Life & Work with Len Peralta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Len Peralta. 

Len, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started as an artist in a seven-person art department for Marc Glassman Inc. immediately after graduating from college. (They are better known as Marc’s here in Northeast Ohio.) I moved on to becoming an advertising copywriter working on a variety of local, regional and national accounts for several different agencies before starting my own company in 2002. 

I continued doing graphic design, advertising, and marketing at first until around 2005 when podcasting came on the scene, I found myself doing album art for a variety of new podcasters who needed some sort of visual presence for themselves on iTunes. I was able to leverage my marketing skills along with my design skills and worked on many new shows including my own. This introduced me to a brand new audience and allowed me to showcase my artwork in a new, compelling way. 

During this time, my artwork was able to be seen by other artists, musicians, as well as television and film stars, and eventually, lead to me being able to work on books and projects with many of them. In 2010, I leveraged my art, marketing, podcasting, and networking skills to create a project called “Geek A Week.”. The idea was to draw 52 “geeks” or nerdy individuals from a variety of backgrounds as trading cards. I also recorded the interview with them and turned it into a podcast show. Through this project, I was able to talk to nerd celebrities like authors Neil Gaiman and George R.R. Martin, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, musician “Weird” Al Yankovic, and legendary comic creator Stan Lee. I have done six “seasons” of the project, five of which were successfully funded on the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter. 

Since then, I have been able to continue working on interesting projects including tabletop games. comic books and more. In 2018, I began teaching graphic design and digital illustration at the Cleveland Institute of Art. I also currently work as a graphic recorder for an Atlanta-based company, The Sketch Effect. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Working for myself for 20+ years has been full of ups and downs, of course. My wife and I continue raising our seven children together and that additional pressure has been the impetus for me to work harder while doing the type of work that I love to do. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As mentioned earlier, I am very proud of my Geek A Week project (geekaweek.net). That project has served as the ultimate networking project allowing me to create bonds and friendships with many of the people I interviewed and supplied me with fun projects to work on over the past decade. 

The fact that I am very easy to work with collaboratively makes me different from many other artists. I am also very fast when I work and cognizant of deadlines, which helps my clients meet their deadlines without much trouble from me. 

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I am a consummate networker. I genuinely like talking and collaborating with many types of people and I love being able to be the connective tissue between other creatives. I have used that skill adeptly over the past 30 years of my career. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lenperalta.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lenperalta/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LenPeraltaArt/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lenperalta
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jawboneradio