Interview conducted by Henry Linville in the The Crossings’s series on creativity and diversity within Bethel University’s student body. The heart behind this series is to explore creativity in a broader sense and to been encouraged and inspired by the creatives on our campus and the things that they are doing.
Ethan Kokoska is a sophomore here at Bethel and is studying Graphic Design. He specializes in digital art and design. He has submitted several pieces of his work to The Crossings in the past. He also recently served as the graphic designer for Bethel’s Esports team.
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How would you define creativity in your own words?
My art is a way to get complex thoughts and ideas out of my head and into a way I can explain to other people. I’ve used a lot of my life to do that. I just really enjoy putting thought into what I make.
How did you first get into graphic design, art, AI art, and all that?
I don’t use AI art anymore. But I originally got into graphic design through a robotics team that I was graphic design leader for. So, I did all of their artwork, their CAD modeling, all that. And that got me involved in 360 Fusion CAD.
What is CAD, exactly?
Computer aided design. So, 3D models, that kind of stuff. I could model a robot, design it, 3D print parts, all that, and that got me into Blender. In there I started making animations, renders. And from there I just used every tool I could get my hands on, and sunk a lot of money into it, and I would say I’m pretty good at what I do. So, it all started with robotics, and now I’m a graphic design major.
What age would you say your creative journey began?
Around age fifteen. That’s when I started doing the robotics stuff.
What would you say is your preferred medium?
Definitely Blender. I've been dabbling in ProCreate, though I’ve been strongly opposed to Apple, but I really love ProCreate. Blender is still my favorite, though. It’s open source, it’s free, I’ve put hundreds of dollars' worth of plug-ins into it. The community behind it is incredible. You can churn out some really cool art.
What would you say is your favorite thing to make?
Sci-fi abstract. Like weird cubes, sci-fi objects. They look really cool. They don’t really have a purpose but are just cool to look at. I’ll give them pulsing lights as a background. Either that or little robots.
What would be your dream field to work in?
Probably VFX studio, kind of like Corridor Crew. That would be sick. Practically, probably marketing and advertising. I think that would still be fun.
How would you say Bethel has helped you with your creativity?
Chad’s definitely been good for getting me into drawing as well. My primary source for learning graphic design has been external, and self-driven, so YouTube and online tutorials and such. Bethel doesn’t really have any animation classes, but the graphic design classes I’ve had have been fun and fairly quick to go through. The graphic design class with Angela has been really good, it’s pushing the formatted structure of it, which is good.
Any parting words of wisdom?
Learn what you can, stick it out, and definitely take initiative and learn on your own. For any artists, a lot of what you learn is learned on your own, and then the structure comes from class.
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