We recently connected with Sam “Luna” McKee and have shared our conversation below.
Sam “Luna”, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever had any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?
As a concept artist and Director, overcoming and avoiding creative blocks is a vital part of my experience as an artist. Coming from a fine art background and diving into the world of entertainment arts, I love to hold to my roots in experimenting with my mediums and techniques. As a Director, I am so involved in the crafting of every aspect of the short film I am working on, and at times, I find myself needing to look at a shot with a fresh pair of eyes, which can be challenging in times of burnout. I find that if I have a stressful or loaded week and start to hit creative walls or blocks, I love to recharge by doing something completely different than my day-to-day production art. Getting outside my comfort zone, diving back into traditional watercolor painting, woodcarving, experimenting with block printing and collage, film photography, etc., helps me return with a completely fresh mind. I also one hundred percent believe that being in nature is one of the most effective ways to recharge and fulfill our creative spirit and energy, getting a release of stress and being able to take inspiration from the world around us is a wonderful thing. In my concept art and matte painting work, I am always looking to the natural world for inspiration and ways to innovate my art, so being able to marry a love of nature and hiking with my passion for production art is truly the best of both worlds in building a sustainable and fulfilling creative practice as a young professional.
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 have always turned to creating throughout life’s hardships and joys. Throughout my life, I’ve moved over twenty times across the United States with my family. The rapidly changing people, experiences, and environments filled me with curiosity and inspiration. There was always a new and exciting challenge to adapt to, creatively and practically, and storytelling became the root of my foundations as a creator. Storytelling and creativity as my way of interpreting my ever-changing environments, and a love of films and games, led me to pursue a career in concept art. Being able to draw from my archive of experiences, research, and the plethora of unique stories from the past, new challenges, and continued adventures in my design process is incredibly exciting. Now, I am a Senior concept artist and matte painter studying at Savannah College of Art and Design and finishing up post-production on my senior animated short film, ‘Lost Track,’ which I have had the pleasure of directing. The film has been an incredible learning experience in challenging technical aspects of making a short film using Unreal Engine, and directing and producing while being an artist on a film. Every day I am juggling a stack of unique plates, and I think that makes it very exciting and rewarding to be constantly tackling a new challenge while working with a group of my absolute best friends. The next chapter of my life, graduating in May, looking for jobs, and submitting our film to festivals is going to be a time of excitement and uncertainty- a challenge I am more than ecstatic to face.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities or skills that have been most impactful in my journey are certainly resilience/hard work, empathy, and adaptability. The reason I combine resilience and hard work, is I feel in my experience, resilience is something that takes very hard work to attain. In moving so often, I learned from my dad’s creative career in journalism, moving contract to contract, that to reach your goals and dreams, the challenges life throws at you take an incredible amount of resilience to overcome. Which at times, isn’t just about shielding yourself, but also having the determination to work hard and bounce back when things get tough. It’s easier said than done, but seeing my dad’s journey taught me that no one is going to do it for you and that you have this freedom of control over being able to take tangible steps toward your dreams. My resilience in accepting life changes has been a huge reason for my growth, and I think has made me a better artist in being able to make connections, take critique, constantly work to improve myself, and take decisive action. In a lot of ways, I think resilience and adaptability go hand in hand, and being able to sort of ride the waves of whatever life throws at you brings me a lot of personal peace. Knowing that, realistically, not everything is in your control- and that’s okay. If you focus on what you do actually have control of, you will be able to achieve so much more than you would stuck worrying about what you have zero ability to change. Empathy, another huge one, has been a beautiful aspect of my journey as an artist and person. Trying to show empathy to those around me has allowed me to learn so much from other’s experiences and journeys as artists and individuals, allowing me to uplift other artists, deepen connections, and nurture a positive outlook on life. Empathy has also helped me out a lot in the studio, and as a director and producer, I have been able to listen to my team’s individual artistic voices, personal experiences, and critiques and create a very healthy studio environment. I feel very lucky, and privileged, to be able to show up every day to the studio with empathy and connect deeper with other artists. I think if the world had a little more empathy, and everyone took a moment to be present in the now, we would all feel a lot more at peace.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I am always looking for exciting ways to collaborate on films, games, and animated productions. In becoming a sort of 3D generalist the past year by diving into every aspect of the 3D pipeline, I love to look for ways to innovate my process artistically, apply new skills, and tackle technical challenges. I’m diving head-on into the industry after graduation at the end of May, and I look forward to jumping onto projects with other determined individuals and bringing life to stories with matte paintings and concept art. If you’re interested in my work, you can find my portfolio at https://lunamckee.myportfolio.com or contact me at mckeeluna@gmail.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lunamckee.myportfolio.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lunamckee/
- Other: mckeeluna@gmail.com
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