Purpose and Passion. Those who have found them can call themselves mighty fortunate. Those who are searching for them can be proud of their process. And those who say they don't need them… we'll either call them sadly oblivious or guilty of negligence.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, purpose is why you do something or why something exists. I was satisfied, impressed even, with how that definition encapsulated everything I was thinking and feeling about purpose. What a useful tool, I thought, having someone put your countless thoughts into simpler words.
Passion (for something), on the other hand, was extremely simplified in the dictionary. So much so that some of the layers that made it a magical construct seemed to have been peeled off by its Cambridge definition of an extreme interest in or wish for doing something. Helpful, yet not quite as inspirational as I was hoping for.
So after hours of rewriting a definition that would fit well into my comfort zone (and context), I have come to the conclusion that I still have no words to properly describe passion. And, to be quite frank, I might never find them, because passion isn't something that can be easily described, put in a box by one single, universal definition – not holistically, anyway.
Rather, I believe passion is meant to be searched for, explored, dived into, ran after, enjoyed, bathed in… And hopefully, found, experienced and shared with the world.
So instead of searching for ways to define yet another thing in life, I decided to look for it, expressed around me, by people who have found a way of translating passion in their own language, through their craft. I thought, at least I could try and feel it.
Filip Peraić, Croatian illustrator and graphic designer, is one of the people whose distinctive work makes it easy to get hooked and keep just about anyone intrigued. Whether it is a magazine cover, a personal-project-turned-Art-Basel-exhibit or an album cover, Filip approaches portraiture in ways so unique and particular that you cannot not get impressed.
His art and I clicked immediately, but it was the way he spoke of his abilities and his natural ability to verbalize his artistic process that made me realize that he might be a much more qualified human to convey the message on passion… among other things.
a designer, illustrator, artist, or something in between
From someone who simply loved to draw when he was a kid, to realizing he was good at it, to getting outside validation during his university days, to, now… using so much more than pen and paper when creating art, touching many more souls than just those who taught him in class, Filip acknowledges there always was a little artists inside of him, the main difference between him and most of us probably being… that his artist never left.
Filip, the digital artist who never leaves his sketchbook behind
„Every digital piece begins its life as a pencil sketch in my B5 sketchbook. Digital is the medium of our time, and creating digitally is simply practical when dealing with clients, makes the process much quicker and work easier to edit. It does lack spontaneity, charming errors of traditional mediums, so I’m looking for ways to make more work analog. I’m always sketching in sketchbooks to balance it out because I enjoy drawing, and I don’t I think my expression will be limited to digital; sometimes it’s collage, paint, ink, assemblage, etc.“
Filip, the explorer of the mediums
“Using a weird medium sometimes makes sense—i was commissioned to do a portrait of the M&M's owner for Forbes, so I thought: why not create it out of M&M's? But there’s always a learning curve when starting to work with physical objects you’ve never used before. The main thing I have to figure out is how to create light and shadows with the material. I had to be very quick with grass because it withers, I drew with olive oil using q-tip, human hair is very tricky to control (yes, I used gloves), etc. Right now I’m doing a portrait with food and spices for an editorial client and it’s hard.”
for the soul, from the soul
The big break
I often think about the common denominators of the great creative minds – what is it that they all share, and at the same time, the rest of us mortals simply don't possess. It could be a variety of different artistic skills, that is for certain, but what intrigues me is the willingness to bet on themselves and step outside of their comfort zone before they have made it; to pursue and idea they believe in before no one else has had a chance to put their stamp of approval on the topic. Having that in mind, I wanted to know what Filip believed was his „big break“ and all the things that lead to it.
„My career kicked off back when Tumblr was a thing. I was creating and publishing personal work online, and slowly, clients noticed it and approached me. Even though I worked for big clients while studying at School of Design, such as IBM, Fly Emirates, I’d say my big break was James Harden Illustrated, a personal project which went viral, opened a lot of doors, brought new people into my life. It put a spotlight on my work; this project got a full page in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times, a CNN interview, an Art Basel Miami exhibition. But mainly, it taught me to invest my time into personal challenges and trust my gut.”
Personal style
Whether you are of the opinion that having a recognizable “style” is a positive, or if you think it might have a negative connotation and certain limitations regarding how we view an artist, while I was browsing through Filip’s work, I definitely could see a subtle flow, something that connected all of the pieces into one big picture. In my opinion, an artist’s style, positive or negative, is something personal, that, while subject to growth and change during their career, either subconsciously or consciously creeps up into all their work. Since I recognized said flow in his work, I wanted to find out if Filip agreed with the notion that there is a unique style he had settled on, and if so, if there was something special about the way he created, that was worth pointing out.
“Ah, I think about this A LOT. I’m curious how you would describe my style? I try to avoid having an obvious, predictable style, it feels claustrophobic. Some distinctive pattern can’t be avoided, after all, it is my thought and skill visualized, regardless of the medium. But some people are comfortable creating using one style their entire careers, which is smart career-wise, people love when someone has a recognisable pattern in their work. This is unsettling to me. I’m constantly trying to reinvent my expression, which is challenging, but for me more interesting too."
