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

Jimmy, 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 Jimmy Arca, perhaps I may be known as the animation guy who sells his traditional animation cels around the Dallas / Fort Worth area to the people who frequent these events around town.

Way before that though around 2007, I was drawing comic strips, listening to The Beatles, and watching animated videos on YouTube to fuel my creativity. The internet was new to me at this time, and I didn’t really know how it worked or that I could even post my own creations on there. But I didn’t start teaching myself animation until 2008, and it was all stop motion videos on my family’s camcorder. I used that camcorder so much, I ended up breaking it. From 2009 to 2014 I was primarily making claymation and sharing those on YouTube.

Fast forward to 2020 and I start animating by drawing on pieces of paper. I tried this before by drawing on sticky note pads and the corner pages on textbooks (I remember getting in trouble for doing that in the 6th grade). Now though with the technology that was available and the popularity of internet gifs, I could scan these drawing and “digitalize” these flipbook types of animations and share them online as gifs.

Someone I was dating at the time was also an artist and gotten an opportunity to do a pop up venting event in Denton, and she invited me along to sell my art too. The only thing I had to show for at the time was all these small pieces of paper that were building up in my bedroom from animating for a whole year. I found a way to make these drawings presentable by gluing them on matting board and putting them in plastic sleeves. Since then the animation cels have developed and now they include sticker labels, QR codes, and stamped dates on the back.

Jimmy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

I’ll start off by saying that I’m still trying to figure it out and resolve my issues in my business. I used to think that things were easy but lately my business sales have been on a decline. That comes with running a side business, that the income you do make with it fluctuates because of different factors. To the people who have bought my art in this season where things are tough, I appreciate them very much and thank them for their support.
I’ve come to the conclusion that summer is not the best time to sell work at pop ups. I might be wrong but the hot weather in Texas seems to deter people from coming. Doing a pop up market in a bar isn’t always the best either, of course people visit a bar to spend money on drinks, so when they come around to the tables they don’t have money to spend on art. I don’t blame them because they didn’t come to the bar to buy art, but I don’t think I’m going to pop up at bars anymore.
Quick shout out to the Liberty Lounge in Fort Worth though, that is a bar but they support artists and let them pop up with no fee which is cool. They hold their events on the last Sunday of every month.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Interestingly enough, music influences me more than anything, even though that is not the medium I built my business on.

I mentioned listening to The Beatles at a young age, as an adult I’ve realized that The White Album is one of my favorite albums of all time. When they released the album in 1968 they would have the serial number printed on the cover making each copy unique and creating a game for album collectors on who can get the lowest number. I’ve adopted this idea in my own business and only sell the original pieces of art from my animations making each product unique. All the art is numbered based on where the frame falls in the animated sequence, and when the frames from one animation sell out I won’t make prints of the art or create it again. This creates a sense of scarcity among what I sell, that you need to buy it now before someone else does, because you may not get the chance again.

The music I recently started exploring about a year ago was classic hardcore punk from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Among this music I have admired the business practices of Ian Mackaye who formed the bands Minor Threat and Fugazi. He runs his own record label, Discord Records, putting out albums from bands based out of Washington D.C. His band Fugazi would charge fans five dollars a concert ticket, not sell merchandise, and play shows anywhere they could. This made me realize that it is simply not enough to be an artist, but to also have principles and ethics within your business and the art you create. My art business was already plenty DIY like the punk bands I’ve grown to love, but I also want to make a point to not price gouge buyers of my art and give them a price that I think is reasonable. In the future I’d like to implement an idea, that if people recycle and donate paper to me I can offer them deals and price cuts. I have plenty of other ideas that I want to put in place in the near future, I just need some time to flesh them out and develop them.

Some animated movies that inspire my work are:
Yellow Submarine (1968)
Belladonna of Sadness (1973)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Son of the White Mare (1981)
The movies of Ralph Bakshi
The movies of Bill Plympton

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Because my business and what I sell is so tied to internet, a lot of people ask me about NFTs or encourage me to explore them. I always either dodge the questions or remarks, or tell them the truth that I’m not interested in exploring them. Although I utilize the internet for my gifs and QR codes so people better understand the concept of my work, I don’t like the internet at all and how dependent art has become on it. I’ve known some artists who judge their self-worth on Instagram or TikTok followers. And I’m sometimes guilty of it, but only creating art for the intention of posting it online and nothing else. I think NFTs sum that all up, where art isn’t worth anything unless it’s online in a digitized form for people to buy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jimmyarca.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inoiseaguy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-arca-b50055161/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClO4t938ENFLP6mlKvoqR4g
• Other: https://inoiseaguy.shop/

Image Credits

Jimmy Arca
Cullen Wood