Students of Design

Brooks Engel – Setting Goals, Apparel Design, and Comparing Yourself to Others – Ep34

Episode Summary

Brooks is a SoCal-born and Colorado-raised Independent Designer and Illustrator based in Denver. For the past 10(ish) years, he's been the driving force behind Nowhere Land, an outdoor and adventure-inspired apparel brand and design shop. You can recognize his work by its bold colors and stylized landscapes that transform into the shapes of animals. I met Brooks this year (2025) at Crop Conference in Austin, TX, while we were reviewing student portfolios, and we almost got into a fender bender on our way to Via 313 for lunch. Luckily, the other driver recognized Brooks as the Skatepark Gremlin, and everyone calmed the hell down. Lol, I made that part up. We didn't talk about this, but I love how the compositions of his designs remind me of tattoos. However, something we DID discuss was what it was like for him to live and work out of his RV full-time. Tune in for a talk about reaching milestones by setting smaller goals, how he shifts his perspective when he realizes he's complaining about working for himself, and some insight into his process for making color palettes. Follow Brooks on Instagram @nowherelandsupply and consider sketching in the color pink, because Brooks does, and because it works.

Episode Notes

I met Brooks this year (2025) at Crop Conference in Austin, TX, while we were reviewing student portfolios, and we almost got into a fender bender on our way to Via 313 for lunch. Luckily, the other driver recognized Brooks as the Skatepark Gremlin, and everyone calmed the hell down. Lol, I made that part up. We didn't talk about this, but I love how the compositions of his designs remind me of tattoos. However, something we DID discuss was what it was like for him to live and work out of his RV full-time.

Tune in for a talk about reaching milestones by setting smaller goals, how he shifts his perspective when he realizes he's complaining about working for himself, and some insight into his process for making color palettes. Follow Brooks on Instagram @nowherelandsupply and consider sketching in the color pink, because Brooks does, and because it works.

Questions for this interview.

You're great at many things. What do you think you don't do so well?
What was it like working for yourself full-time out of an RV?
I'm pretty sure Starlink wasn't around in 2016, so how did you access the internet when you needed it?
You thought you would work for The Duck Company forever. Why did you think that, and why didn't you stay there forever?
You said you would rather struggle working for yourself than for somebody else. Five years later, do you still feel the same way in 2025?
Can you explain what the phrase "short steps, long vision" means to you?
When you find yourself complaining about working independently, what perspective or mindset helps you step back and appreciate the freedom that working for yourself offers?
Baseball was your life until 19 or 20—how did the shift away from pursuing pro baseball open the door to art and design for you?
What kind of inspiration and techniques have you pulled from different designers and illustrators?
Do you still use a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator for your illustrations? If so, how do you split the work between those two applications for a typical project?
How often do you lose work because of Photoshop or Illustrator crashing? Is it easy for you to remember to save frequently, or do you still get caught off guard?
How much direction from a client do you need to feel comfortable getting started, and how do you push back when a client says "do whatever you want"?
Can you walk us through where you like to sample colors from, or where you look for inspiration?
How have the compositions of your illustrations improved over the years?
The 10th anniversary of Nowhere Land is in 2026. What does that mean for you, and how does it make you feel?