Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Steve Standeford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Steve, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I grew up in the rural southwest in the 1980s. I was in high school when I had a vocational class for drafting which changed everything for me. My mother was an artist, so I had been drawing and painting most of my life. My drafting instructor recognized I had some skill and really inspired and encouraged me. Artistic pursuits where not really encouraged in rural America, usually you would go to high school and then end up working on the family farm. The idea of making a “living” as an artist in any capacity was just not realistic. I knew that I wasn’t a farmer so I decided I would try to make it as a commercial artist/illustrator.

Steve, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have had a long career that started with hand drawn technical illustrations used in user manuals for military technology to highly detailed computer application user interface designs. Most of my day jobs did not really “scratch the itch” of my personal creative and artistic needs. I love photography learning first how to develop film and eventually after many years moving into digital. I am now focusing on printmaking from woodcuts and it seems like AI could do this at some point but for now it feels human. I love ink, I love the mess, I love watercolor and ink and how its effects are sometimes unpredictable. I loved my Holga camera for the same reason it was unpredictable, I miss the anticipation of getting film developed to see what I captured. Most of my work these days can be found here: https://linktr.ee/incompletesaint

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being able to do the thing that rewards me with peace. Peace for me is a feeling that I created something (appreciated or not) so that I can move on like someone might say “to get it out of one’s system”.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That aesthetics matter much today. Most people 25 years ago would have hired a wedding photographer, but nowadays someone’s brother with an iPhone taking pictures is good enough.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/incompletesaint/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/incompletesaint

Image Credits
These are my photos of my artwork