This is Staffordshire --Aged just 25, many shades of life's rich palette have yet to be encountered by creative couple Luke Brookes and Becky Lancaster. However, the soon to be married pair, courted by many top names, are already well-versed in the art of a supportive relationship, as they reveal to John Woodhouse
"PEOPLE people do think of us as an arty couple," says Luke Brookes. "We pretty much do everything together. That's just the way we are."
Luke is one half of the personal and creative partnership that is he and fiancée Becky Lancaster.
Together the pair, both aged 25, and to be married in but eight weeks, fashion a living from the confines of a spare room studio in their home above a shop.
It's a scenario which could very well be the basis of a 1960s garret drama – the tormented artists trying, against the odds, to forge a career. To be noticed, in a tough and uncompromising world.
But, 50 years on, Luke and Becky's tale lacks the required touches of pathos and melodrama. Theirs is not a life lived in black and white. It's lived very much in vivid colour, and so far, with entirely rosy – sometimes quite literally – outcomes.
Luke is the man with the imagination caught up in a world of Nordic mythology. Becky the girl making special occasions even more so with upbeat invitation, card, and decorative designs. Somewhere in the middle the two worlds collided and partnered up for life.
The couple met six years ago while studying for an art degree at Staffordshire University.
"As soon as we started university we got together," says Luke. "It's hard to say why, something just clicked and that was it. We were together from then on."
After graduating, Luke, originally from Dudley, moved north and joined Becky in her hometown of Leek. While others their age might have held back from making a commitment to live together, for this couple, there's simply been no point. "The way we looked at it," says Luke, "was we wanted to do it, so why wait?"
As many of their peers craft a new life in what's deemed the 'creative hub' of London, Luke and Becky rent a flat above a video shop in Leek. It's not big, it's not grand, but it's their space. And from there their partnership has done nothing but flourish. Even if working in close confinement wouldn't be the chosen option for many couples.
"It's worked out all right," says Luke. "The studio is a bit cramped, but it's good to have someone else creative who you can turn to and say 'does this look all right?', 'do you think this is going to work?'. Sometimes she'll say 'no, it's terrible!', or more hopefully, 'yes, it's great!'"
"We do try to be honest as we can with each other," adds Becky. "It's good to have someone else's opinion. We're good like that."
"It could be quite a lonely existence otherwise," ponders Luke of living alone. "You're just stuck in that space, and with most of the stuff being done by email now it'd be quite easy to go through the day without seeing anyone. It could be quite secluded."
"And we are strict about working at home," adds Becky. "It's very easy not to do it. So I try to treat it as a normal working day, as if I was going to work. And you have to discipline yourself to stop as well – otherwise you can just carry on and on and on. You have to remember to create a little time for yourselves.
"We both understand where we're coming from. We try not to work on a weekend if we can help it. At least have one day to ourselves. It's hard, because when you stop you feel like you should be working."
There are other advantages of occupying such a small space. "Normally when I'm lying in bed before I go to sleep," says Luke, "that's when something pops into my head. The studio is right next to the bedroom so if anything happens I can run in there straight away." No wonder he describes much of his work as "dreamlike".
L uke's work is much sought after. He's been commissioned by U.S. internet giant AOL and Scandinavian home furnishing giants Ikea, the latter apt considering his love of the mythology of northern Europe. Then there's the picture he's been asked to create for the packaging of a speciality goats' cheese – "I'm a big fan of goats' cheese, honest!"
His work takes place in a whimsical world of his own making, inhabited by lonely giants and heroic adventurers, smiling moons and dancing bears, all of whom everyday live the tallest of tales.
"I think of it as creating a mythical world in my own mind," he explains. "I remember stumbling across these myths and legends and the stories were just so bizarre, and yet so brilliant as well. I thought this will translate really well, that's where it all started really."
No wonder his style was deemed perfect to illustrate recently released children's book The Littlest Mammoth, the touching tale of one such woolly creature's adventure of a lifetime.
Unsurprisingly, the book's found success. "It's fun and something I enjoy," says Luke of children's illustration, "but there's a lot of work goes into it before you get the end outcome."
It's easy to see how his pictures could engage with children – other publishing deals are being pursued – but it's a more wide-ranging appeal that looks set to secure an even more successful future. Luke's agents have been in talks with a record company to do gig posters for names including Lady Gaga, The Maccabees, and Lana del Rey.
