Artist Interview: Erik Ludloff
August 6th, 2008 | Filed in: 
This week the interview is with a fellow Erik, Erik Ludloff. Erik’s a freelance designer and digital artist based out of California, USA. He’s got a strong portfolio and he’s a really good guy as well!
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Erik and I’ve been a freelance designer and digital artist for about 18 years. Music has always been a big artistic influence for me. I started off as a wanna-be graffiti artist, but had a much better feel for pencil and paper than a spray can. I didn’t make the transition to wall art very well. I have always been a computer geek so I bought a scanner and CorelDRAW for my computer. I’d scan in my sketches and print out multiple copies, then hand color them with my Prismacolors.
In college I studied page layout and typography and began designing flyers for my friends’ bands to promote their upcoming shows. Eventually I started charging them to design cassette sleeves, album covers, and other band merchandise including logos, t-shirts, etc. After about a year, word spread around the local music scene and my foot was firmly in the design door. I saved up my design money and bought Photoshop. (Not because I didn’t like Corel, but just because all the print shops I worked with at the time told me I needed to switch.) It was a love/hate relationship at first, but now Photoshop and I are good friends.
Playing in Photoshop is one of my favorite ways to spend my free time. I really enjoy photo collages, combining multiple images into a single piece of art. I’m not much of a photographer so I mainly use stock photos to play with. Occasionally I’ll incorporate one of my own photos and that’s always a big kick for me. I find myself taking photos of things just so I can use part of it in a collage later. Photoshop is such a powerful tool that I’m truly limited only by my imagination.
Do you have any formal training/what is your background in art?
My training has been mostly informal. I took a few college courses on advertising and design. It was great to get a solid foundation of the basics: color theory, typography, page layout, etc. I also read a lot of books, so I consider myself book-taught rather than self-taught. I’ve looked at tons of Photoshop tutorials online. It’s amazing the wealth of information available out there. NAPP has probably been the greatest learning tool for me recently.
The NAPP video tutorials are really well done, and the folks in the forums are incredible in that they are quick to offer help when needed. I’ve participated in a few head-to-head battles in the NAPP forums and it’s a great way to learn by looking at someone else’s layered PSD. There are so many ways to achieve the same result in Photoshop. I find that everything I learn helps me to build my personal toolkit and that keeps me wanting to learn more.
What equipment do you use?
Mainly Photoshop and Illustrator on the software side of things. For hardware I use a tablet, a mouse, a Spyder2Pro for color calibration, and pencil and paper of course. I highly recommend that artists sketch. It’s so quick and easy to do. I find that I can get a lot of ideas on paper in a short period of time if I just sketch them.
Who is your biggest influence? Why?
Probably my mom. She always encouraged me to pursue whatever art I was passionate about. As a kid it ranged from guitar to karate and even break dancing. Her enthusiasm followed me into adulthood. I try to be that supportive person to my friends and co-workers. My mother always appreciates my silliness too. So a lot of my artwork borders on the absurd.
Do you have any advice to aspiring artists?
Learn the fundamentals of design. Just like athletes pursuing the sport of their choice it all comes down to the fundamentals. Once you know the rules, then and only then, should you go out and break them.
Do you have anything else you want to say?
I read something recently that really rang true for me. I’m paraphrasing here because I don’t have the reference handy. It basically said that to get really creative, you should take your ideas way past where you think they should go then step back. That’s basically the gist of what was said. I hope I did it justice. It’s how I tend to work. Go completely wild then back it off to where it needs to be. Even a logo design for a conservative financial company will get a silly drawing on the sketch pad. It helps lighten the mood and often times that’s when the best ideas take shape.
I appreciate all that you do, Erik. Your informative blog is a wealth of resources and you are always eager to help others.
- Krazy E
Oh, and no interview would be complete without revealing the true meaning of life…
"Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations."
- Monty Python and the Meaning of Life
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now that WAS silly! hehe. love krazy e, he’s done a lot of work for me over the years, he is a very creative AND professional designer, a combo that is hard to find! blah blah blah and a my oh my, jason
You saying THIS is silly…wait until you’d see the first interview he sent me…