Drawn By The Light sounded just curious enough for the name of my new design firm in 1998. I've drawn all of my life and illustration would be one of the core services. Oddly enough, drawing wasn't what actually inspired the name.
During the day I was a commercial artist employed under assorted titles for over a decade, working with a variety of clients and winning some awards, but it left me unfulfilled in many ways. To achieve a balance I worked at night as a freelance designer from my home studio. This allowed me to work on other types of projects and deal directly with clients. As I prepared to go freelance full time I knew I needed a company name that was intriguing and symbolic.
The night hours have always been my favorite creative time. My studio was lit by the moon, my desk by a lamp, the monitor glows with illuminated pixels. Light was a part of the process and a key symbol I was looking for in my quest for a name. When I wasn't working on a client project I was often up late beta testing software for an early developer of Photoshop plug-ins and graphic software. One of these projects was a 3D modeling application called KPT Bryce. It was intended to render photorealistic landscapes but, as an imaginative beta tester, I modeled all sorts of things. Some of those images can be found in the sample galleries on the early install CDs. As Bryce rendered the final image, a yellow line would slowly move across the screen (computers were so slow in those days...), row by row, showing the rendering progress of the pixels receiving light and shadow. It could take many hours. I'd often start the rendering, set the monitor to sleep and hit the sack. Waking the monitor up in the morning was always exciting.
For a break from evening work and play (the beta testing and drawing being the latter), I'd find myself at the kitchen sink for a glass of water, looking through the window into the darkness outside. Looking back at me were moths attracted to the light, keeping me company as my family slept. The drawn by the light name just clicked one night.
I always dreamed of seeing a luna moth at that window. A luna did show up in my logo. The moth element has become very stylized in my current logo. I do get to enjoy real luna moths up close each summer by raising a few from eggs.
Years later I still find new ways light is impacting my work. Most recently it has been through my study of studio lighting. Not long after the turn of the Century I began shooting digital photography. It was the first time since my youth working in the basement darkroom that I was serious about photography as a craft. It complemented my illustration, art and design perfectly. As with so many other parts of my creative process the camera was using light to bring a vision to life. There's simply no avoiding it.
I am drawn by the light. pw