Becky, meanwhile, who has been seen in British Vogue, Brides Magazine, and Perfect Wedding, has just completed a pitch to Next for wall art. But it's in the more intimate area of special occasion stationery that her creative brilliance is more generally revealed.
"I get a lot of inspiration from florals and vintage fabrics," she says of her designs. "I try to go down that route."
And the rewards aren't simply financial. "It's a nice area to work in," says Becky, who admits her first childhood steps in the art world came from "making things out of toilet rolls!".
"There is that element of making people feel good," she explains. "It's an area that I've always been interested in, but I try to look at it in a more quirky kind of way than most designers, because you've got a lot of wedding stationery that all looks the same. I'm just trying to make something that's a little bit different, that's affordable for people like us. I've done the stuff for my own wedding already!
"I want to branch out into the whole area of decorations," she continues, "dressing the room, the whole package. I'm never happy doing one thing – that's why I do the cards, the weddings, the illustration, and a bit of design too."
Luke proposed to Becky, not in Leek, but in Barcelona. The wedding itself, though, is less Spain, more Rudyard.
"It's the next step," says Luke. "We've got a place together so yeah, ready to do it."
Although the nuptials do put a little added strain on the finances. "Because of the wedding, a lot of the money is going into that," admits Luke. "We're not seeing a lot of it at the moment. "
Money, for any young artist, will always be an issue, doubly so in a partnership where neither has the luxury of a regular wage.
"We did have part-time jobs," explains Luke, "but that's gone now and we're concentrating on the art full-time.
"We never really struggle. It's just the nature of the business, you have quiet spells – feast and famine. You have to get your head round that when you start doing it. It's just something you have to get used to. Unless you're very lucky you're not going to have great success straight away."
"A lot of people we know have had grants," adds Becky, "or money from other places. But we've tried to do it ourselves. Having student debt, you don't want a lot of other debt on top of that.
"It's hard because there's a lot of competition."
"If you've got that money behind you, you can create a lot of publicity," admits Luke, "a real edge – but you'll get to that same point eventually.
"Our parents have been totally supportive," he adds. "They're just like 'this is the time to do it'. We've said before it'd be nice to have steady money coming in but we've pretty much known this is what we want to do from before we even went to college."
It's clear that neither is prepared to sacrifice the reality of what they have in favour of chasing dreams elsewhere.
"We've spoken about going down south," admits Luke, "but why bother? You can do what we do from anywhere in the world now because of the internet – it doesn't really matter where you are."
"There probably are opportunities in London we could enjoy by living there," agrees Becky, "but you have to weigh it up against where you live – and we love living here. And for the price we're paying here we couldn't even afford a place in London. We perhaps just have to try a little bit harder to get the work living up here that's all.
"We just think, if it wouldn't make a difference on the actual work side of it, why sacrifice what we've got round here?
"We like being based in Leek. It's a lot more arty these days – a lot more boutique shops. And I hadn't realised how many artistic people there are in North Staffordshire as a whole."
"We try to get out walking as well," adds Luke, "you can get a lot of inspiration from that – but it's not been easy because of the weather."
Whatever, the climatic conditions, it seems a certain warmth will always pervade Luke and Becky's bijou residence. "It's good having that partnership, definitely," asserts Luke. "We're more like a team than a single entity."
He turns to Becky – "You're my creative director!"
Not only that but the pair can feed off one another's achievements. "We push each other on," says Luke. "If one person gets a commission then the other person will want to do the same. Competitive – but in a creative way."
All in all then, it seems the traditional gloom-laden ending of the 60s garret drama is unlikely to be repeated here. This is a story – of love and of art – destined, one feels, for only the happiest of endings.
"We're getting there," says Luke. "We could always do with a bit more work. But that's the challenge. And it makes for an interesting life – we get invited to a lot of things. So far throughout my career I've worked with a lot of cool people."
"We enjoy doing it," adds Becky. "That's the main thing."
"You've got to give it a go," concludes Luke. "It's something we love doing so we'll do it while we can – 'til the bailiffs come knocking on the door!"
You somehow feel that with a couple so committed to each other and their talent, that's one image unlikely ever to be made real.
For more information on Rebecca and Luke, go to www.rebeccalancasterdesigns.com and lukebrookesillustration.co.uk Reported by This is 17 hours ago.