We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jordan Swint a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jordan, thanks for joining us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

Having just finished my freshman year at art college back in 2013, I went home for the summer and was eager to find a summer job. I put in many applications and mostly focused on art-related jobs, hoping to use the new knowledge and skills I learned in school. Despite there not being as many art opportunities in my hometown back then, to my surprise I was somehow contacted by the owner of a local art gallery. His email detailed that he was in search of local artists to participate in an upcoming show at his gallery and asked if I’d be interested in joining. I thought this would be my big break so of course I said yes. Me and a handful of other artists spent the next month or so working on our pieces in the studio space of his gallery, and one thing that stood out to me was our vast differences in styles. As an animation student at the time, my art was very cartoony and heavily anime-inspired, whereas everyone else’s styles seemed more abstract. For some reason the gallery owner did not seem to like my work compared to the others, and as time went on it almost seemed like he was doubtful, disinterested, and dismissive of my work while openly praising everyone else’s. His lack of interest was blatantly obvious to me when the local newspaper wrote an article about the upcoming show and my artwork was the only work not included in the promotional pictures. He made no mention of me in the article, either. This hurt me so bad that on the opening day of the show I couldn’t bring myself to go. Instead, I stayed home and sulked, wondering why my art wasn’t good enough in his eyes. I spent the weekend festering in my emotions and by the following week I was surprised to receive an email from the owner instructing me to come collect the money I made. I thought he’d been joking. I didn’t want to go at first; I didn’t want to face the man who made me feel unrepresented and unappreciated. I was reluctant, but I ended up going. Once at the gallery I felt hesitant, still not wanting to believe that *I* sold a piece of artwork, but once he handed me the $40 the reality set in. After being dismissed before and made to feel like my art wasn’t good enough compared to the others, I came to find out that I was the only artist who sold a piece of artwork during the gallery show. He also mentioned that my work garnered a lot of praise and attention from people and wished I were there to experience it. This might not have quite been my “big break” but it was the first time I ever sold a piece of artwork and felt validated as an artist. The lesson I took from this experience is: don’t doubt an underdog because that underdog just might be the one to surprise you (and become $40 richer).

Jordan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be an artist. I fell in love with cartoons, comics, anime, and manga, and as a kid I knew I wanted to create my own someday. So much so that I went to an art college to study 2D animation, focusing on character design and illustration. As far as my art goes, my ideas are all over the place and I tend to overwhelm myself by wanting to try different things all at once. Ideally, I would love to focus on creating my own comics, manga, and illustrations, and possibly stream and create art content online, but for now I mostly doodle. There isn’t much to say about my “brand” other than I’m very much inspired by anime and cartoons like Codename: Kids Next Door. However, while I have a lot of ideas and have only finished a small number of completed works, I don’t have enough art to show for myself just yet.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

To me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is knowing I have the talent to bring my ideas to life, regardless of my skill level. To be able to take the images from my imagination and draw them on paper, while acknowledging that the images came from my hand, is such a great feeling.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The main goal, basically my life’s mission: be the artist that younger me would want me to be.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordie_draws/