Luis Mendo, Illustrator
After working as a creative director for 20 years in Europe, I moved to Japan and changed my career to draw. My illustrations are found on sites, in magazines and in advertising, but also in art galleries and clothing.
Clients include The New York Times, Apple, Wired, New York magazine, Uniqlo, Monocle, Forbes, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair and Wieden+Kennedy.
In 2018 I founded, together with my wife Yuka the creative residence Almost Perfect for creatives in need of a switch, a time off or a restart in Tokyo. Also, I started writing columns and articles for different magazines and am currently working on a graphic novel about Tokyo.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
It's probably Instagram, but of course, it's a love and hate relationship. I wished they had made a paid version of the app. I would be happy to pay to not see any ads. But, on the other hand, I get more out of Twitter, where I am pickier about the people I follow, and often they bring me insights or stories I didn't expect.
Tell us about you and your current role or area of interest.
I have always thought an illustrator should have a very wide view of the world and knowledge of as many subjects as possible. We often get asked to draw things out of "our world". Think stories about macroeconomics or CO2 extraction from the atmosphere. This is why I always try to learn new things and store them away until the chance to use them arises.
Further, I always keep an eye on artistic software (I do most of my art digitally) and am always interested in the past century's aesthetics and culture, so I read and watch old stories from the 50s and 60s mainly.
What do you like about your career or area of focus?
There's nothing better than having several drawing commissions running in parallel and them being disparate from each other in the subject. I love the fact that I may be making a portrait of a CEO in the morning, drawing a night cityscape in the afternoon and developing an animation character in the evening. This continuous stream of subjects and changing style or atmosphere makes me very happy and feel alive.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
Not directly, but I heard someone say that if you want to succeed in Illustration, you only have to do three things:
Be on time.
Be a nice person to work/be with.
Always deliver the best possible work.
What inspires you, motivates you, or helps you to move forward?
I consider myself a quite bad drawer; I know I could (and should) do much better. But, this is actually a good thing: as long as I am conscious that I can improve, I will never be bored.
What are you proud of in your life so far?
Of my two wonderful children, who are much better persons than me in more ways than one. Also of the fact that I have achieved a relatively comfortable life standard without never having exploited or profited from anyone else's labour. All I have earned comes from my own effort.
What is your preferred way to meet new people/network?
Any way is good. Maybe it is the best when it's unexpected. It can be a new Instagram follower or the waiter at a restaurant that ends up becoming a friend.
What skills or qualities do you feel have helped you?
My father's work ethic, which I have inherited, has been my greatest asset: Don't be hesitant to work. Always show up and pull up your sleeves.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
I don't think I know more now than I knew at the beginning of my career. If anything, I know less. This realisation has helped me more than thinking I knew what I was doing.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles and why?
I admire those who, despite having achieved much, stay humble and keep doing the work, improving every day. I resent big talkers who do little and just show off.
Outside of your professional/work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
Discerning between life and work is something I have never been good at. All things in life can be a drawing; therefore everything is or can be “work”.All things in life can be a draw; hence everything is or can be worked. For example, having a beautiful plate for dinner offers a good subject for a drawing, and if it tastes well, the challenge would be how to draw the flavours. That kind of thing goes into my mind when I "live" and am not "working".
Has the pandemic had a positive or a negative effect on you and/or your business, and how have you managed it?
The lockdowns and seeing people confined to their homes inspired me to do the faux magazine HomeStayer cover series. Those brought me to my current agent Handsome Frank, who then, in turn, brought me amazing projects and clients. I can't say the pandemic has been bad for me, and I am grateful for that. Of course, I feel terrible for those who have lost their lives or their loved ones or those who have gotten long Covid.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever mentored anyone?
There are a few people around me that inadvertently guide my thinking. For example, Adrian Hogan has taught me a lot about drawing and Japan. My wife teaches me to be patient and calm and to use my brain better. Other friends teach me other things, and I am grateful for their presence, but they all probably don't even know I see them as mentors.
I am not a mentor of anyone in particular but get often asked for advice and ideas by many. Maybe because they candidly think I am old and wise.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work or interests?
It sounds so cliche, but it's true: just do the work.
Do you want to photograph? Stop talking about it and do it.
Do you want to draw? There's no school or specific pencil needed. Just do it; any cheap pen will do.
To me, it’s worrying to see a market selling the idea that knowledge and skills can come in a quick or easy way. Telling people they can learn to draw in a few hours or play the guitar by watching a YouTube video is quite misleading and false. Sure thanks to the internet getting started at something or learning the basics has become much easier, but you still have to put in the hours.
I don't believe you can do anything really well until you have done it ten trillion times.
So my advice is: stop thinking about it and just do it. All the mistakes and bad (read: slow) parts in the learning process are needed and important.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
See the above. Believing that learning something should be easy or comfortable makes people give up when they see it’s not how it works. Accepting that you are a failure from the beginning and you're failing all the time is crucial. If you just keep going long enough, the failure one day becomes a beautiful failure, and one day you will feel comfortable failing until the failing feels more like flying. It's a long road, and the destination is the least important part.
Is there a phrase, quote or a saying that you really like?
"All important things are not things."
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
Probably Apple has been doing more or less the right thing from the beginning. Monocle and its strategy as a media brand have been a great success, and I have followed them from day one. I don't know any brands deeply, to be honest. These two have been a constant in my life as they have brought me joy and informed me through the years.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience/readership?
Success is doing something you know you wouldn't be able to 'not' do, for a living.