"I noticed that I’m very attracted to diagonals, and subconsciously a lot of my artwork has a strong diagonal somewhere. I don’t know why. You’re a psychologist?”
Portraits
You will have to excuse the digression, but when someone mentions portraits, my mind goes to France, some oil and canvas, and those plain, boring half-royals posing for their annual portraits in their godawful gowns with their ever-terrible haircuts. What I want to say is, the main association I had to portraits was boring and one-dimensional, because I was envisioning this templated boringness. But the more I thought about portraiture, the more I realized the impact a unique personal style, as well as a point of view of the artist can have on the plain old portrait of a person. I guess when someone mentions portraits my mind should be thinking of, for example, one Frida Kahlo. The epitome of iconic, painful storytelling and beautiful portraiture. Her portraits are much more than just a person – they are a combination of a reflection of what she saw, what she felt, and how she decided to express it. And, in his own way, Filip has found a comfortable, special, and an exciting place with his portraiture as well, and we are here to see it unveil.
„I’ve been drawn to portraits since my youngest days. I guess it’s a form of communication to me. I noticed that sometimes, I’d rather be drawing a portrait than having a dialog with a person. I’ve always admired the skill some have to create a good visual representation of the human face, an image that’s rooted so deeply into us. It’s more than just translating likeness, and it’s definitely not easy to do a good portrait. So when I was starting out, my personal portfolio that was filled with portraiture, naturally brought me clients who wanted me to create portraits for them. As for the artistic view, I’m approaching portraiture somewhat from a designer’s point of view, trying to create a narrative around it, make it surprising, layered, rather than ‘just’ getting the likeness down.”
The Beard
„Everyone asks me (why James Harden), and James even isn’t my favorite player! Subject had to be a basketball player simply because I‘m a huge basketball fan, and when I started it, James Harden was this great upcoming player that had an interesting, bearded profile. I felt this beard can be a food for my thought, a facial feature where I can and try some graphic experiments."
"This project is a simple, silly challenge taken very seriously. I decided to take on a task of creating as diverse collection of James Harden portraits as possible. When you set a strict frame like this one, the limit consumes and pushes you, so you have to be creative with solutions. The exact point of this whole project was to try different styles, to get out of my comfort zone and prove I can create using various expressions. I was always battling with this idea of one ‘style’.“
This is what set Filip apart for me. He, quite deliberately, put himself in a position that would terrify most artists – boxed in, with limitations and rules, and a very well-constructed template. Still, he managed to induce fun and novelty in every James Harden portrait he created. It is not only skill, but heart that was used in doing so.
Filip mentions that the ideas for the project were mainly explored through sketching, but that he also had some aha-moments while running and sleeping. The weirdest one of those was possibly the one he talked about here, on his Twitter, a while back. You truly, honestly do not want to skip that short story.
When talking about ideas and bringing them to life, Filip offers an insightful comment, one that we all can relate to in a way: “For every interesting portrait there were a dozen of bad ideas”. Unprovoked, finishing off his answer in the most honest of ways, it was refreshing to hear, and comforting to be reminded that not everything we do or create will be a masterpiece. As a matter of fact, most of it might be mediocre. But there are lessons in getting past the mediocrity and learning to enjoy the process.
Good Thing
To stay on the portraiture train, another series of epic (and personally heartwarming) artworks came to life when Filip was hired by Columbia Records to design Leon Bridges' album and each of the songs' covers. (Read it again to fully processs it, then continue below.)
Now, I may not be someone who would want to share my personal life with everyone, but I would gladly scream from the rooftops about my (possibly non-platonic) love for Leon Bridges. His songs are raw and beautiful, truthful to the core, but never assertive. There is so much beauty in his melancholy, as well as in all his cheerfulness. And Filip basically confirmed everything I thought about Leon with just two simple sentences: „First of all, Leon is so sweet! Just like he sounds.“
On the whole collaboration experience and working with Columbia Records, Filip said the following:
“I have to say that the collaboration between the label, Leon and his management, and me was a very enjoyable experience. They trusted me and gave me so much creative freedom, I’m grateful for that. Oftentimes when working with really big clients, your work has to please a whole hierarchy of people, which usually results in compromise, and compromise usually results in average work. It didn't feel like this was the case this time. I think we created an exciting campaign that got an amazing reception. It’s very rare to see a campaign for a music release relying so heavily on illustration."
Big props to the whole Columbia Records/Leon Bridges team and to everyone else out there entrusting creatives with their vision while allowing them to explore the ideas on their own. Collaborations can bloom and blossom when all parties trust each other and give – first the platform, then the creative freedom – to those who need it to create art out of an idea.
Lastly, Filip's important message he wanted to share with the world?
“The most important thing I’d like to share right now is that I’m so happy I found my cat this evening. We thought she went missing.”
Cannot not love him.
Ultimately, if my goal from this conversation was to feel something, I aced it. Filip's nonchalant readiness to bet on himself and his vision truly was an example of passion in action, and I am utterly glad I am following along his story of defining passion on his terms, in his own way, enjoying what he is doing and pushing the boundaries of his own work with every new idea that he explores. We can only hope he continues to do so, and allows us to enjoy all the weirdness that might come out of it.
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