Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Strong
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2001. I’ve lived here my whole life, and this city has slowly grown on me as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been drawing since I was about 2. It’s remained my biggest passion my entire life. When I was about 8, I was gifted a book called “Drawing in 3-D with Mark Kistler”. That book sent me into a spiral of almost non-stop drawing for a majority of my childhood and early teenage years. I drew everything in that book over and over until I felt it was perfect. Once I finished that, I took to drawing people. My biggest inspiration by far are the “Demo” comics by Becky Cloonan and Brian Wood. I’ve drawn scenes and covers from that series more times than I can count, and I still find them to be a large part of my creative process. As a kid, they drove me to create more characters and pay more attention to detail. They also became a source of comfort through the hardest parts of my life. The band Gorillaz was also a huge inspiration for me as a kid. I remember watching their videos for hours as a kid and fawning over how cool the art and music was. I still pull inspiration from them to this day, and I am eternally grateful to have found all of these things as a child.
As I grew through my teenage years, I went through a lot of struggles, During this time, I developed a love for portraits and tattoos. I started spending a lot of time in tattoo shops and learning how to draw multitudes of different styles from the artists there. I would take photos from friends and try to recreate their image to the best of my ability, It drove me to push myself into styles and mediums I was uncomfortable with, and truly stoked the fire in my heart. My mom has been heavily supportive of my art throughout my life, and was the first person to inspire me to make it into a career. She always pushed me when I was losing faith in myself, both with art and everything else. She’s honestly the only reason I still create anything, and I’m so glad she pushed me as hard as she did growing up.
I sold my first piece at 18 for $20, and I will never forget how excited I got about it. It felt surreal that someone actually wanted to keep something I’ve made. To this day, it still does. Every time I get a new commission or sell a print, I can hardly believe that the little kid drawing comics gets to give that love to others. I’ve been running Oddly Enlightened Punk Art ever since. It’s still very small, and I seldom sell art to people outside of Utah, but it is growing slowly. I’m unbelievably grateful for every step and I’ve gotten to make. I joined the band Storm Harbor Point in 2023 as a bassist, and it’s opened so many doors for me. I’ve gotten to meet so many amazing people, play some incredible shows, make so much more art than I ever thought I would, and learn new ways to express my passion for art than I ever imagined. Currently my band, art for them, and art for other bands are my main focus. I’m excited to see where it takes me and where I get to travel with creativity.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road for me, for sure. I’ve struggled with mental and physical illness for most of my life. I had a very abusive father growing up. He pushed me to make art a lot as a kid, so when I told him I wanted to make it my career and he told me I would starve if I tried, it hurt me deeply. He was very physically and emotionally abusive to me for 8 years of my life, and he abandoned me at 14 when I tried to confront him. That created a large barrier for me, especially when it came to creativity. I became very depressed and struggled to continue drawing after that. My mom is who pulled me out of that darkness and pushed me to continue making art.
I’ve had a long and grueling battle with mental illness since I was very young. I have borderline personality disorder and a large amount of PTSD. That has been both a catalyst and an inhibitor for my art. My teenage years were definitely the hardest of my life so far. After the abandonment, I struggled to find my place in the world and turned to anything I could find to make me feel better. None of it worked. I ended up in the mental hospital and residential treatment centers on and off from the time I was 15 to 17 due to recurrent suicide attempts. I drew as much as I could while in those facilities, and honestly it helped me learn a lot about myself and process what I was going through. A therapist I had in one of the treatment centers pushed me artistically more than almost anyone else. He drove me to draw everything I felt and to continue doing so even after I left. I think about him often during hard times and it helps me get through them still.
At 18, I went through a relapse into old addictions and behavior. I almost completely stopped making art and I gave up on making myself a better life. I felt I was made to suffer and that I didn’t deserve good things. When I was about 20, I finally started to really try and drag myself out of that mindset. Unfortunately, physical health got in the way of a lot of things. I was diagnosed with Hypermoblie Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome at 22, but had been experiencing symptoms since I was 7. Having a physical barrier like that has proven very difficult to deal with. I am often in a lot of pain and extremely exhausted. Finding the motivation to do art or make music is a task most days. I’m grateful the level of passion I have for creating was instilled in me at such a young age, otherwise I probably would’ve given up long ago.
I’ve been through multiple horrible relationships, particularly my recent marriage. He bashed my love for art into the ground; constantly telling me my art wasn’t good enough or my music wasn’t good. I took his feedback and applied it into everything I did, but it was never enough. I became financially, physically, and emotionally trapped in a marriage where I felt I had no escape. I did my best to get my feelings out through art, but every time I tried all I heard was him telling me how bad it is. I lost my love for art completely. It wasn’t until I joined Storm Harbor Point (my band) that the fire became re-lit. They loved my art and my music and consistently pushed me to continue making more. This created a lot of tension and fighting in my marriage, I kept making more and more art and music to get away from all of the pain I was feeling, and came to a realization that I was deeply unhappy and he was unhappy with me, whether he would admit it or not. I accepted that he didn’t love me; he only loved the idea of what he could make me become. I left him in August of 2023 and it was the most freeing thing I’ve ever done. It felt like the creative part of me was unshackled and so much art came bursting out of me I could barely comprehend it. I’ve never felt so much like myself, and it’s created a willpower in me I haven’t felt in over a decade.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in character design, portraits, and art for musicians/bands. Recently, I’ve become known for my custom instruments, and honestly it’s one of my favorite things to do. I’ve done lots and lots of custom portraits for friends and family, I’ve created entire characters and worlds with my friend who’s an author. We’re hoping to release a comic book in the coming years, which would be a dream come true. I love to draw things that invoke deep amounts of emotion, whether it be happy, sad, angry, or anything else. I love high detail art, even if it’s just little things only I know are there.
I’m most proud of my custom instruments. They are such a personal thing for me, and I think having art that gets to be used in so many ways is such a cool thing. Instruments are already a very personal thing, and adding art that they love onto. them makes them so much more unique and it creates a very special bond between myself and the musicians I create for.
I feel I’m set apart by my style. I pull so much inspiration from tattoos, comics, and various mangas that it’s ended up becoming very distinct. The way I use shading and lines is very particular to me and has created a visual feeling that I’ve become known for. I’m very proud of it and plan on continuing to develop and grow my skills for the rest of my life.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Going to an art festival with my mom. It was like a dream come true. I got to meet so many incredible artists and watch so many people create that inspired me. I sat and watched the man who made dimensional chalk art famous create an entire piece and explain every step of his process, and it blew me away. I drew a lot more after that day and it felt so good to be there with my mom. She was just as excited as me and it was so fun to run around with her and experience creativity in a new way.
Pricing:
- Personal Commissions: $25+
- Custom Instruments: $300+
- 8×12 Prints: $40
- 11×14 Prints: $50
- 24×36 Prints: $60
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oddlyenlightenedpunk.carrd.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddlyenlightenedpunk/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spongeartist?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-kochems-83a08b234
- Other: https://stormharborpoint.bandcamp.com/
