From album art to NFTs—the out-of-this-world creations of Liz Weickum

Interview by Marilyn Moser

For Washington native Liz Weickum, the last year spent in quarantine has opened up a brand new expansion of her already-stellar collection of work. From creating her dream at-home art studio in her attic, to custom digital album art for local musicians, she’s stayed busy expanding her roster and digging deeper into her inspirations, including her Northwestern roots and extraterrestrial fantasies.

“It may be a little scary to think about but it’s also fascinating to me—how could there not be life out there?” she says. “I think that’s why I have a fascination with space and UFO’s and why it comes out in my art.”

As part of this growth, she’s since dipped into the fast-expanding world of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), joining the next wave of artists exploring this new medium of digital art sales and ownership.

“Seeing other artists have so much success with it already, the community aspect, and the massive creativity happening have all been motivators to stay involved long term, regardless of the huge initial learning curve,” she says. “It's still very new, but I'm interested in how it will evolve—it's definitely the future.”

We caught up with Liz for a two-part interview: get to know her below, and then check out her guided tutorial on bringing your own digital album art to life, here.

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“I have a fascination with space and UFOs and that’s why it comes out in my art.”

- LIZ WEICKUM

HEADS on TV: What is your history with Washington state/Seattle? What is it about the area that made you decide to set up shop permanently?

Liz Weickum: We go wayyy back, I was born and raised here! Specifically Tacoma, but I’ve lived in Seattle and other places over the years. Tacoma and Seattle are where I spend most of my time (pre-covid anyway). After attending design school in Las Vegas and traveling a bit, I set up shop back in Tacoma mainly for financial reasons, but I also grew a greater appreciation for my home state after moving away. I think everyone should move out of their home town at least once and travel as much as they can and see what people and life is like in other places. I have considered moving to warmer climates again, but over the years and especially with the pandemic my priorities have changed. Washington will always be home no matter where I may relocate or travel to. I love it here because we have a little bit of everything geographically. Also there’s amazing art, food, music, and people here. We have great Summers and the colder months are great for hunkering down and working on art without too much fomo.

In your bio, you've mentioned street art, anime and pop-surrealism as your inspirations. Which artists in particular have caught your eye the most throughout the years?

This is such a tough question because I’m inspired by an insane amount of artists for different reasons. Especially now that 3D artists are really blowing up. Being a 2D artist, I def have my all time favorites like Sam Flores, Koralie, Kilian Eng, Alex Pardee, and Buffmonster. Over the past few years I’ve really been inspired by Jose Mertz, Mr. Cenz, Dirty Robot, Death & Milk, Hopare, Hueman, Clog Two, and Lauren YS, to name more than a few haha.

You've had the opportunity to design for a wide variety of projects - what is the first thing you consider when drafting up a concept for a new client?

Most of the design projects I work on these days are either album art, flyers, illustrations or sometimes logos, so the beginning is pretty similar. Before I start a concept I get as much information as possible so I have a jumping off point and understanding of what they want, what elements do they want included, color preferences. Most of the time the client has a direction they want to go in or theme. The main thing I have to consider is what message the client wants to communicate, and how can I express that for them visually in a clear and creative way.

*Mural design for FALAFEL SALAM in Seattle, Washington.*

How do you translate your visions to a larger canvas, like a mural? Is the process different?

It’s similar but there’s definitely more things to consider. For murals I tend to plan a more minimal design with less detail than I might with something small, because large scale murals aren’t typically viewed up close so adding a lot of detail would be kind of pointless. Also I have to be aware of my physical and creative limits because there’s some things that I can do with digital art that I can’t do with paint or even small scale stuff and vice versa. Like certain effects, techniques, color options etc. The color options at the paint store are more limited compared to the vast array of colors in the digital space, which is where I create my concept before it gets painted. Also color matching can be tricky so that’s something else I have to be aware of. Depending on the size of the wall, there’s really only a few ways to transfer the concept to large scale and that’s either with a grid method, a projector, or just eye-balling it. The bigger the wall the harder it is to keep proportions accurate, so projectors can save a lot of time, which is especially important with commissioned projects. With client work it’s all about efficiency, so executing the vision accurately, in the least amount of time, and within budget.

*Liz works at home in her customized studio space.*

What are some tips for creating a customized at-home workspace? What did you consider when designing yours?

I love this question. Customizing your workspace is almost like a game of tetris. And if you have a small space you really have to be creative and optimize what you have to work with. I always look for inspiration online first for style and color schemes and then I look at how other people made use of their space. My workspace is in an attic which isn’t typical, so I researched for ideas I may not have thought of. Second thing to consider is making sure your basic necessities fit, the big stuff, like your existing furniture and gear. Then you can go in with your decorations and extras. I’m a nerd so I made a whole ass mood board in Adobe Photoshop before I moved into my space lol. But it made me stick to a theme and not impulse buy things that wouldn’t work or look good. Third thing I would say is if you need furniture, always take advantage of sales or used, because furniture can get expensive. And make sure you measure before hand because there’s nothing worse than buying something and then realizing it won’t physically fit or finding out it’s hard to clean or something.

