We recently connected with Luis Aleman and have shared our conversation below.

Luis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Being an artist is all I’ve ever known myself to be. Ever since I was young I had been certain I wanted to be an artist. I started drawing at a very young age like most children do, but at some point during middle school, I knew this was more than just a hobby. There isn’t a day I go by without doing something that involves the arts, whether its work on a massive painting project or doing a small sketch in my sketchbook. It’s done without thinking. Naturally, I must create something and if not, I feel empty, it’s a part of me. I have worked a regular job as a bank teller for a short time, and that phase in my life taught me that I was right. I knew that there was nothing else out there I would rather do than be an artist.

Luis, 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 Luis Aleman, I’m a Miami based artist who is currently attending Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts for my bachelor in fine arts. I create acrylic paintings that involve two very different art styles which I combined and made it my own style, realism portraits and graffiti. In the bodies of work I produce, I use a very traditional style of approaching the human figure, adopting the aesthetic of classical and baroque art. With this I also bring the modern approach of graffiti and intertwining these two very opposite ends. These paintings represent the culture, city, and people I grew around with. However, recently after high school, I decided to take a risky action involving what I wanted to continue to study in college. If you were to ask me back in sophomore year of high school what I wanted to study in college, my answer would have been obviously fine arts. But when junior year came around and art college representatives started showing up to our art school, I heard about animation in many of their presentations. Now, I had zero experience in animation and filmmaking but the curiosity got the best of me and I began researching more about it. To understand where my mind was at the time, my art high school disliked the work I created because it was traditional and representative, when in fact they were looking for more modern/contemporary styles of work. I began to notice that many of the other fine art colleges had the same mission and none really taught skill-based work like places like the Florence academy in Italy that have more of an academic approach to art. So I never felt I belonged in that school for that purpose, everyone seemed to have that same mentality. I didn’t want to go through the same thing again in college. So, I learned that in many schools where they teach animation, you must have a strong foundation in the arts involving realism, traditional skill-based concepts. Finally I had found something which embraced what I loved. I knew that animation was going to be a new field for me but I decided to take the risk and grow as an artist, expanding my knowledge and bringing what I have as painter to the film industry and in turn develop myself creatively in more than just one field.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I try to live day by day and not worry to much about the future. Of course, I do set goals and expectations for myself in being better than I was the day before. The battle I face everyday is with the person staring back at me in the mirror. I see the mistakes of other artists/creatives, comparing themselves to others and not focusing in their own path and journey which only weakens them mentally. My mother always told me to do whatever makes me happy but if I am willingly to do that, then I must do my best everyday and promise myself to give it my all. The arts give meaning to my life and is the thing that keeps me going and pushing myself everyday.

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

Seeing all the hard work you put behind doors, and after countless sleepless nights of studying, informing yourself, practicing, and creating works finally paying off. Many only see the final product, and make assumptions while others devalue your work, but as years go by, I’ve learned to ignore. When an idea pops in my head for a painting/animation project, its almost like carrying weights on my shoulders, and that weight won’t go away until I execute that said idea. So, after having visualized my idea in my head and then finally seeing it come to life on a canvas or screen, it feels so rewarding having that ability to create anything you think of and having others as well enjoy that work you create.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://luisaleman.pb.online/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luisalemanart/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/luisalemanart/