Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Weronika Zubek. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Weronika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

My first dollar earned as a creative was back in 2015, I was still at my day job as a production artist at a printing company, and a friend reached out to me about creating a logo for her new business. I was a little surprised because I haven’t done any logos and didn’t do freelance jobs, but she saw my Instagram posts where I was sharing some lettering I was learning and thought I would be the perfect fit for her logo needs. It was and easy process and that’s where the idea of me pursuing my own creative business was born.

Weronika, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Weronika, I am a fine artist/designer from Chicago.

I was always creative as a kid, I remember when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade we had a school assignment to draw something, and when I turned mine in the teacher gave me a ZERO because she was convinced that I copied my drawing from a book. Well, to her surprise I did the same drawing again in class and then she had to believe me. That’s probably when the little spark was lit. But it wasn’t until High School that I really got into art and took all the elective creative classes I could, ranging from ceramics, graphic design to multiple drawing classes. There was never a question of what I wanted to do, because I knew it was going to be something creative. I ended up going to The American Academy of Art in Chicago and graduated with a BFA in graphic design.

After graduation I worked at a couple different places doing a little bit of design and mostly production art and printing, but I was being pulled to do something on my own, I was constantly looking for some kind of creative outlet to do after work, I started dabbling in photography and lettering and eventually painting.

Right now I focus on doing fine art and lettering. Two things that are totally different yet I can’t seem to let either one go.

I mainly paint landscapes because it’s a way for me to bring the nature into my home. I love the feeling of looking at a painting of a place I visited and remembering the weather that day, the way it made me feel relaxed, and the fact that the earth is so beautiful. Life is hectic and often we forget to slow down and appreciate the little things, my art is just one way I can help someone experience that feeling of tranquility in their own home.

Aside from just painting pretty places I also help emerging creatives by sharing painting tips, lettering worksheets, tutorials and online classes. I sometimes forget that was is obvious or easy for me is not easy for beginners, and I want to help them in their journey.

I am most proud of following my dream, even though I am still in the beginner trenches, having three little kids kind of slows one down, I am proud of trying. Of not giving up, because there is a lot of rejection and making art that doesn’t sell or courses that no one watches, but I am determined to keep trying, keep growing and learning.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

For me being resilient means creating art again and again even when most of it doesn’t sell. I keep creating collections every year even though I have three collections that didn’t sell any pieces. I keep offering prints even though I don’t sell many. Why? Because I know that eventually my art will sell, and that this is just the way to get there. I keep trying different mediums, styles and marketing techniques until I reach my people. I can’t just create one painting and wait for it to sell before I can create the next one. I have to keep moving forward and learning something from each failure.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was thinking that just because I build an online store my art would sell right away.

At the very beginning of my creative journey I discovered Etsy and the countess art shops selling printables, prints and originals. Since I’ve been doing art at that point for a while, counting school, I though I’d give it a go. If those people could do it why can’t I? I got to work, I created a few pieces, digitized them and had a pretty good printer at home that allowed me to offer prints.

I posted the listings to my shop and waited. Waited and waited for months and no sales came. I tried adding more pieces and waiting some more. I got a total of 4 sales that year and 2 were to a friend. This was a hard lesson, I wasted so much time doing the wrong thing when all I had to do was dip my toes into marketing, start by building an audience and sharing my work first.

After about a year I pivoted to teaching lettering and focused on building a brand, a community and using social media for marketing purposes. Once I did that my lettering worksheets took off.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.weronikazubek.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/weronikazubekart
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/weronikazubekart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-rTtISa3ixVetYIVz8yYEg
• Other: My lettering/educational website www.twoeasels.com My lettering Instagram http://www.instagram.com/twoeasels