We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kevin Uhl. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kevin below.
Kevin, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
The easiest way to keep creativity alive is to experience everything you possibly can because you never know what will spark your creativity. Go to a weird museum, see a punk show in a basement or visit a local restaurant with great food. In college, I had an instructor who used to say, “A creative should be a sponge. Soak up everything around you and when rung out, there’s a new mixture of all the things you’ve gathered.”
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I was born in Phoenix, Arizona and raised in an Italian American family. In elementary and high school, I was always put in gifted art classes. I loved drawing video game and cartoon characters when I was a kid. Translating ideas from my mind to drawings was very easy to me which was great because I didn’t really do well in other classes. In high school, we had a Japanese calligraphy instructor teach a guest spot in art class. I liked it so much that I started taking private lessons. She taught me about writing characters, making my own ink and the spiritual aspect of calligraphy. Since having those classes and being really involved in martial arts, I developed a real love for woodblock prints and traditional Japanese tattoos which can be seen in my work today. As I moved into college, I started hanging out with other Phoenix area creatives like Jesse Perry, and others. We even formed an art collective called, “Enlightened Art” where we would hang our artwork and sell pins, magnets, and stickers at Phoenix’s First Friday art-walk on Roosevelt. During college, I moved to Seattle, Washington to expand my creative horizons. I graduated with my graphic design degree and quickly found employment at some of Seattle’s tech companies. My true passion at that time were motorcycles and my little “biker club” we formed at a little garage sized bar in Seattle. Within the motorcycle community I developed great relationships which dealerships and finally started my brand Trash Cat Co which features raccoon and motorcycle themed apparel, pins, patches, and stickers. I’ve been running that gritty brand for over 7 years adjacent to my professional job at a med tech company as a digital UX designer. Recently I’ve become passionate about local businesses, bars and restaurants and using my design skills to create logos, merch, and other collateral. The economy is tough now and I respect the hell out of anyone opening businesses. If that place inspires me with their food and environment, I love to make them look more professional any way I can.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
First, I would say adaptability. Being adaptable in today’s fast-moving tech and creative world is so important. Don’t fear new technology, learn it, and utilize it. Second, be inspired and have a child-like sense of wonder. You’ll never know what you might be inspired by. Recently I watched a sumo tournament on TV and thought it would be cool to do illustrations of all the wrestlers. Creativity hides in the weirdest places sometimes. Third is drive. If you have an apparel and accessories brand like me, you need to constantly come up with new designs and promote on social media all the time. In today’s digital world, you need to be present and make noise if you want your brand to succeeded.
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?
You should certainly play to your strengths if they’re relevant in a one-skill type of field, but ultimately, I would say to invest in effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in. It’s extremely hard being “just a painter” or “just a graphic designer” in the creative world. You always need a few more skill-sets to promote your art or advance your career. I used to just be a fine artist until I discovered graphic design. I saw that I could use this new skill to further advance my creativity and ultimately earn a living.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kevinuhldesign.com , www.trashcatco.com
- Instagram: @trashcat_kevin , @trashcatco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trashcatco
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-uhl/