For artists who have always wanted to learn about digital art and drawing, what are some of the beginner tips you'd say are essential for starting out?

What’s cool about digital art is you don’t necessarily need to know how to draw to do it. But if you’re like me and already into drawing, I would suggest getting a pressure sensitive drawing tablet and a stylus/Apple Pencil. It’s the closest you’re going to get to the feel of traditional drawing but with the bonus of digitizing it instantly. There are a lot of affordable tablets out there, drawing programs you can download, and online tutorials to learn from compared to when I was first starting out. If you can test out tablets before you buy I would definitely suggest that. I was able to try out a friend’s iPad and Apple Pencil before I got one of my own and was hooked instantly. Before that I was mainly using a Wacom Tablet and using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop on my computer. I really love the convenience of drawing on my iPad so now I use both methods. The main drawing app I use on my iPad is Procreate and I just downloaded Illustrator to it so I can actually do vector stuff.

How have you diversified your content sharing in the last year? Which social media platform is currently your favorite and why?

I’ve mainly focused on Facebook and Instagram to share my art and Twitter here and there over the years. But in the last year I finally joined Clubhouse, and TikTok, which is actually how you and I connected which is super cool, I love your content! It’s been so awesome to see how creators are optimizing these new platforms and giving so much value away and making connections. As far as my favorite, if I absolutely had to choose, I would say Instagram for the sole fact that it’s image based which is great for an artist like me. It’s also where I’ve put most of my effort and built my main art community base around. I like that I can share parts of my personal life via my stories and can share my TikTok content there too lol. But I like all the platforms I listed for different reasons and like that I can bounce between them. I haven’t made much content on TikTok but I feel like that will probably be my favorite later down the line or maybe Twitter because of the connections and community.

How did you first become interested in NFTs (non-fungible tokens)?

A friend of mine actually got me interested in NFTs, he reached out to me back in September and told me about his experience with SuperRare and encouraged me to get involved. It took me a few months before I was able to really look into it, and by then, NFTs were starting to gain more popularity. I joined Clubhouse and got back on Twitter, and it was all people were talking about. After applying to a couple of curated platforms and not hearing back, I decided to release my first NFTs on Opensea to get started, since it's open to anybody. Seeing other artists have so much success with it already, the community aspect, and the massive creativity happening have all been motivators to stay involved long term, regardless of the huge initial learning curve. It's still very new, but I'm interested in how it will evolve—it's definitely the future. As someone who has been doing both digital and traditional art for years, selling my digital art as an original hasn't been much of an option outside of prints. It's not like selling a physical painting, and the value hasn't been seen the same way either. Even though each has just as much value to me and time and effort put into it, there hasn't been a way for collectors to own an original digital piece of art that could be authenticated. So with NFTs, the stigma and possibilities around digital art is changing. I'm happy to see this shift for artists, collectors, and beyond.

What was the inspiration behind your first batch of designs?

The inspiration behind my first batch of NFTs is basically me exploring my feelings around grief and loss and processing that through my art. I created all of them before I had planned to release them as NFTs. I felt compelled to release three pieces that have a lot of meaning to me, because I want them to find collectors that will resonate with them. They are some of my most recent personal work, but also relevant to how I've been feeling lately. My first NFT, or "Genesis" piece, is an animated gif of a digital drawing called "A Void". I was half way through the original drawing when I found out a close family member suddenly passed away. Working on a piece about loss and then experiencing another loss was hard to sit with. But finishing it helped me work through some of my feelings, and to remember to keep going because life is short and all we can do is try and live in a way that those who are gone would be proud of. My other two NFTs, "See You" and "Transition" were concepts that were originally for an Inktober drawing challenge I did a few years ago, but I recreated them as digital pieces and each took on a different meaning over time. "See You" is about not feeling truly seen or valued by someone you love and the pain of letting them go and choosing yourself, and "Transition" is about my questions around death and the afterlife, and also how we can experience many deaths of self while we're still alive and can experience grief from that, new beginnings and endings. I've experienced a lot of different losses throughout my life, and learning to let go has always been especially difficult for me, but it's a universal part of life that we all must learn to live through. (Check out Liz’s Opensea.io shop here)

Lastly, there are influences of extraterrestrial life and space creatures in your art—what are your thoughts on Area 51 and the exploration to find out if we're not alone in the universe?

I’m all for space exploration, and I think Area 51 should tell us what’s really up! I believe they know more than they’re telling us, I mean there’s been so many UFO sightings it’s hard to ignore, but for whatever reason it’s been kept under wraps. I had what I believe to be a UFO sighting when I was a kid that I can’t explain to this day. Weird lights in the sky. Yes I am one of those people lol. But I think that’s why I have a fascination with space and UFO’s and why it comes out in my art. Also my brother was really into sci fi when we were growing up so that def influenced how I think about extraterrestrial life. It may be a little scary to think about but it’s also fascinating to me, how could there not be life out there?

Keep up with Liz Weickum on her Instagram here, and check out more of her portfolio on her website, here.