AS YOUR PROGRESS IN YOUR SKILLS AS AN ARTIST, WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS
YOUR NEXT STEP IN YOUR JOURNEY?
Right now I’m working on trying to commit myself and my full
attention to being an artist. I’m at a point where I’m still
transitioning from doing art just for fun to actually making a
career out of it. I think the next step in my journey is to fully
immerse myself in my art and see where it takes me.
WHO INSPIRES YOU AND WHY?
I am largely inspired by pop culture, I guess you could consider me
a type of pop artist. I’m really fascinated by film, music,
fashion, and social media/the internet, so everything I paint is
usually a reference to something in those realms.
WHY DO YOU MAKE ART?
I make art because I enjoy it and I’m also good at it. It’s
inexplicably fulfilling to be able to bring a creative vision to
life and have people appreciate it.
IN YOUR OWN WORDS, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE AN ARTIST?
I think that anyone who creates is an artist. A lot of people tie
the word artist to more common ideas such as musician, visual
artist, etc, but I think anyone who is designing or creating
anything can be considered an artist?
IF YOU COULD TALK TO YOURSELF AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR JOURNEY, OR
ANYBODY ELSE FOR THAT MATTER, WHAT WOULD BE SOME WORDS OF ADVICE
YOU COULD LEND?
I feel like I’m still very much at the beginning of my journey, so
it’s hard to comment on what I would tell myself. My advice for
other artists starting out is to not get discouraged, be passionate
about your art, master your medium, and don’t be afraid to
experiment. A lot of people ask me for advice on monetizing their
art, and my biggest advice for them is to treat your art like a
business and not a hobby. You don’t see it, but everything I do in
terms of my art and promoting it is very strategic. People think
that artists get big from just posting their art and getting lucky
with whether or not people will repost it or like it, but that’s
not how it works. When I first started posting my art I would spend
hours interacting with people who I thought might be interested in
what I was posting. Even now, I still spend a big portion of my
time trying to think of ways that I can promote myself as an
artist. Being a good artist is only one half of the equation; the
other half involves knowing how to promote yourself.