Meet Nevan Doyle | Artist

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

Hi Nevan, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I think a lot of times feelings of risk come from our inner clash with societal expectations. To really make it in this world chasing our dreams we have to follow our intuition without pause. From the outside a lot of those moves look like big risks. However, when listening to ourselves and trusting our guts, we make those leaps on a timeline that aligns with the end goal. I fully believe that things come to us when we are TRULY ready, not necessarily when we THINK we are.

For example, for years I went on and off trying to full-time freelance and working day jobs I didn’t care for. Every time I’d quit my job was out of a desire to move forward, but I wasn’t at a place yet to really trust things would work out. It wasn’t until I felt inside that I NEEDED to quit and give myself fully to freelancing that I found myself getting work that sustained and pushed me to a point of no return.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started making art seriously for my high school band. I wanted us to look like a touring group, not a local act. Music was always my first passion so I kept that focus throughout. I started with mostly photography but began teaching myself photoshop in order to create the visions I saw when listening to music. My first few jobs were designing album covers, merchandise, and posters. When instagram came out I got into a habit of creating and posting every day. Doing this for years greatly increased my skillset, speed, and eye. I still saw a music career as my bigger dream, but art and design was feeling like a possibility as a path.

After years of doing photo-based work I began to run out of steam. I stopped feeling passionate and started feeling like daily creating was becoming a burden. Then, I remembered how I used to enjoy doing (bad) typography sketches and doodles on my notebooks in school. I decided to see what would happen if instead of starting with a photo in photoshop I started with a black background and a single word or phrase typed out. I’d learned a lot but had never applied that to manipulating type. This led me down a road of experimentation where I began to combine different styles I’d long found myself attracted to. I had a strong sense of nostalgia with VHS glitches and old film photos. Combining that with my love for bright colors and the wiggles and wobbles of water and the natural world I found a typography style that felt unique and gave me back my passion.

People started asking for tutorials and I could feel inside that I’d created something big. I didn’t know if it was my ego talking but I began to grow a little worried that one day my art style would became something of a trend and I’d get washed out in a sea of similar artworks. Then it started happening. Someone made a tutorial attempting to copy some of my work. Then someone else made one. Then another.

Pretty soon I started regularly being sent instagram profiles that were filled with creations inspired by my art style. People even started calling it “the mishko effect” based upon my artist moniker, Mishko. It was hard to wrap my head around for a few years. I started seeing my influence pop up in other places too. The wildest moment was going to the Apple Store, turning around, and seeing a giant display screen with the Apple Music logo done in the style of my work. I immediately knew the exact piece they referenced too. It was uncanny! Things started to grow so much that when I would make mention of a corporate copy I’d get flooded with comments from people who thought I was crazy to think I had any part in the trend. Eventually I learned to accept it and try to be proud that my experiments created a genuine impact on the world of art and design. I always considered art and design as a plan B and it’s done better than I ever could’ve imagined.

I still see my creative journey as barely starting and think it’ll be fun to look back and see everything I’ve accomplished now as a footnote at the beginning of all I plan to do. Art has been a key component in my battle with mental health and has taught me so much about the importance of presence and following your impulses without overthinking.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Silverlake now and just walking around is one my favorite spots honestly. I lived downtown when I first moved to LA so despite the grime and horrors it holds a sweet spot in my heart. I’m a total cliche but it’s hard to beat the Griffith Observatory. The Huntington botanical gardens are always a treat. I haven’t been in a while but I also really enjoy Malibu creek state park and out towards Point Dume as well.

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?
I have so much appreciation for my best friend Ana Benitez-Duarte who saw potential within me before I ever could. They told me I would do great things–reaching a level many talk about but few are willing or able to commit the time and energy to reaching. This stuck with me and through moments of desperation and anguish I would try my best to believe them and not the self-critic inside. Ana has helped to continually push me as we grow together and find our passions intertwining. With both of us moving to LA at separate points we grew closer than ever during the pandemic. The support both creatively and interpersonally has been life altering.

Website: mishko.co

Instagram: instagram.com/mishko.co