We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Payton Kustka a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Payton, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

For a long time I considered pursuing a career in a STEM field, maybe microbiology or genetics research. Having done well academically through middle and high school it felt like a waste not to find a regular job in a more stable or even respected field. I did love science and being intellectually challenged, but art had been the most consistent part of my life and the only thing I could imagine myself being entirely happy doing. I’ve since learned that pursuing your passion is perhaps the greatest path to ‘success,’ because potential only matters if you have the energy and desire to channel it. I’m happy to say now that while I do still have fears surrounding my chosen career path, I’ve found only joy in the challenges it provides. Better yet, I’ve found ways to integrate the analytical parts of STEM that I love so much into my creative practices that make it even more fulfilling!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Payton Kustka and I am an illustrator and animator for gaming, currently studying both disciplines at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I am also an equestrian- before pursuing my career in art I both worked and competed in the hunter jumper discipline, and that experience is now one of the greatest influences on my character and content. In terms of art, I got my start in colored pencil realism nearly eight years ago, before transitioning to digital art and starting to develop my own concepts and compositions. Today, my focus lies in what is generally known in the gaming industry as “splash” art or key art, which showcase game characters interacting with each other and their environment. I’ve grown to love this form of illustration for its more holistic development, focusing on atmosphere and storytelling rather than just meticulous detail. My more recent pursuit of animation has allowed me to bring these characters and environments to life in 3D, and I hope it will one day allow my audience to experience them in a more interactive fashion. Overall, I hope my use of color, texture, and painterly rendering breaths life into the stories I illustrate for my audience to enjoy.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

During my early development as an artist I was met with what I considered at the time to be a significant following on social media. I knew this to mean success, so naturally I continued creating work that improved engagement and earned me followers. What I didn’t understand was that while people engaged, they didn’t connect with or love my work. I now know that it’s because I didn’t either. It is absolutely possible to create a following of people who resonate with your content, but I believe that it may only be possible if you resonate with it just as much, if not more. Essentially, creating things you love will attract like-minded people, and your success will develop organically. While it seems simple, I learned to tie much of my worth as an artist to numbers online, and for a long time it was detrimental to my creative voice. Today, I consider the work I publish to be a better reflection of me and the image I actually want to build, and have learned not to tie the numbers to my worth as an artist.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Visual arts are often a nonlinear pursuit, and like any art form, its results may be misunderstood. In other words, the work that is time consuming and difficult to execute may appear easy or even go unnoticed by an outside eye. Working in character and environment driven illustration means I work tirelessly to develop my skills in anatomy, perspective, and learn to manipulate them in ways that are more visually interesting. The only time a viewer will notice any of these qualities, is when it looks plain wrong, and it’s bound to from time to time even once these skills have been ‘mastered.’ What this means, and what I love about this journey, is that there is always more to learn, both as a viewer and as an artist. It is always important to consider the effort and intentions of an artist, but also how they may be perceived and enjoyed by a viewer!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paytonkustka.com/
• Instagram: @paytonkustka
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payton-kustka/
• Other: https://www.artstation.com/pkustka

Image Credits
The fourth image uploaded: IP of ‘Larian Studios’