Life & Work with Liz Beachy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Beachy.

Hi Liz, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Art has always been a part of my life. I was winning awards for pieces back in high school. I was in college to be a graphic designer but dropped out to focus on my health. Two years ago, I began experimenting with both traditional and digital art after a long hiatus. Today when I’m not working at my job in the healthcare field, I run Defective Deity, my own art brand where I make graphics, commissions, and soon will have stickers and shirts!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
After being sucked into a traumatic and abusive relationship, depression forced me to lose my creative spark. During this time as well, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, PCOS, and endometriosis. I struggled every day to even find the energy to leave bed let alone do anything besides the bare minimum. I had no desire to pick up a brush or doodle on my notebooks. I lost all my hobbies. But after finding myself again and rekindling my love for the creative life, I was gifted an old outdated iPad to doodle on. One thing lead to another and I formed Defective Deity (formerly known as Amoxichillin).

There are still struggles daily. Managing a full time job in healthcare during a pandemic definitely inhibits my time to work on things. I try to still make time for my own personal needs but I constantly feel like I’m letting people down if I don’t post enough, finish a job fast enough, or don’t feel like I’m putting forth my best work. My therapist helps me try and rationalize my hectic life and it helps a lot, but all creatives know that voice in the back of your head telling you to give up.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I create art of both traditional and digital media. I got popular almost two years ago for a few not safe for work illustrations of some, uh.. personal items. Someone even got one of my designs tattooed on them! From there, I became known for my saturated, dreamy, and vaporwave style of works with digital media. I’ve recently delved into small animation pieces as well such as a looping gif for a local musician named Star Silk.

On a traditional media aspect, I actually do the complete opposite. I love using mixed media and am known for using weird things for my art such as instant coffee, bamboo reeds, bourbon, and scrap wood I can find to make my own charcoal.

I think one thing that sets me apart from others is how adaptable I am. I can change themes on a dime and willing to meet the needs of my clients but also feel fulfilled and challenged in what I do.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I think the qualities that have gotten me where I am today really derive themselves from my time as a healthcare employee such as my empathy and ability to manage multiple projects at the same time. Sometimes clients come to me for memorial pieces or gifts for anniversaries. These pieces can bring on a lot of emotion from my clients and I make sure that I make every aspect of these pieces exactly what they were coming to me for.

Contact Info:

• Email: defectivedeity@gmail.com
• Website: https://linktr.ee/Defective.deity
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/defective.deity
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amoxichillin/

Image Credits
Jessie Pfriem
Defective Deity