In every piece of art, there’s a story to tell!

In today’s episode of ‘Chats & Tatts’ Podcast by Aaron Della Vedova, I am joined by Greg ‘CRAOLA’ Simkins, a well-known American artist.

Craola was born in 1975 in Torrance California and grew up with a menagerie of animals like rabbits which are often seen in his paintings. He started to draw at the age of three with various inspirations from books and cartoons. Then at the age of 18, he did graffiti art which became his impetus for in-depth art creations and drove him to paint larger works. The color perspective theories developed more of his artistic skills, then later on transitioned to acrylics.

Through his passion and perseverance, he completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from California State University in 1999. Craola worked as an illustrator for various clothing companies and brands. Then moved to video games like Tony Hawk 2X, Spiderman 2, and Ultimate Spiderman. And Craola still painted in his free time.

Then in 2005, he decided to be a full-time artist in painting. That was the start that his artworks being featured in group exhibitions to successfully having his own sold-out exhibitions. The demand immensely grew and his popularity spread out.

Today, Craola’s art masterpieces continue to leverage all throughout the USA. But his success wouldn’t be possible without his partner, wife, and loving mother to his kids, which serve as my brain and support system all the time.

But in the era of digital technology where artificial intelligence (AI) is a threat to every artist in the world, can art still survive? If you want to find the answer to this, get it straight from Aaron and Greg in this week’s episode!

What we chat about in this episode:

0:28 - Guest intro

2:11 - Craola’s journey of living what he loves to do: the art of painting

11:42 - How to turn your artistic passion into a profitable stream of income

13:49 - Reasons why artists need a support system

16:57 - Find out how Craola landed his first job as an artist!

19:22 - Greg’s FIRST BREAKTHROUGH in the art industry

23:53 - How Craola started selling his paintings

29:13 - Greg’s run in doing art shows and art gallery

30:51 - How to overcome and achieve your goals

32:39 - How Craola spends his days

34:53 - How much are Greg’s paintings

37:44 - The average time to complete a painting

41:56 - Craola’s advice for aspiring painters

44:37 - What is the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on art

50:52 - How to handle the future of art in AI

52:10 - What’s next for Greg ‘Craola’ Simkins

54:34 - Craola reveals the reason behind his tattoos

59:59 - Craola gets a new tattoo!

Quotes:

“... a story a lot of successful artists have, and I'm not here to knock on art school, but you hear it a lot. You hear a lot of artists be like, it didn't help them. I guess a lot of people say that or it even pigeonholes you or puts you doing it in a way that you would have naturally not gone that direction, but the school is teaching you the right and wrong rules. And then you follow them which ends up kind of, you know, holding back your six walls around you. Yeah, you gotta be able to break through some of the rules are good.” - Greg Simkins

“We love people that have those skills that we know we don't have and right when you see it, you're just like that it's admirable.” - Aaron Della Vedova

“You raise your prices as you sell up.” - Greg Simkins

“Keep drawing and keep painting.” - Greg Simkins