Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Lehman.
Hi Trevor, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started illustrating when I was about 8 years old, in 2nd grade. I had a lined journal that I would trace on cartoon characters from a book my dad had on how to draw well known cartoons. Once I got to 4th grade my art teacher at the time told me how well that looked and from there on I was encouraged to continue drawing and illustrating. I did this throughout my high school career. I still enjoyed making some cartoons, but I evolved more to realism and life drawings, I wanted to draw what I could see. When I graduated high school I decided to go to school for it at Arcadia university for Scientific Illustrations with a track towards Medical Illustrations. Most have not heard of scientific/medical illustrations, I was one till I graduated from high school, but it was a program and career that combined my two favorite things, science/medical world and the art world. Scientific illustrators are taught the skills of illustrating and rendering while be very accurate as most of our illustrations were for medical journals, studies, and textbooks. While at college I picked up some very valuable skills on the digital world of illustration and working with clients. Up until college I never tried anything digital, but while at college I learned the skills on Photoshop, Illustrator, and other programs that I still use today. At first I was reluctant and wanted to stick with traditional mediums, pencil and paper. But, while in college my last year of college was during the Covid-19 pandemic so we had to go fully digital. After I graduated, I got engaged to my high school sweetheart and we started to plan our wedding together. This is when I started seeing how much work is needed for planning weddings and what I could do for my own wedding to help save some money (programs, tables cards, seating arrangements, save the dates, invites, RSVPs, groomsmen and bridesmaids gifts, bar menus, etc.). After my wedding in 2022 I started offering my services to friends and family to try and help reduce their money spent and reduce the stress of getting all these things made for their big day. That is where I am at during this time. I currently have a full time job at a canvas company, but on the side I love to help others make things for their big day, as well as, I also have made logos for local companies, logos for t-shirts, sold illustration prints, etc.. Through my art I like to incorporate my traditional style of art into my digital world of photoshopping while keeping the details and important information accurate.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s never a straight path I feel like for the art world. I enjoyed doing art, but knew the reality of art is not the easiest way to make a living and at the time of deciding colleges and programs I wanted to make sure my time getting my degree would help me make a living for me and my, at the time, girlfriend, now wife. Therefore, I was accepted in PA College of Health and Science for their nursing program and only the semester before I graduated high school did I learn about Scientific Illustrations and medical Illustrations in which I got to do the best of both my interests and looking up the income of that field made me believe I could get the degree and make a living for my future family. So I had to back out of nursing school and take a year at my local community college until I figured out Arcadia was the best spot for me and only college near me that provided this degree. There I learned from one of the best in the field, Scott Rawlins, and helped me realized I can made very well rendered illustrations. But, once I graduated I thought the school would help me more in pointing me in the direction to help me get into the field. But, it is a very small niche field and I did not know how to get myself there and so never really made it into the field and starting doing other work to make a living for me and my future family. during that time I still draw and work on photoshop for personal projects or through word of mouth I have gotten clients and freelanced for them. I am still trying to expand my clientele and get more work that I enjoy, but as life keeps going I keep going with it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an illustrator and artist that has a background in graphic design and scientific illustrations. Recently, I have been helping clients with logos for their businesses, making graphics for the track and field team that I also coach for, and helping couples make their wedding days as perfect as possible by helping them with the little details that many could forget till late in the planning process. I would say I am known for adding some traditional illustrations into my digital work and being very detailed on my work and being very organized. What I am most proud of is some of the illustrations is some of the work I did for my own wedding and the illustrations I did while in college (Beaver skull in carbon dust, Diamond in pen, and Leek in colored pencil). What I believe sets me apart from others is my background in scientific and medical illustrations and my ability to be able to render anything that I need for my project. As I have said before my degree requires a level of understanding science and medical field and being able to incorporate the information into your artwork while be 100% accurate. I do that with every one of my illustrations and jobs. I am also very detail and time oriented. I make sure I get my work done as soon as possible I never want to have my work be late or waited on.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I grew up here in the Lancaster county area and so it is home to me. I love the clash of different cultures in different parts of the area and how we all live together. I love the accessibility to things that you might need to do, but being able to be out of the city and noise. I enjoy the nature and simple aspect that we still have here. The least favorite part about where I live I guess would be the driving time between places or the job opportunities that I had coming out of college for my field. It was more in big city areas away from here or even out of state.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lehmanillustration.wixsite.com/artist
- Instagram: @lehmanillustrations
- Facebook: Trevor Lehman Illustrations
