“A clever name and image, like Laughing Lab, makes a good beer label,” he says. “I thought then, Man, I would love to hold a Scholastic book with my name on it.”Ĭolorado Springs residents who enjoy a good beer also may recognize his work from the Bristol Brewing bottles, including the “Beer with Character” line. “The dream of illustrating a children’s book started in second grade,” he says. Scholastic books had stirred him as a child he learned from their how-to-draw books. They wanted Moby Shinobi, written and illustrated by Flowers. “I have always clung to the idea of illumination of the imagination, and that has become my mission statement for my company.” “Illustrate means to illuminate, and Luke also means light,” he says. In the past three years, his work has appeared in 27 kids books. Working night and day at an unsustainable pace, he left Young Life and started Luke Flowers Creative. He created album covers and T-shirt designs. He began moonlighting as an illustrator, and quickly gained attention. From there he secured a design job at Young Life in Colorado Springs, and his career blossomed He landed a scholarship to attend the Rocky Mountain College of Art. His imagination pulled him in another direction, however. Flowers played on Buena Vista High School’s state champion basketball team in 1995, and he considered a college hoops career.

Several moments helped Flowers find his way.įirst, he chose art over basketball.

He dabbled in music as a member of the band Mighty Quinn, a group that once played small gigs around Colorado Springs.Īrtists aren’t necessarily born to create art-they’re shaped by life’s events. The walls are lined with a banjo, guitars, an old turntable and a collection of vinyl records. When we meet in his office there, he leans back in his chair and talks about living life creatively. Ninja on the Farm is the first book from the series, Moby Shinobi, by Luke FlowersĪ soft-spoken man of 38, Flowers and his wife, Tessa, are raising three children at their home in Rockrimmon.

Ninja at the Pet Shop by Luke Flowers