Choosing a profession can be a difficult task. There are many factors to consider. For many, the amount of monetary compensation can be a key factor. Taking it a step further, choosing an actual job or position with a company can be even more difficult. Extended benefits, commute to work, vacation time, number of hours required, travel and stress all typically weigh heavily on the mind when deciding. But for others, there’s not much to consider. Doing what they love and have enjoyed as a child is their professional path. Isle of Pines resident Lance Wagner chose a career doing what he enjoys the most: art.

Professionally, Lance works as a technical artist who creates three-dimensional (3-D) assets for clients. The technical assets consist of digital artwork required for the design of military simulations. Some of what Lance does is to digitally map out what is referred to as the user interface (U.I.). User interface, in the world of industrial design, is the point at which a complex machine is dependent upon human movement or interaction for the machine to perform and operate in the manner in which it was intended. To simplify it further, the driver’s side of a car, the pedals, steering wheel, buttons and levers all make up an everyday example of user interface.

“Part of it feeds the inner nerd or geek in me who just likes tinkering with computers. Even though it can be very technical and tedious, I’m still able to intertwine the artist within,” Lance said.

When Lance is not working to create 3-D digital images for military simulators, he loves to create art in his spare time in what he refers to as “self-entertainment.” Lance is extremely talented in other different art forms as an illustrator, cartoonist, traditional acrylic painter, digital painter and digital sculptor. He even has some experience in blown glass.

Lance explained that, with illustrating and painting, it’s more of the inner child at play. He will still put out sketch lines and grids and plan out the details of what he creates but will get lost in the enjoyment in creating art for fun. He will escape into drawing or painting, and before he realizes it, finds himself creating a cool monster with big teeth. He said, “It’s just way more entertaining that way. Sometimes when I start, 10 minutes in, I feel like there’s something mentally wrong with me and I can’t stop. I don’t want to. My back’s hurting, my eyes are hurting, and I just can’t stop,” Lance admitted.

The creativity for Lance isn’t always there, however, and at times it’s not easy just to start drawing or painting as he suffers from creative block. “A lot of times I have ideas, but when I don’t have ideas, I know I’ve just got to sit in front of my computer or sit in front of the sketchbook or canvas and just start. Sometimes, for me, I start thinking about everything, like, ‘Oh, I’ve got some laundry to do,’ or ‘I don’t have cereal for the morning.’ ”

Occasionally, Lance will have ideas flowing and escape into creating a painting or illustration, but after awhile he will take a step back and decide he doesn’t like what he created. “Then, other days, I sit there and two hours in, I’m like, ‘I just hate this, why did I even start this? This is crap.’ I always tell myself. There will be tons of crap, but I still have to produce it to be happy.”

There are times when Lance is pleasantly surprised at the response he receives from other people who see the art he originally didn’t like. He further describes how different people can look at art and see completely different things. “I start throwing around colors, and sometimes I just need something to make me laugh, I just think of something that’s super dumb, and for whatever reason, it starts making me laugh. It’s hard to explain to someone why I laugh. I will show my friends, and I’m like, ‘Hold on. Let me just draw it out.’ They’re sitting there, like, ‘That’s just a weird, gross monster.’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no. It’s hilarious. Just trust me.’ ”

Lance’s roommate, Ember, who is also an artist, deals with many of the same struggles. She creates abstract, splatter paint pieces and at first would give the paintings she didn’t like to Lance.  Lance would look at them and see something completely different and figure out a way to alter the painting. In collaboration with Ember, Lance would paint a character or a lifeform over top of the original abstract painting that will make the artwork come to life.  Because the end result was so successful, Ember now creates splatter paintings purposely intended for use in the collaborative effort with Lance.

In addition to some of the creative struggles Lance deals with, he also works through the challenge of a common form of color blindness. He explains that even though it may seem like a hindrance to be an artist who is colorblind, it has recently helped him conquer fears and become a better artist.

“Thinking of color, I’ve always been kind of nervous to experiment with colors because I’m the most common red-green colorblind. A lot of times when I’d be painting, I was unsure. I’ve always had that doubt. That’s why recently I’ve been doing a lot of traditional paintings on the acrylic side, just to get rid of that fear. I’ve been reading more on color theory, more just on how light and color works, how paint and color work.”

Recently, Lance purchased some EnChroma glasses designed to help him see colors better.  Motivated to experiment with the glasses and how they will impact his artwork, Lance will be doing fewer illustrations and more painting this month. Even though the glasses are supposed to help, they are tinted, which will result in him having to paint outside.

If you would like to view the artwork of Lance Wagner beyond the pieces published in this article, you can check him out on Instagram (lancewagnerart) or on his DeviantArt Page (http://lance-wagner.deviantart.com/gallery/).