Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Johnston.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
If you had asked my 18-year-old southern self, I never would’ve imagined I’d end up becoming a brand designer. As the cliché goes, I was always very creative. But in reality, everyone is. It’s what I did outside of my current creative profession that got me to where I am.
I loved two things when I was younger: Legos and video games. However, everything I created had to have some sort of clear objective while still remaining unique. I wouldn’t just end with building a Lego Star Wars AAT via the instructions. Nor would I just grab pieces and make something entirely random. After it was completed, I’d examine it, deconstruct it halfway and reassemble it to have better armor plating and more firepower. I’d add smooth glider pieces so I could send it sliding across the kitchen floor. And video games, they instilled how I love to experience stories. It was far more intriguing for me to be able to interact with a story, create a character and make repercussive decisions than just stare at a page littered with organized blocks of typography.
After a decade of toying around with things I now consider foundational elements of my interests, I went off to VCU’s art program in RVA and entered the Sculpture & Extended Media program. Not the kind of sculpture you might be thinking of though. I wasn’t carving stone to learn the trade or craft. I learned about creativity in a way that is the very opposite of what I do now. I learned how the repetition of studying a process or a material and seeing where that led me was, in itself, the art in which I was indirectly creating; what we see in galleries is only the aftermath of an artist’s process.
A couple years later, I found myself with an interest for creativity that again had a bit more of a strategic objective and ended up going to a little portfolio school in ATL called The Creative Circus. The teachers there were current industry professionals and through their guidance I found myself with a passion for strategic creative and brand design. By first adhering to the principles of design, then learning how to bend and twist them to suit what the client needs, I find myself today designing brands & logos, brand illustrations & packaging, and art directing creative ads.
Please tell us about your art.
People often find pursuits they love so much that they want to build a living around those pursuits. That’s where I come in. We live in a society where the public wants to be able to relate to their interests without effort. I create identities which represent the pursuits that these people love so much. I like to imagine I’m inspired by the combination of the gratitude in helping someone pursue their own passion and the pride in giving life & soul to a tangible representation of what they do. A lieu of that, there is also a very pleasing aspect of seeing executions come to fruition and all belonging to one identity, creating a seamless visual communication that’s easy to for people to relate to.
In a nutshell, I create conversational experiences between a person’s passionate pursuit and another whom might want to share in the experience of the process of that pursuit
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
Networking with other creatives is all about just taking the initiative. Just reach out. Creatives tend to be very genuine people in my experience, partly because keeping an open mind is necessary to our success. Just reach out and be kind.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
A good place to start is CodyJohnston.Design and CodyTJohnston on Dribbble or looking up @codyjohnston.design on Instagram. I don’t have any exhibitions coming up, but I have some little projects in the works that will be worth checking out soon.
How can people support my work? Well… how can we support each other. I love collaborating and doing business with other creatives, especially when they are into the food & beverage, gaming, apparel, or music industries.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://CodyJohnston.Design/
- Email: CodyJohnston.Design@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/codyjohnston.design/
- Other: https://dribbble.com/CodyTJohnston
Image Credit:
Cody Johnston
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