We were lucky to catch up with Drew Campbell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Drew , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

At this point in my life, I still work a regular full-time job in order to make a living and support my artistic goals. Sometimes I stare down at a salmon fillet (I cut fish at a poké restaurant) and wish I could just put down the knife, and pick up a pen. When I’m writing, or drawing, is when I feel the most like myself. Although I have these dreams and desires to drop everything, walk out of my job and never come back, I try to be a little more realistic. But in all honesty, sometimes being out in the world and working has actually heightened my creativity. I have written numerous stories that introduce characters much like myself, working at dull, mind-numbing jobs with rude customers and terrible management. These stories, whether I end up getting them published or not, help me find the meaning in the grind. Currently, I have authored 7 poetry collections, 1 novella, 2 short story collections, and I have had work published in several zines, magazines, and anthology books.
My interest in creativity does not end with my own work though. In 2018, my partner Monica and I began organizing events for local artists to network and share their talents with others. Each one of our shows tried to include elements from multiple mediums. We had tables for artists to sell zines and other crafts. There where stages for musicians to play for the crowd, and we would end each night with a presentation of independently produced short films.
All was well until March of 2020. We were just about to host another event when the pandemic shut everything down. I spent the next several days yearning for everything to go back to normal so we could continue what we were doing. Eventually, as the lockdown continued, I began looking into the developing world of online events. It started with hosting a show on Instagram Live featuring people I knew from prior events, and participating in countless online zine fests. Over time, I developed quite a network of talented individuals that lived all over the world, rather than just the cities that surrounded my own home. This slowly evolved into more regular online shows via Instagram and YouTube, as well as the creation of several self-published collaborative zines. My most successful, as well as longest running, is BROKEN GALAXIES MAGAZINE, which currently includes 10 issues. This publication is my ode to classic sci-fi, horror, and fantasy magazines, and each issue features writing, artwork, and photographs submitted by many international talents.
Very recently, I teamed up with my friend Caleb White, who has been producing his own podcast for over a year. Caleb expressed interest in growing his platform, and asked if I had any interest in hosting a new program. He said I could have full creative control and I accepted his offer, using the same goal as my events and zines. Soon we launched Vlasinda’s DESOLATE LIBRARY, a podcast that features storytellers, poets, musicians, as well as anyone with an interesting real-world tale. At this time, we have completed 2 episodes, and are developing several more that will take us up till the end of this year.
One other meaningful project I would like to mention is THE SACRED SANCTUARIES TOUR As the pandemic slowly tapered, my partner and I reignited our love for traveling. We enjoy the various National Parks within reasonable driving distance, and began visiting them as often as we could. Eventually we developed a desire to travel further outside our bubble, and venture to a greater variety of the parks. Currently we have explored NPS sites in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, as well as our home state of California. Somewhere along the way, we came up with the idea to record videos of me reading a poem at each of the sites we visited. At first it was just a fun thing to do while we hiked, but we eventually started promoting them on our social media as THE SACRED SACTUARIES TOUR. The 2nd season of the tour recently wrapped up in February, and we plan to continue the tradition every year for the foreseeable future.

Drew , 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 creativity began at a very young age. I always loved to draw, tell stories, and make little booklets with my own original characters. My grandmother would let me watch horror movies, which both frightened and fascinated me. She definitely gets most of the credit for turning me into a creative person. When I took art classes in school, I always thought my creativity would let me ease my way through, but I was mistaken. Much of what you learn in art class is technique, and I never had any interest in copying anyone else’s style or ideas.
Over the years I tried getting into several different mediums. First it was drawing, then writing. Eventually I became interested in painting, music, and film. No matter which of these artforms I chose to work on, I was met with that finger pointing directly at me and telling me, “NO.” It took me years to learn, and in some ways I’m still learning, to build my own system, rather than trying to abide by the rules of others. The seeds of rejection soon grew into the idea to publish and produce projects on my own. VLASINDA PRDUCTIONS began as a way to get my own work out there, and eventually allowed me to help promote others as well. When people submit their work to me, they can rest easy knowing that they won’t face rejection, or have their work altered.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

When I finish a drawing or a story, I don’t always like it right away. I will spend many hours or days revising things or changing small details to try to improve the piece. Sometimes I get it to a point where I love it, but not always. Either way, no matter how I feel about what I’ve created, it is rewarding to look at that screen or paper and realize that before I sat down to create, it was blank.

How did you build your audience on social media?

VLASINDA doesn’t have the largest following on social media, but it has grown more since we began collaborating with other creators. I found a good way to build an audience is to explore accounts that interest you, follow them, and engage with them as often as possible. Some of them may never respond, but the ones that do will keep following you as long as you aren’t offensive, and continue to produce good content. I often use social media to communicate with other artists, especially when I’m developing a collaborative project. Many of the people that have worked with us where creators I found through Instagram, or somehow they found me through an open call for submissions.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vlasinda_stormdrain/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/vlaSINda
• Other: Vlasinda’s DESOLATE LIBRARY Podcast . . https://open.spotify.com/show/77iM0H8rO4xW4fnkcM5GC5

Image Credits
All images are courtesy of VLASINDA PRODUCTIONS. Featured in these photos are Drew Campbell, Monica Siasoco, and Caleb White