Meet Patrick Bonsu | Designer | Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patrick Bonsu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patrick, why did you pursue a creative career?
That’s definitely a great question. Art has always been a part of my life in one shape or another. It seemed only natural to pursue it professionally. Like many people, you sometimes think about other paths you could have taken career wise, but for me, I always knew I’d be an artist in some capacity. You could say it was a “calling” but I knew I was going to do something for a long-term, I should definitely be passionate about it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The biggest thing I would say that I’m proud of is, ironically, at some point in my career I lost sight of what was important to me as an artist. I was overworked, a bit lost in life as well if I’m being honest. I started a personal development journey doing a lot of different things/challenges and I eventually thought about my career and/or why I was doing art in the first place and I wanted to find a way to get back to that. So I decided to draw everyday for a year. And that drastically recharged my soul and made me realize why I got into art in the first place: to create for me. That was a decision I made by myself and I think about that all the time.

I think what has helped me a lot in my career is knowing that I’m the main person responsible for how it goes. And no matter where I’m at, I have to constantly think ahead and realize I have to try to focus on what I can control. Keyword is try haha. Also understanding how business works, or at least have an open mind about learning not only about my craft but how business in general works is a huge component to doing any of this. I’m no genius, but I try to keep an open mind about what I know and what I don’t know and try to bridge that gap. It’s a journey and always will be.

Nothing is truly easy. This pursuit has come with a lot of challenges and some resistance, but you have to know who you are and what you want in order to make it work. I always felt that discipline and building habits will make me more successful in the long run. I wanted to build a life where if things get too real, I can at least fall back on the habits that keep me afloat.

The biggest lessons I will say I have learned so far is that everything you see online isn’t always real. Or at least only showing part of a truth. And that’s necessarily a good or bad thing. I forget this on a daily basis. Part of my career is working marketing/advertising side of things and even knowing practices in my field it’s still hard to remember that lesson. I have also learned that being an artist has A LOT to knowing who you are as a human being. I realized the more I focused on learning more about myself, the better I seemed to feel as an artist. I think a lot of people forget that what you bring to your work comes from your life. You need to work on both aspects.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh, wow. Great question. I definitely enjoy food and IPAs. There’s some really great breweries like Scofflaw that are very welcoming and have a lot of events depending on the time of year. Antico’s Pizza, Crispina’s are my two go-to spots for pizza when anyone comes into town. I’m a huge nerd, so Battle N Brew is also a place I take people if they are into video games. My Parent’s basement has a similar setup but mainly for comic books with a bar.

The Battery is a huge thing right now, so I always recommend that for anyone who’s a braves fan, but even not, there’s still a ton to do there. I actually draw a lot at a few coffee shops like the Read Shop, Rev Coffee and Octane Coffee. Love all the owners/managers there and I always recommend going there for a fix.

The Serenbe area is damn gorgeous! So that’s definitely a half day or full day of visiting. And definitely bring your sketchbook because we WILL be drawing when we get there :). The Smyrna market area is great for if you want to go to a downtown area but don’t want to go to a really huge one. The Stout Brothers is a great beer shop in that area. There’s so much to do around here.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It’s honestly hard to dedicate where I am to one source. But I will say that having great parents goes along way into who I am as a person. And my upbringing with them is one of the cornerstones of where I am at today. I’m grateful for having parents that respect my career decisions and I always cherish everything they told me about the working world.

I went to a couple of schools, but SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) was a big turning point in solidifying my decision of pursuing art/design. I had some great teachers that helped me tap more into my potential and being around other artists definitely was a great experience for me.

Website: www.patrickbonsu.com

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