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Meet Endymion “Tru” Bragg of Beyond Illustration in West Phoenix

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Endymion “Tru” Bragg.

Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. You can include as little or as much detail as you’d like.
Like many creatives, I began exploring art in grade school. First with drawing, then with video, recording little skits with my sisters, and cousins like we seen on In Living Color. My father was a photographer as well so I was exposed to life behind the camera through him when he’d bring me along with him to weddings he’d shoot. However, I didn’t pick up a camera again to do photography until later in life.
I gravitated more to drawing than I did to video and photography; possibly because it was more accessible. I would enter competitions, third through eighth grade and have my drawing displayed for the school to see. This is when I discovered people actually liked what came out of my weird little head. So from that point, I began selling my art to classmates and got my first taste of being in business. My parents saw my drive and persistence and invested in an air brush and really started a business in the sixth grade.
In 2011-ish, I began my graphic design journey designing album covers and logos for music artists in Arizona. I started with a good friend from high school, I designed one of his album covers that he and his audience really liked, so I became his go-to guy for graphics. From there, I designed for a few artists and promoters in Arizona and truly picked up momentum.
Fast forward to college, I attended Grand Canyon University in 2013 where I studied digital design. I graduated with a degree in digital design with an emphasis on web design, but one class that was required was digital photography. The first class in photography introduced me more into the world of photography and the fundamentals. I didn’t truly understand it all but I at least had an idea of the basics. The second class I took is where my competitive nature and drive went into overdrive. We were given assignments and I would literally fulfill the requirements of the assignment but there was no artistic feel to it. The instructor would look at my images and tell me, I at least did what was asked but there was really no thought put into it. He’d then look at my classmates’ images and go on about how great they were. I couldn’t understand why their images were so much better than mine. So in my head, I’m thinking “he called me trash”, I know he didn’t but that’s how I took it.
From that point, I wanted to prove that I could produce images at a high level as well. After that semester was over, during summer break, I spent HOURS studying photography and what makes an image so great. I was trying to see what he seen in other’s images that he didn’t see in mine. During that summer, I discovered a new love for photography and added to my arsenal of skill coupled with my graphic design skills.

Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. As any artist, you struggle with self criticism. I have different artists that I follow and I compare my work to their’s, which no artist should do because these artists have been doing this for years and I just jumped in. Nonetheless, I moved forward. It was difficult finding people to believe in my product when you don’t feel 100% confident in your work. Luckily I have an amazing support system in my wife and family. They saw the progression so I remained on the path. I slowly started to put myself out there as an artist for hire. I still couldn’t get many people who believed in me enough to donate to my work but I’d always practice with my “cousin”, Prodigal Sun CEO, Brandon. I’d practice shooting with him and my kids. My kids didn’t have a choice, they were going to be my models whether they wanted to be or not. I also used the best and cheapest model I could find, myself. I’d post pictures and reach out to other photographers and offer to be an assistant for no charge, just to be around photographers and see how it’s done. No one really took me up on the offer, but I stayed the course.

Being my own model allowed me to explore a lot more without pressure. I’d recreate movie posters and promo images from popular shows. From one of those self images, an old contact reached out to me about his studio called The Factory of Unified Noise. This opened up a whole other world of opportunities to network and really get the ball rolling in design and photography.

Tell us about your business/company. What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
Beyond Illustration began while still school. I first started as EB Visual Concepts, a friend was supposed to design with me so I didn’t want only my name to be represented so we began a company called Koi. That project was short lived so I changed and wanted something to truly describe what I did. I started out drawing, and picked up photography along with other disciplines in mind, that’s how Beyond Illustration was started. I wanted people to know that I didn’t just draw, I had other skills.

I’ve built a reputation around compositing and building images, not just taking pictures. I love composite images and creating surreal images. A major influence for me are movie posters and fine art. When I made flyers for a promotion company in Phoenix, they weren’t your typical flyers. They were an entire scene that could stand alone or be repurposed as an asset for video promotion. I like to look BEYOND the image (see what I did there). What is the image saying? Why is the image so dope? There are a lot of questions I ask myself when creating and looking at art.

It’s been a wild journey from the inception of Beyond Illustration. I love the hustle of it all. The thing I think I’m most proud of is that I’ve built my company around helping people around me to achieve a goal. I enjoy working start up companies and artists helping them bring their ideas to fruition. Now, with the connections and contacts I’ve made I’ve had the opportunity to work with a wide range of people and have helped them walk through their ideas and guiding them through the process of starting a company. I get a chance to use a God given gift that I’ve cultivated with God given drive to help people work towards a goal.

What sets me apart is I’m always looking for ways to go against the norm. When everyone was doing basic party flyers I was doing movie posters basically. I wanted my clients to stand alone to get noticed. Designing album covers for hip hop artists, while every other designer is staying within the typical mixtape look, I’m trying to capture a story on the cover and not have it look like I simply cut out an image and pasted it on a template. With photography, it’s a little more difficult to stand out, but you can always get creative with lighting. So that’s what I do, I explore lighting and angles.

What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
Luck? I don’t consider anything to be good or bad luck necessarily. My achievements are the results of my faith and sacrifices that my family and I have made. My failures (bad luck I guess) are all opportunities for me to learn from and allow for growth. You have to be willing to throw yourself out there and make those difficult decisions. As an artist, you allow yourself to be vulnerable which is difficult for anybody.

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