We were lucky to catch up with Alexander Parks recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alexander, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Fake it ’til you make it. There will always be another person that does what you do or want to do better than you. There will always be people who don’t see value in your abilities or what you have to offer. If I feel passionate, if i feel excited, if I feel called do to something or be someone or put something out into the world, I don’t see it as a choice. I see it as a personal responsibility to myself to fulfill whatever part of me is telling me that it needs to happen. Furthermore, I don’t see it necessary to deprive others of the positive impact my work could have on them, simply due to my insecurities. I only strive to do the best I can do and be the best version of myself. As an artist, I grow very attached to the things I create, but it’s necessary to detach myself from that work and realize that once I put it out into the world, the way that it’s perceived is entirely out of my control.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My name is Alexander Parks and I’m a 25 year old illustrator based in the Dallas/Fort-Worth Metroplex. I’ve been drawing since I was in pre-school, but my decision to get serious about art-making as a potential career began when I attended The University Of North Texas in 2016. Being surrounded by other artists who were just as, if not more passionate than me, and being given the space create as much as possible, ignited a passion and drive within me to work very hard. I realized quickly that I have a unique perspective as an artist, and I began to develop my visual language as an illustrator. My work is primarily black and white and conveys a sense of chaos, intensity, and surrealism. I use line quality, form, dripping and splattering techniques, as well as unique subject matter to visualize the complexities of emotions and difficulties that individuals experience when alienated from their surroundings. As a queer person with an affinity for unconventional beauty and aesthetics, I’ve drawn inspiration from the fashion and modeling industry, drag culture, niche internet celebrities, underground musicians, and the new age of multi-disciplinary artists that are currently coming up on social media. My commissions are currently open and you can inquire through email or instagram dm’s. While my personal work is highly conceptual, I do translate my style into more commercial work for commissions. I’ve done the cover design for “Death Note,” a single by the musical artist Jacuh, as well as a t-shirt design for him, which will both be released soon.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities most impactful in my journey have been seeking inspiration, experimentation, and discipline. I find inspiration in so many different places- music, makeup, fashion, film, television, and other artists work. Fortunately, social media has been a great tool to find an infinite stream of these things, and I find that it’s allowed for these different forms of creativity to overlap in really interesting ways. My Instagram explore page and saved tab NEVER fail me when I need to find something to trigger my creativity.
As an illustrator, I’ve developed a really niche style through a lot of experimentation with technique and material. One might assume that with my limited palette and consistent visual language that I don’t deviate from my creative process, but it takes a lot of trial and error to find which methods of creation can most effectively bring my vision to life. I’ll use my ink brush and a bottle of india ink and try splattering, slapping the page at different angles, loose and quick illustrations, slow and meticulous illustrations, varying the weight of lines and shapes through varying the pressure of the brush, and any other technique that comes to mind. One of my favorite images I’ve ever created was done within 15 minutes- it was a very loose and chaotic figure in motion drawn erratically with a brush and india ink and a loose hand. I stepped back at one point and realized how beautiful the image was that I wanted to add more delicate details. I then went in with varying widths of micron pens and added a delicate shading effect. I’ve carried this method of illustration with me through the last 6 years, and it was all born out of a moment of passion and experimentation.
The most boring (and probably most necessary) part of keeping my creativity alive is discipline. Experimentation is the part of the creative process where I discover what does and what doesn’t work, but once I find what does work, I’ll do it countless times until I’ve mastered it and I’m sick of looking at it. It’s this point at which I feel that my work is ready to be presented to my audience. If I create something with the knowledge that I could have prepared or practiced more or fixed a glaring imperfection, I become very disappointed in myself. I accept what I cannot control as an artist, but what I can control, I absolutely will.
For any young creative struggling to find inspiration, I encourage you to pay attention to the things that intrigue you, the things that excite you, or even the things that may be outside of your scope. The best thing about inspiration is that you don’t know what it will be until you find it. For those who struggle to balance discipline with their passion to play and create, I encourage you to find joy in the disciplinary process that will lead you to a beautiful end result. Remember that it is a privilege to do the thing you love most, and divorce yourself from the expectation of such a specific result, because it may ultimately hinder your journey towards it.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I believe it’s better to go all in on your strengths in almost any circumstance regarding creating artwork. The harsh reality is that the market is highly saturated with creatives that not only have their own niche, but are doing it better than the countless other people in that same lane. By carving out your own lane and creating your own image, you can build an audience of individuals highly invested in the work that you produce and your general success. Personally, I am confident in the fact that there is no other person that creates illustrations in the same style that I’ve spent years developing, let alone who draws inspiration from the same unique places that I do. I do acknowledge, however, that there are cases in which improving upon my weaknesses has been necessary, but only to strengthen the areas that are lacking within the work I already make. While I consider the line quality and general techniques I use in my illustrations to be captivating, I’ve learned that my difficulties with proportions have distracted from the quality of my work. I’ve had to take some time away and discipline myself enough to practice proportions. I often depict distorted figures and faces within my work, but ironically, my inability to capture the proportions of my references accurately impacted my ability to distort them intentionally and achieve my desired effect. In this case, it was definitely necessary to improve upon a skill I was lacking in, but ultimately to contribute to the quality of the work I consider unique to myself.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/lipstick.murder
- Other: email: [email protected]
