Designing Sets for Platinum Artists, Nightclubs, and Restaurants with Marina Skye

Welcome back to The Abundant Artist, the show that dispels the myth of “the starving artist” and shares how you can live an abundant life as an artist and make a living from your talent one interview at a time.

Joining the podcast today is Creative Director and Set Designer, Marina Skye! Skye does freelance set design and creative projects for restaurants, recording artists, designers, and clothing stores – just to name a few. Her creative designs have caught the attention of the fine art world; platinum recording artist, Jidenna; the infamous Stankonia studios; 2Chainz’ Street Execs, Mike Will’s Studio; and many more!

In this episode, Skye shares her journey as a creative professional and set designer, how she began building out her portfolio when she was first starting out, the exciting doors she has opened from always being open to new challenges and opportunities, the business side of how a set design project works from top to bottom, and what’s to come for the future of her business as she moves onwards and upwards!

Key Takeaways:

[:30] How Skye developed their aesthetic as an artist.

[2:02] About Skye’s background and their pathway as an artist.

[3:15] What Skye studied in college.

[3:29] Skye’s first job out of college and what led them to transition out of it and create their clothing line.

[6:18] How Skye began to develop a portfolio for their set design through decorating parties.

[8:06] Why Skye was OK with working for free while building her portfolio.

[11:28] How Skye’s free work transitioned into paid work.

[16:05] Skye shares about the sorts of opportunities that became available to her after her 6-month nightclub set design project.

[17:47] About Skye’s 3-month set design project, the Trap Music Museum.

[20:55] Skye breaks down the business side of how a set design project works.

[21:45] How the process of working on set design looks like from top to bottom.

[23:30] How Skye builds her mood boards and mockups for her clients.

[25:21] Who pays Skye when it comes to set designs for artists – the label or the artist themselves?

[25:55] The challenges of building set designs to be taken apart and put back up on the daily for touring artists.

[27:55] What Skye is excited about right now as an artist.

[29:50] How did COVID impact Skye’s business?

[32:35] Where to find Skye’s work online!

[33:17] Skye’s plans for the future on how to possibly expand her business.

[35:07] How Skye delegates in her business without being directly hands-on with all of her set designs.

[36:05] Cory thanks Skye for joining the podcast!

Mentioned in This Episode:
Set by Skye

Set by Skye on Instagram

Trap Music Museum

Candytopia

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