My First Blog Post!
My fortune cat, to hopefully bring me success and luck in this endeavor!
Welcome to my first ever blog post! Bear with me if this is a little bit rough around the edges, and feel free to leave a comment with your feedback at the end!
This post will function as an introduction to me and the various facets of my life, mostly as they pertain to my art (which is what you're likely here about). So, without further ado, let's get into it!
THE BASICS
My name is Luka Motel (Yes, Motel is my last name, not a strange business title). As of the time of writing this (April 2025), I am a twenty-eight-year-old (he/they), largely traditional artist with a heavy emphasis on watercolor fantasy illustration. I operate out of my lovely and unique home in Wisconsin, in the United States, which I share with my partner and our six rapscallion cats.
THE FOCUS OF MY ARTISTIC LIFE
As I mentioned above, my work is very watercolor and fantasy heavy.
What this means is that, firstly, my main medium is watercolor…though I do dabble with other mediums.
I love using watercolor and ink atop my watercolor paintings. For fun, I do sketches with acrylic markers, and sometimes gouache. I occasionally paint in acrylics, and while I actually had my start in oil paints, I ironically haven’t touched them in years. I love to experiment, and I wholeheartedly believe it is an integral part of being an artist. There's nothing wrong with having a favorite or a niche, but we're creative and curious by nature. On the flip side, there's nothing wrong with absolutely hating a supply either. I despise pastels, of the chalk or oil variety, for example.
Secondly, the focus of my artwork is loosely “fantasy”. This can mean a lot of things, but for me, it largely means things like elves, sprawling high chroma landscapes, and interesting non-existent creatures.
I grew up mostly reading, with a little bit of watching, and the majority of the media I absorbed was high fantasy and sci-fi. While I also still love sci-fi, fantasy just speaks to me on a visual level. (The irony of that statement is not missed on me.) On a funnier note, I frankly suck at drawing and painting mechanical objects, which is a huge chunk of most sci-fi, so that plays a huge role in the path I take with my art as well.
DISABILITY AND ITS ROLE IN MY ARTISTIC LIFE
A huge proponent of my life, both within the sphere of art and not, is that I am disabled. Disability can mean a lot of things, but in my case, I have a plethora of both mental and physical disorders, disabilities, and illnesses. For the sake of privacy- and to not bore or trigger anyone- I won't go much further in-depth unless I see fit.
I am not mentioning this because I want pity or to be treated any differently, but rather because it heavily impacts every choice I make in my day-to-day. This includes art and business decisions.
I also don’t think enough people talk about it generally, much less its intersections with art. I understand why, though- it's deeply personal, stigmatized, and sometimes even dangerous to discuss.
My personal disabilities make planning ahead of time nigh impossible. They require me to make planning decisions day of, even hourly. It also affects my social life, but that’s a story for another time.
They also inform a lot of my art, especially the fantasy aspect- it's nice to imagine a place where what I have simply…isn’t.
That may sound controversial in the age of accepting and embracing our differences and what makes us, us, but in my case, the majority of my disorders and illnesses are highly detrimental and damaging, regardless of our social structure, and I'd rather be without them.
I will say, though, there are a few disorders I have that I see as perfectly fine and normal… just not fit for the current social structure we have going on.
INTERESTS AND FAVORITES
Let's get on to a less heavy subject, shall we?
This is the section for what I enjoy most, aside from art! These also greatly impact what I create and what I'm drawn to. They are my main sources of inspiration!
I prefer interactive media, such as games, over things like TV. I feel like it exercises my brain, gives me options and flexibility, and provides me with adequate stimulation. I usually play single-player video games over tabletop games or multiplayer games, as I'm incredibly introverted and agoraphobic.
Some of my favorite games and series include Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest (Especially Dragon Quest Builders Two), Kingdom Two Crowns, Genshin Impact, and No Man's Sky. I love all of these for a variety of reasons, but the overarching themes here are fantasy elements, storytelling, design, and exploration.
Although I don’t get to partake often, I absolutely adore travel. I go on occasional treks through local parks, and every now and again, on a family trip. Our last trip was to Montana, and I’m still filled with inspiration. (and my phone is filled with over a thousand reference pictures- shout out to my partner for taking most of them!)
When I do watch movies or shows, there's no real rhyme or reason to it. I jump across genres and styles, mostly just watching whatever piqued my interest for one reason or another…To be honest, I can't even remember the last thing I watched...Though I did half-watch Castlevania: Nocturne from across the room as my partner was watching it.
As for reading… I don’t get around to that much anymore either. Despite that, I still have some favorites! Anything by Tolkien is amazing to me, and I love Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle to this day.
I am always listening to music !! I will also put on other artists YouTube videos while I work. I cannot work in silence, at least not very well.
I love the idea of doing other creative hobbies, and even buy the supplies to do them, but I never seem to have the time or motivation, which greatly saddens me.
WHAT ARE SOME OF MY GOALS?
I have some lofty personal visions for my life, but I won't get into those, in this post at least.
My goals for my art and my business are less ambitious but still require a lot of heavy lifting.
Firstly, I’d really like to make enough from my art through online sales and conventions to hire my partner full-time, and possibly even my siblings.
Secondly is conventions themselves-while I’d of course like to make a living from them, that would require actually doing them at all. That leads to my main motivation behind doing them- socialization and exposure therapy, while building meaningful connections with fellow artists and art buyers. I currently leave my house only once a week, so this would be an great endeavor for me to do, much less succeed at. SO far, I've only been denied or waitlisted, so I know I sorely need to update my portfolio, as it's kind of all over the place.
That leads to goal three… I'd like to narrow down my art to a niche- the fantasy illustration I'd mentioned before. As it stands, I’m doing realism, semi-realism, stylized art, pet portraits, landscape studies, studies of objects and things (like clothing and accessories), and much more. I'm constantly doing studies and not finished artworks, and I rarely practice my creative muscle (I rely heavily on references). This is a bad thing for a multitude of reasons- such as being spread too thin, having no creative identity, and confusing potential customers.
Fourth, I'd love to build and engage with a community through my blog, email list, in-person events, and social media. Like I mentioned before, I almost never leave my house and have strong social aversions, so this would hopefully be a great and organic way to combat and even overcome them.
SOCIAL MEDIA
I, of course, have social media that I semi-regularly use, but I'm relatively bad at it.
I hate social media as it is, not for the social fears, but rather how antisocial it is. It's built to be inflammatory, hateful, and prioritize paying for reach, not to mention the scammers, bots, and scam-bots.
I would love to post more, and with more genuine interaction, but I rarely reach anyone other than my partner and family, and bots, so it's incredibly discouraging, but I’m going to shake up how and where I do things!
For now, I've gotten rid of Facebook and Twitter/X, have (but barely touch) TikTok, skeptically use Instagram and Pinterest, and quite enjoy YouTube, Bluesky, and Tumblr. I also post on Mastodon, and it seems like there's no one there at all, but especially so for art.
Here’s the links to my socials!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
I have no idea if this is too long, or even too short of a blog post, nor do I know if it's remotely a good post, but you have to start somewhere!
If you got this far, please consider signing up to my email list for updates, and leaving a comment telling me your thoughts and a little about yourself!
See you again soon! ( I hope ! )