We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandon Lee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandon below.
Brandon , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
My creative journey began with music: I started playing guitar when I was 9 or 10 and started playing in a band at 13. The band played its first shows that same year, and it was mostly just our friends and family that came to see us. I can’t remember at which show we first got paid, but it was something like $100 split between four of us. It was strange because at that age money was not something we were thinking about at all, we were just playing music because it was fun. So the idea of getting rewarded for having fun was just like “what?!” Haha. Even though I wasn’t expecting compensation and would have done it regardless, I think it instilled in me from a young age the idea that my work has value and people shouldn’t be expected to work for free.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Music was my main focus/career for most of my adult life. But during that time I was also interested all types of visual art, so that was something I started exploring from a young age as well. Mostly painting and drawing as a kid, and then exploring other mediums like sculpture, collage, or combining all of the above. As the band progressed, I started making designs for our merch, album covers, and advertisements for our shows. That lead me to taking an interest in graphic design, and I’ve worked as a freelance graphic designer off and on throughout the years.
I think becoming comfortable with the free and uninhibited elements of painting and then the more refined and sort of commercial approach to graphic design had a big impact on my visual art as a whole. I find that my knowledge of graphic design can make my paintings (or now tattoo designs) really pop, and on the other hand my free spirited method of painting can help me make my graphic design projects more interesting and less bland/sterile (gRaPhIc DeSiGn iS mY pAsSiOn) lol.
Tattooing has been my most recent creative endeavor. As I have made various forms of visual art for most of my life, and I have been collecting tattoos for most of my adult life, it kind of just made sense to venture into that world. I am still very new (I’ve only been tattooing for about a year), but I am loving it so far. It is extremely challenging and completely different from any other form of art I’ve made, but also very rewarding and exciting.
Have you ever had to pivot?
In a way I feel like my career has been one continuous giant pivot haha. From music, to graphic design, to a painter showing in galleries, to starting a clothing line, and now to tattoos. Even though I still do all of these things, there have been periods where each has been my main focus and/or source of income. It can certainly be humbling, especially if you’ve had a modicum of success in one field and then starting from scratch and being completely unknown in another. But what is life if not unpredictable? Pivoting can be daunting and stressful, and there have been many times where I felt like giving up. But fortunately, at the end of the day my desire to create things has always kept me going and hopefully always will.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
There have been many books that have have had an impact on my life and career, but a few standouts are:
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron –
One main challenge that I have faced throughout my career is getting too caught up with perfection. At times it has kind of paralyzed me as an artist, especially when beginning new projects and I can’t seem to get the ball rolling. This book contains writing exercises (but can be adapted to any art form) that help you to “rest on the page”, where you are essentially doing stream of consciousness writing and just writing the first things that come to mind, even if it’s just gibberish. It might seem silly, but sometimes it can be extremely helpful to just get the pen (or paintbrush) moving without overthinking it. Because in my experience that is often when the best ideas come out anyhow.
The other two books are by the same author and kind of go hand-in-hand:
The Power of Habit, and Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg –
Another challenge of being a creative is often being your own boss. This might seem more like a blessing (which it also can be), however not having anyone but yourself to be accountable to is something that I have definitely struggled with over the years. It’s very easy to put things off until tomorrow, or sleep in a couple extra hours, or stop working a little early when you don’t have anyone to yell at you for it haha. But “tomorrow” quickly becomes next week and before you know it you’re way behind schedule. These books have been super helpful in identifying why I am procrastinating and how to make the necessary changes in order to break unwanted habits, and also form new or desirable ones. The information in these books is also not just for artists, really for anyone who is interested in behavioral change.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Theparkafterdark.com
- Instagram: Glitterpriest
Image Credits
Music performance photo by Donovan Johnson @ubuntudon