We were lucky to catch up with Ralph Lumley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ralph, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

We were made to reflect creativity, to be creative, and to express our thoughts, dreams and visions. It’s an innate sense, a longing to present something of ourselves through a creative vehicle. The expression may be wrapped within a story or a particular character that we wish we were more like, or the howl of an unhealed wound. Abandonment, betrayal, joy, love; they are all human expressions that can be presented in an unlimited number of ways. We were designed to reflect God’s nature.

Most of my learning has come from having the freedom to explore. I could draw since I was little, and my parents encouraged it by giving me space to create. Later, in college, my major required me to expand into other forms of art; sculpture, painting, neon signs, printmaking. While not particularly good at some, others I found appealing. Dr. Elmer Day at Kent State University (Salem) was a great encouragement in painting. When I was short on funds, or simply unwilling to spend ridiculous amounts of money on painting supplies, he would permit me to use acrylics and cardboard, just so long as I kept creating. During this time I was also exploring video projects, silly sketches or short stories developed with friends. This was to become a lifelong passion.

Learning could have been accelerated with greater personal discipline. While being free to explore, I didn’t have many people around me who could call me to artistic higher level, or push me harder.

I had moments of opportunity. A college buddy and I created a comic book that garnered significant attention; enough for Stan Lee to attempt to hire me at a convention. The comic company folded shortly after. I had a large film project collapse. I have a self-published book on Amazon. I’ve brushed shoulders with Marcel Marceau, the world’s greatest mime, while studying in California. I don’t do regrets; things simply happen, so I move on to the next project.

The best skills to learn are merely how to interact with people. Most great projects come down to working with a team. It’s the difference between a great project and a mediocre project. And after all, art is created for other people. Otherwise, what’s the point? Focusing on improving your craft, be it writing, singing, drawing, etc. is important and should be embraced, but art for art’s sake is ultimately futile. The real joy is the personal connection.

For nine years I participated in a volunteer performing arts troupe called L.I.O.N. Players. Based out of a crisis pregnancy center, we visited churches, youth groups, camps, and community events using dance, drama, mime, stories, and music to share God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, and the importance of abstinence. While great adventures were undertaken, the importance of holding one another up, supporting each other as a team, was a high priority. As an educator teaching video production at Stark State College, my students have to learn the importance of working as a team, even if they simply want to sit in their basement making YouTube videos. I have to work hard to get some students out of their self-protective shells to see the fears in their heads are really only in their imagination.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I currently teach video production and 3D animation at Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio, a community college. It is enjoyable as I have the freedom to create video projects for various events on campus, such as our Spartan Media Awards, STEM nights for middle schoolers, tours and open houses. Occasionally, members of the community will approach the school to have the students create a commercial, promo video, or documentary. Then I serve as the producer, assisting the students as they work with their clients. Often I’m drafted to act in student films, as well.

Outside of campus, I am currently writing and drawing a comic book, writing a feature film, and assisting a film company as they gear up to film their first feature. I teach first through fourth grade students the Bible, and lead a couples Bible study through my church. I am constantly creating or thinking about creative projects or pondering creative solutions to long-standing national problems.

I published a comic in 1993 with a classmate from Kent State. We sold 70,000 copies before a personal tragedy affected our publisher, thus ending that particular comic series. I wrote a daily comic strip for the Daily Kent Stater during that time called HUNT. Shortly after graduating, I joined L.I.O.N. Players, a performing arts troupe and focused on dance, mime, acting, and directing. L.I.O.N. Players traveled to Russia, Ukraine, and England, and performed on the streets of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT, and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. I toured with worship band through the southern USA and Brazil. Following God’s lead has opened up opportunities all over the world.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

In academia there’s a saying: “Publish or perish.” The idea is you must produce something, in this case a treatise, to garner attention to climb the ladder of (perceived) success. An artist who doesn’t finish their projects, gets lost along the way, or is distracted by the next newest bright thing, will end up spinning their wheels and becoming frustrated or disillusioned. The best thing an artist can have around a project is boundaries. Normally that is a certain timeframe in which to get things done. This can also include budget constraints. Whatever the limitations, that’s what helps limit the scope of one’s imagination to what’s available at the moment. One should not despise the exterior limitations, but embrace them for this season. Another season may come along where resources are bountiful, or it may not. One must steward what you have available in the here and now. Understanding and supporting a creative person as they struggle through the creative process can be a huge help. More often than not, the artist is going through the internal struggle to create. The battle between a blank page and a finished story is the battle with themselves. If they are not overly vocal, you can ask questions, draw them out, by talking to them about their project. What makes this character tick? What are you trying to say? The more they talk their ideas through, the more effective they will be in communicating them.

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

I graduated with my second film degree in October 2008, right when the economy tanked. A classmate introduced me to a person who wanted their 30-page outline expanded into a feature film. I wrote the film, storyboarded the entire movie, and finally was hired to direct it. After months and months of working on the pre-production, scouting locations, finding actors, and gearing up to film, the whole thing collapsed when this individual made it clear he didn’t have the budget for the film he claimed he had. Broke, and a little grumpy, I returned to Ohio. I landed an underpaid job at a print shop, then worked in a knife factory as I got married and had a child. Then God changed the story. I literally fell into teaching. A friend taught in the Math department at Stark State College and hired me to proctor tests part-time. When I discovered (after several months) the school taught video, I sent an email to the department head saying basically, “Hey, I’m sitting here in the math department with two film degrees. Need any help?” An email came back immediately: Can you be here tomorrow morning? Turns out, the full time instructor was out on maternity leave and no one knew the material well to instruct her classes. So I finished out the semester covering her classes, then served as an adjunct, and eventually took over her position. In a roundabout way I still ended up creating videos.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ralphjlumley.wixsite.com/creative
• Instagram: perihelion_studios_
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphlumley/
• Twitter: @FutureNews_2073

Image Credits
Shot of Ralph in Hallway, photo by Michelle Lash. All other photos/illustrations by Ralph Lumley.