead of focusing on one specific goal to reach.
In your opinion, what role does the artist have in society?
The Artist is one of the most unappreciated people in society. No matter where you are, or where you go, you’re going to see some form of artistry. Whether it be from signs, advertisements, architecture, etc. Everything is a form of art. We just give certain artists different names. You need artists in every aspect of life, people just don’t respect them. They feel like they’re not as important as people think, and that they shouldn’t be treated with respect, and compensated for their work. It’s annoying, but it’s the world we live in. Shoutout to all the people who know our worth though. You’re appreciated more than you know.
What do you dislike about the art world?
The art world is a weird place. Most people are just regular people, but they try to put on different personas to present themselves differently which is weird to me. I would love to collab with a lot of young designers, but they always try to act as if they’re too good for it. I feel like a lot of artists would benefit tremendously from collaboration with the right people. We’re all just trying to make it are we not? We can help each other it’s okay. We can all prosper in the art world. People act as if there is only one spot open, and we’re all competing for it. I will never understand it. That’s why I try to help as many people as I can. I know when I first started how much help I needed, and I don’t want people to feel the same way.
Professionally, what’s your goal?
My goal is to become the best graphic designer, photographer, and videographer that I can be first and foremost. I feel like if I do that it’ll take me places unimaginable instead of focusing on one specific goal to reach. That’s one of the reasons I am taking the entire month of October off, so that I can get better at videography. I’ll learn photography eventually, I just don’t want to right now. I’d also like to own my own advertising company. That’s been a dream of mine for some time now, and I really feel like i’m getting close to bringing that into fruition.
Do you have a favorite piece you’ve ever created?
I do. It’s a motion graphic for a party called “Hunger Games”. I set the hunger games logo on fire with orange and purple flames. It took forever, but it came out beautiful. My still photo that’ll probably be posted here is called “The NBA Logo Project”. I was going through a slump and needed a creativity boost, so I decided to recreate all of the NBA Logos. I love basketball and the NBA, so making it was enjoyable for me. I love all of those logos, except the Orlando Magic one. That one is terrible and I should redo it. Maybe one day.
What’s the best advice you can give to other artists about creativity?
1. Never stop creating. Never stop pursuing your goals. Never let anyone else’s opinions on your work define how you feel about your abilities.
2. Personal Projects work. Always have something on the side that you actually want to do. Client work doesn’t always keep the creativity flowing.
3. Nobody knows what you can do until you show them. Always strive to expand your skillset and show people what you’re capable of. Complacency gets you nowhere.
