Meet Luke Liscom | Freelance Motion Designer & Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Luke Liscom and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Luke, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I have never really known what I wanted to do in my life. I deliberate and hypothesize about different situations and opportunities, hoping I will learn something along the way. The thing I’m starting to realize, as I am standing over yet another precipice of unknowns, is how risk pushes me to grow in ways I would never imagine. If I just accept the status quo I might never be able to grow to the level I want to be at, not in my art, not in my relationships, and certainly not in my career. I have jumped around career paths, I’ve taken on jobs fresh out of college that no sane person would attempt, and in hindsight, I can now see the beauty in my mistakes and accomplishments. All of that can be boiled down to a single notion. Don’t take a leap that you aren’t willing to land. A motto I strive to live by and to keep myself grounded so I don’t do something too stupid or outrageous and hurt someone. I dance with risk every once and a while to make sure I am still learning and growing, but risk tends to always take the lead for me. I can’t say for certain if my bets will be worth it in the long run, but catch me in the next ten years and see how far I will have climbed out of the precipice. The community I surround myself with and my beautiful wife make it safe for me to fail, to get back up again, and achieve great things.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I went to school for Graphic Design locally and then at Ringling College of Art and Design, and it was there that I learned how fun and exciting the world of creation could be. I was fortunate to work alongside super talented people and learn so much in different fields of art and design. I have always been fascinated with stories and telling them, and I was able to find that in Motion Design while using the Graphic Design skills that I worked so hard to craft. Motion Design has also allowed me to tell stories in new and interesting ways. I have been fortunate to build a modular traveling exhibit with built-in displays, use 3D modeling and augmented reality tools to projection map motion pieces on to real-world objects, and many more bespoke solutions to a problem. Motion Design has allowed me the freedom to truly be creative in not only the messaging but the form of telling stories. That is what gets me out of bed every morning, eager to learn more and do more creative work. The journey from Graphic Design to Motion Design wasn’t so smooth, however. I have always been a believer in gaining work experience as I learn, so as I was in school learning I did what I could to make sure I was interning or working so by the time I graduated I had a completed resume. It wasn’t the best work I have ever done, but at least it was real work. Every once in a while I go back and look at my early animations and cringe, but in some ways, I am still proud of it. I’ve built off of those skills by sticking to it, continuing to learn, and asking people I look up to for help on where I need to focus. No secret sauce or magic bullet, but over time and plenty of elbow grease I was able to get to a point where I could proudly call myself a Motion Designer. All of this has led me to a point where I just want to work alongside good people who care about what they do and do the best I can to make someone smile with my work. Doesn’t matter if there are edits or some of the motion was off, but if someone can connect with my work on an emotional level, I know I did something right.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If a friend was to come and visit me, I would start by showing them around West Palm Beach where I live. Go to some of the blowing rocks in the ocean parks around here. The Witches Wall on Palm Beach Island, go out for a night on the town on Clematis Street, the usual stuff. Then we would take the Brightline down to Miami and explore some of my favorite sites. I love the Frost Museum and all the shops at Brickell. And what’s a trip to Miami if you don’t go to South Beach or find a little hole in the wall restaurant with amazing Cuban sandwiches. But we would probably just end up hanging out while watching Netflix and ordering takeout if I’m honest.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The book Freelance Manifesto by Joey Korenman is a wonderful book that turned me into the adventurous ways of freelancing. I would also like to thank Greg Stewart and Miles Hellyer for their patience and willingness to answer my questions. David Urbinati also has had a huge impact on my recent career and artistic inspiration. The most important person I want to thank is my beautiful and loving wife for all her love and support.

Website: lukelis.com
Instagram: @luke.liscom
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-liscom/