The Artist: Always Drawing Never Talking

Our May artist, Schiani Ledo, has the phrase “Always Drawing Never Talking” placed right below the logo on his website. While we got to chat with him for the interview below, his work as a designer/illustrator perfectly mirrors that exact phrase – his art truly speaks for itself. Take a look at some of these striking illustrations!

Nonahood News: What drove you into the design world?

Schiani Ledo: I tried different fields. But I was always pining for a creative outlet. When I finally started working as a full-time designer/illustrator, it felt as if everything naturally fell into place.

NHN: When did you realize art was your passion?

SL: Since I was a kid, I was always drawn to the colorful chaos you see in vintage comics and sci-fi movies. I found that my favorite thing to do was to draw; it normally got me in trouble with most teachers, even my parents. Everyone thought I was tuning out the world since I would spend hours doing it, but in reality, I was trying to focus my energy and bring ideas that I had to life.

NHN: How often do you find yourself making designs?

SL: Literally every day. I will sometimes take a sketch break from an illustration or design that I might be working on. It’s a way for me to relax. It’s my “watching TV on the couch.”

NHN: How long did it take you to discover yourself as an artist?

SL: Not long. I think the term “artist” has different meanings for different people, but I think most everyone can agree it’s a form of expression. And I learned early on that I used art a lot of times as a way to sort out my feelings.

NHN: Which of your projects would you consider to be your favorites?

SL: I don’t know that I have a single favorite project, but I have truly enjoyed working with Tactical Brewing. I love the collaboration in ideas and … the freedom to conceptualize. Working on murals also is a passion of mine. There’s a house I got to work on in SoDo, Downtown Kissimmee. Even at Tactical, I’ve been able to leave a mark. All this kind of work really energizes me.

NHN: Which of your projects were the most challenging and why?

SL: Most jobs present their own unique challenges. But the one that sticks out the most is probably my mural in Kissimmee. The mural is 50 feet long and 20 feet tall. What made it challenging was that it was on the second floor of a building. So I had to use a crane lift, and I was 40-50 feet up in the air on a really busy street. When you are up that high, it feels like the smallest movement you make is going to flip the crane over. But I eventually got used to it. And after I got over the mild vertigo, it was business as usual.