Today we’d like to introduce you to David Lujan.
Hi David, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Born and raised in Austin, Texas, I attended the University of Texas at Austin and obtained my BFA in printmaking. From 2010 to 2017, my wife and I ran Gallery Black Lagoon on 43rd Street, where we exhibited hundreds of artists. My years at the gallery saw a flourishing moment of art-making for myself. Being plugged into such a community has its benefits. Several reviews in the Austin Chronicle for my solo and group shows were listed throughout my tenure there. I had taken an interest in the “painted print,” a title I coined after the idea of mono printing and editions of one or two that employed multiple media to obtain the visual objective desired. After the 2016 election cycle, the economy took a downturn for the arts, and I began swinging a hammer for a living using the skills I had learned as a gallery owner. No one says owning a gallery is equivalent to being a glorified janitor who dresses well. This snowballed into contracting work, and I began remodeling people’s homes, which served as a lifeline when the pandemic hit. All the while, I was secretly working on entering the world of comic book making. I dreamed up a story about a mermaid trapped on land and one about a Korean vampire living in post-industrial Europe. So, every morning before loading my tools, I would draw and write until I realized I had completed several comics and a novella of some 200 pages.
In 2022, I found a publisher who took an interest in my work and never looked back. I left the carpentry world and am now employed as an illustrator on several comic book projects due for release in 2024. As a musician, I started as a guitarist studying at the University of North Texas and am now involved in three active projects around town. Born Twins, my project with my wife, Singer Mayberry, and my daughter, Gwyneth Luján, released our first full-length record in March 2023 with a subsequent tour of the southwest. Yard Work, my project with members of the Chumps, Candi, and the Cavities and the Motards, will release our second vinyl record this winter. In early 2023, I opened a small screen printing shop in east Austin called Fox Box Printing, where I screen print custom merchandise for bands and comic book nerds. It is also home to my risograph machine and is steadily becoming the hub of my creative enterprises. We intend to be a stop on the East Austin Studio tour next fall.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Like most creative endeavors, my tenure as an adult has been extremely bumpy. I always knew that being an artist was a losing game and that I would have to make sacrifices to exist in the arts. Namely, I have never had money. But cobbling together a living off selling artwork and working strange jobs has always made ends meet. Having a partner has helped as we have both taken the lion’s share of the financial burden at different times to support each other. The election of 2016 was probably the worst economic moment of my adult life when the floor fell open beneath both of us. Still, we adapted, and now my wife has a flourishing business as a yoga practitioner. I am drawing time-traveling ninjas for a living.
Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
As a musician, I am known for not being understood. Many in the industry know who I am or have heard of me or my bands, but I am still quite underground, as it were. As a songwriter, I am known for writing with dark satire while maintaining a driving edge to the music (think Nick Cave and Robert Smith). As a drummer, I have been told that I am fun to watch because I am doing it all wrong, but somehow it works. My guitar playing is more learned than it should be, and my artwork leans toward juvenile realism with an economy of line and texture that focuses the viewer on the matter at hand without distracting too much. I suppose I enjoy sneaking things where they shouldn’t be—using subtonic note forms in a punk song or invoking my years of life drawing class to add movement and volume to a character in a comic book. I believe these things set me apart from others, and I am pretty tall and most likely better at basketball than you.
What makes you happy?
The greatest reward I can think of is the accomplishment or completion of a task. Whether finishing a page for a book or realizing that I have successfully raised my daughter (so far, so good), these seemingly menial everyday things get me up in the morning and help me sleep at night.
Pricing:
- Comic Book page $150
- Custom T-shirt Printing $8-15
- Fix anything in your house $85/hr
- Pet Portrait $300
Contact Info:
- Website: neridacomic.com, borntwinsmusic.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/davidlujanart
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/neridacomic
