(GLYCKMAG) Can you introduce yourself?
(Alon Potozki) Of course, I’d love to introduce myself! My name is Alon aka kouis, I am a 17 year old artist & creative director specializing in many forms of art such as fashion design, graphic design. I’ve been wandering around different worlds of art for a while now and been experimenting a lot, but my current and biggest interest is in the fashion design world. I’ve started from designing merchandise to music artists I enjoy listening to and have managed to gain some pretty big names on my list too. Since 2021 I have been working on my own brand under the name of “kouis” or “kouisstudios”, had my first drop named “A PRODUCT OF THIS WORLD” in November of 2023 and looking up to add much more physical body work to my portfolio in the future.
(GLYCKMAG) What are your experiences with art and design?
(Alon Potozki) I would say I have a lot of experience with art & design, I’ve started designing banners and logos for my Minecraft youtube channel back in 2016, and since then have been changing forms of art and experimenting with other tools to create art. In the years of 2021-2022 I was focusing much on cover art and personal art, I’ve created pieces that I felt like described the way I feel a lot - It helped me understand what real art felt like. While discovering what forms of art I personally enjoy working on - I’ve experimented a lot with merchandise and print design. I’ve been doing personal work for a bit until it really got big and real, after building a little name for myself - I’ve started to work with people that inspire me a lot and that give me a big push, some names I’ve worked with consist of Lucki, Rolling Loud, FaZe & much more.
(GLYCKMAG)
How did you find interest in it?
(Alon Potozki) Honestly, I don’t even know. I think that the first time I’ve ever touched an Adobe program was when I wanted to make myself a banner for YouTube. My parents have been saying I’ve always been interested in art though, when I was a kid I enjoyed painting and fabric a lot. I used to go around the house and everytime my parents bought me a new piece of clothing I would feel the fabric and instantly recognize what fabric it was.
(GLYCKMAG) As a creative, what personal goals have you achieved already and what are some yet to be realized in the future?
(Alon Potozki)
I really like talking about my goals actually, I’d say that I’ve achieved a lot as a 17 year old but there’s so much more to achieve. I’m really proud that I’ve managed to have my first clothing drop back in 2023 - It’s something I’ve wanted to do for so long but haven’t found the right time, idea & honestly haven’t felt ready for it. I am also really proud that I’ve managed to work with some of my inspirations and have people inspired by my work, like It’s so crazy to me that some people look up to me while I’m just a child. I’d say my biggest goal on this earth is to express myself through my art - For me, art is the most important thing in the world, you can express yourself the best way when creating art and without artists the world would all look the same. Another big dream of mine is to build a community that consists of people that actually appreciate art and don’t buy a product because of it’s “amazing marketing” or because someone popular showed appreciation to the product.
(GLYCKMAG)
During your entire creative career, what are the struggles you've experienced to be the most impactful?
(Alon Potozki)
I’ve experienced a lot of struggles, but I wouldn’t say much “creative struggles”, I take inspiration from real life whenever I make art, so whenever someone bothers me in real life it affects my creative form as well. The things that impacted my art the most are some stuff that happened during 2021-2022 (when I was making a lot of personal art), I’ve lost a loved one and had a break up with my first love at that time, it affected my art a lot and I think anyone could tell that I wasn’t 100% okay whenever that happened, but it taught me a lot and that’s what’s really important.
(GLYCKMAG)
And are there things you know people in this field struggle with, but you don't? Why would that be?
(Alon Potozki)
Honestly, I don’t really struggle with creative blocks that much. Whenever I used to make banners and stuff like that I’d struggle with it on a monthly basis, I think I’m really lucky that it doesn’t bother me. I’ve learnt that if I don’t want to make art I shouldn’t make art since it’s not gonna come out as good as my brain imagines it, I wouldn’t even call it “motivation”, it’s more like if it doesn’t feel right then it doesn’t feel right, I think it doesn’t affect me much because I’ve understood that even if I want to make art and don’t have any ideas or it doesn’t feel right, I shouldn’t just start creating cause my brain is just going to melt thinking about how to do it right.
(GLYCKMAG)
Do you see art and design, creating itself really, just as a career path you want to pursue, or does it have a lot of impact in your personal life as well?
