We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Logic Thompson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Logic below.

Alright, Logic thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I’m the kind of artist who spends a lot of time thinking, planning, and designing what I create. That was easy when I was in middle school and high school because you have the hours to put in without too many responsibilities, but after you enter the capitalist workforce (even in a creative position) that time disappears. You might think I’m saying that “time management” or “efficiency” was the issue I faced, but you’d be mistaken.

I had to learn to go slow.

It’s the only way to avoid a very dangerous, but hidden trap in our society: Hustle. See, time management never allowed me to push past my limits or give an idea the care and attention it really needed to be fully realized. And being efficient always meant cutting out integral pieces of a project or piece of art for the sake of getting it out sooner. This always resulted in a finished product that didn’t reach my expectations or a more painful experience when displaying the project. Someone would suggest I try something with my art, usually with an air of giving a student advice, that I thought about and planned, but cut out for time constraints.

Now I go slow. Art is not a product. But it can go on a product. While the product may be tied to a tight schedule, art is more like a living thing. You can’t rush it’s changes. You have to wait, through sun, wind, and rain. Little by little. With care, honesty, and consideration. Then, you’ll truly allow the art to become what it was always meant to be.

Logic, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Logic Thompson and eh… I’ve been an artist my who life. I started with LEGO and after building the thing in the box once, I’d break it apart and let my imagination flow to create whatever I could. Then, around age 6 or 7 I found out that a pencil and paper could make an infinite amount more shapes, characters, and stories. Soon I was drawing cartoons, ideating comics, binge-watching anime, and doing graffiti in NYC. Without telling too much of my business, these passions led to an advertising career doing graphic and brand design for companies, logo and character design for startups, and more recently event & experiential design for potential product launches and social endeavors.

Simply put, I was a creative director, the actual experimental artist in the corporate position. I’ve sat in the cold board rooms, and flirted at the company mixers. I’ve begged executives to put funding into the cooler option, only to be ignored and then punished for meager results of their own inept ideas. I just didn’t fit in there. I rather host an art show where someone pick up a pencil and draws something for the first time with no judgement. I rather find the spark in someone. I’ve had some cool moments in some professional places, but all in all, I’m still just the kid alone in his room making characters and worlds that live, inspire, struggle, and grow.

I make art from the inside out. Not guts and organs as much as personas, emotions, and vibes. Prints, posters, music, a comic about depression, an animated cartoon in the works, We live in a world that lies too much, so I want to make art that is truer than the words we speak and the thoughts we think. If anything, I hope that my art reminds people that they are deep, multifaceted, spiritual beings created by God; going through an ongoing and important experience of daily evolution, and not the dull, carbon copied, cogs of efficiency they are haphazardly molded and sneakily marketed into by those people in those board rooms I used to sit in.

Somehow, I’ve survived as a man of contradiction. I want function and beauty. I reach into the void and grab both light and the dark. I’m not very nice, but I am very kind. My art is specific, but its meanings are abstract. I love people, but I hate how people are. It’s an excruciating existence. But I think its the real reason I can make art that feels alive. I might just actually be living.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

There’s no such thing as a non-creative. I don’t believe that. People just don’t try to improve. I can’t speak Japanese because I wasn’t born in Japan. But I’m taking a course and now I can say “Hello my name is Logic” (konnichiwa, Logic desu). People have a bad habit of declaring skills they don’t possess as negative personality traits. If you zoom out a bit, people aren’t saying “I haven’t practiced much art.” They’re saying, “I’m not capable of doing it at all,” which is a dangerous lie that can cut off a lifetime of fulfilling experiences in an area that someone just hasn’t put effort into yet.

In other words: Don’t fail because you didn’t try.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

“Pivot” is a dirty word in my life. It’s the word I heard every time some corporate executive was about to tell me that 3-4 months of my work was no longer necessary. “The project is moving in a different direction.” I’m not a fan. And yet, (here comes the contradiction) I count being able to adapt to changing surroundings as one of my strengths.

I recently moved out of NYC, my hometown and the only place I’ve ever lived or thought of living. Why? Rising prices, corrupt landlords, a dwindling job market in a career I had already lost faith in. There will never be a shortage of marketing, advertising, and sales jobs, but I saw the messaging move from “ensuring quality products and services” to “don’t let them know we’re fleecing them” and I just couldn’t accept a check from that.

I went back to freelancing. Now, when I’m not working on my own stuff, I help people who have never heard the term “scope” or “readability” develop their brands. It doesn’t make much money. Most people don’t even realize it’s something they need, much less need to pay for or have a budget for. But I don’t care. I sleep better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://logicthompson.com
• Instagram: logcithompson
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logicthompson/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DassitEntertainment
• Other: https://substack.com/@logicthompson

Image Credits

Alena Kostromina (_DSC6852)

Janica Vasquez (IMAGE_3045)

Amy Fan (IMG_7397)