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

Caroline, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I first knew that I wanted to create art for more than my personal enjoyment during my freshman year of college. At the time, I lived in a small dorm room with two friends. The three of us were eager to fill the small empty wall space that we had with ‘cool art.’ I remember struggling to find any art prints or posters that fitted my very particular taste and vision. It was then that I realized that, with my creative background in drawing, painting, graphic design, and studies in advertising and business, I wanted to create the wall art that I was never quite able to find. When the pandemic began during my second semester, I had more time than ever to experiment with creating art and go on a search for my personal style. I began by painting personalized watercolor portraits for friends and family, which dramatically improved my technical drawing skills. This was essential for me in my next step, which was shifting my focus from selling small custom paintings to large art prints. I launched my online art print shop in 2022 during my junior year of college. Once I had a sizable body of work available online, I needed to promote it. I found that TikTok was (and still is) an excellent marketing tool for my artwork and provided an incredible way to connect with new clients who appreciate my art style. At all times while building my art business, I have been a full-time student, an intern, or a full-time employee, so selling art prints online has been a great way for me to juggle multiple pursuits. While I am not a full-time artist, my portfolio has opened the door to some amazing collaboration and job opportunities that I never knew would be possible. I plan to continue growing my body of work and meeting other amazing artists and clients along the way. I am excited to see what the future has in store for me and my art!

Caroline, 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?

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives or skills that you wish you had learned at an earlier age?

The number one skill I wish I knew about earlier is how to market my products effectively. It can be very difficult to channel all of one’s ideas into a creative direction that resonates with a single target persona. Selling art would be easy if artists only had to focus on creating art that magically reaches the right people without ever worrying about marketing strategy, right? I quickly realized that I needed more marketing knowledge if this venture was going to succeed. Starting out, I had no idea who I wanted to sell my products to or how I was going to get my work in front of that audience. There is definitely an awkward divide between my creative side, which relishes in creative freedom and acts on impulse when designing, and my logical side, which stresses producing work that relates to a specific group of people in order to successfully grow my business. What I found worked for me, and created a healthy balance between these two opposing forces, was creating more work to find the common thread between all of my work and who it would potentially resonate with. Upon starting to notice consistent themes of retro imagery, bold femininity, nods to pop art and fashion, and colorful visuals, I began to realize that my work was appealing mostly to 18-24 females. From there, I have been able to dig deep into that target audience, firstly because I am a member of that audience, and secondly, from putting myself in their shoes and brainstorming to identify the kinds of things that fascinate that group. I am also very lucky to have studied Advertising and Business at the University of Texas at Austin and to now work in a corporate marketing role. These education and work experiences have helped me learn how to promote my work more effectively. I am by no means an expert, and I am still learning how to enrich my business every day, however, my biggest advice for any creative or young entrepreneur is to spend time understanding and empathizing with the target audience. Once you have this down and can do this, your future decisions and creative direction become more clear.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding part of my journey as an artist has been seeing the ideas in my head come to fruition and, eventually, inspire other people. It is incredibly flattering when someone compliments my work that began as a seemingly weird idea or random shower thought. It is amazing how creating art has led me to meet so many new people, connect with them, and make their ideas come to life. The process of designing commissions for people is particularly rewarding and is one of the main reasons I continue to create every day. My commission process consists of sending drafts back and forth with a client as many times as necessary until it is tweaked to match their vision perfectly. Many of my clients have commissioned gifts for birthdays and other celebratory occasions. Receiving messages from clients that their loved one was touched by such a personal and thoughtful gift is one of the most rewarding parts of my art venture. Having the ability to make someone else’s idea come to life is truly special. Trust me, I know how infuriating it can be when you have an amazing idea in your head that you can’t seem to bring to life. Muting that little voice saying ‘what if no one is going to like it’ has definitely led me to connect with unexpected clients and enrich their lives and homes with my art. Sometimes I look back on work I did years ago that, at the time, I thought was revolutionary, and realize that it was not. However, it’s awesome to find value in old work because it shows how much I’ve worked and grown in my discipline over the years. It is the best feeling to look back on a body of work and think to myself, ‘Damn! I think I am actually getting better.’ Similar to playing a sport or an instrument, my skill set has developed through a lot of practice and trial and error. Going the extra mile to learn a new program, re-sketch something as many times as needed, or revisiting hundreds of renditions of a single illustration has not only made me better, but has rooted my passion in improving and growing creatively in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/carolineellisart?fbclid=PAAaZ0s29JyuCrrXrB93hEi8TMCHyQ23BDIfXk9FAdPC3WZA73Q2tTn9f9J8g_aem_AQR6kp_XjzaFixea7dbhOpj1ITK0hKky7JTMEWydj34iZF5wySAIA91TFfMANOyl-6E
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolineellisart?igsh=MXM4Mjh3OGxtZjY0eg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wizcarolifa?_t=8jIuN4hvpsM&_r=1