(Alon Potozki) Art isn’t just a career for me, even though I’d love to engage in any form of art in the future, I’m not looking at it as just a career path. as I said without artists the world would look boring - that’s what really keeps me thinking. Like imagine if art wasn’t a thing in this world, nothing would have personality - cars would look all the same, architecture, clothing, everything would look the same or really similar. Art has a really big strength that gives items personalities and lets you express yourself in the best way. Art also has a ton of impact in my day-to-day life, everytime I go outside I think of how they are built, how they came up with it and I love looking at nature and getting inspired by it.
(GLYCKMAG) What does your creative process look like?
(Alon Potozki)
I don’t even know. I don’t really have something lined up in my mind under “creative process”, I just do what I like and if it doesn’t come out well, then fuck it. If I’d have to explain my creative process it’ll be something like this: The first thing I always do before I even start working on something is gather inspiration for what I am trying to make. The best sources of inspiration I’ve found that work best for me are going outside, looking at nature & architecture and a lot of poems and writing. After I’ve gathered some inspiration and have the project lined up a bit better in my head I start sketching ideas, usually none of them make the final cut but it’s always good to sketch out your mind. and from then I don’t even know what’s happening, I just play around with graphics and filters and something sick comes out from it.
(GLYCKMAG) During your creative process, how often and from where do you seek inspiration?
(Alon Potozki)
I always seek inspiration, no matter what. I think it is extremely important to have inspiration behind every project you work on. I really like sourcing inspiration from nature and a lot of writing and poems. Writing always gets me inspired and up to work. It might be just me but whenever I see a pretty poem I can always imagine what it would be like as a graphic in my head. I rarely use Pinterest for my personal projects - more so on my client work and creative direction work. I just feel that Pinterest doesn’t really give out inspiration but just “help you achieve a better graphic” if that makes sense. It’s like a small asset store that is completely free.
(GLYCKMAG) How often do you struggle with creative blocks?
(Alon Potozki)
I’m so glad I barely struggle with creative blocks. As I said it doesn’t feel real to me, like I used to have them a lot but now whenever it doesn’t feel right then it doesn’t feel right, I always said you can’t force yourself into making art especially if it’s something that you enjoy making.
(GLYCKMAG)
Is there something that helps you get out of it?
(Alon Potozki)
When I used to have creative blocks, the thing that always helped me get out of them was to not think about it at all, maybe have a walk outside and that usually got me inspired and motivated to make something.
(GLYCKMAG)
When feeling stressed, how does that affect your creative work?
(Alon Potozki) Stress affects my work a lot. whether it’s for the good or the bad. when I am stressed out about creative work it’s usually about if the graphic I made is good enough or not, what I usually do when that happens is leave the file in some hidden folder on my PC for two weeks to a month and come back to it after that, it’s like a refresh to your brain and you’ll think completely different stuff about the art, you could think it is good enough compared to your other work and you can think it is complete garbage. Real life stress also affects my art a lot, but I’d say it affects my art in the best way possible - I usually get inspired to make art by real life feelings, whenever I feel stressed, sad, or whatever it might be, I instantly open Photoshop and start sketching down ideas based on how I feel, it also makes me feel better and I come up with something sick.
(GLYCKMAG)
How do you deal with said stress?
(Alon Potozki) Just pour everything into a canvas, that’s what I always say. No matter how you feel, if you are stressed, sad, happy or whatever it can be, just pour all of it into a canvas. Feelings create the best and most relatable art in my opinion.
(GLYCKMAG)
If there’s a tight deadline coming up, what would your approach to time-management be?
(Alon Potozki)
I usually don’t set deadlines for my own stuff, I feel as if a deadline feels “too rushed" to make a final product that means something to myself and is appreciated as art and not just as a “good design” or a “eye-catching t-shirt”. In association to fashion, I do get really stressed while working on scheduling the drop, photoshoot, etc.
(GLYCKMAG)
How important is self-innovation and experimentation to you?
(Alon Potozki)
It’s definitely important, but I do not think it is as important as people think it is, like there’s pretty much no possible way in fashion to think of something that hasn’t been done before. I do think everyone innovates something in a while, even if it’s just a design style unique to them. Experimentation on the other hand is very important. You have to experiment to achieve greatness, creating boring graphics or t-shirts is not gonna cut it for me. I want to make something that has a meaning, and to do that you have to experiment with a bunch of shit.