We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Robin Ewers Carnes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Robin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Thankfully I’ve always known I wanted to draw and be an artist. I couldn’t be stopped as a child; I drew all the time. My parents saw the potential I had and nurtured my interest in the arts. Over all those years, I picked up a lot of knowledge on how to draw properly, took extra time to try new things and started taking early art classes in high school, along with staying after school for Art Club. I went to college for graphic design, but I had quite a few fine art classes in the first year before really diving into the graphics. I learned tons there, but the best way I’ve found to pick up new skills to be around artists that you admire. Casually sketching with other artists and being in their spaces, you see things in real time and can ask questions on the spot about their techniques.

I honestly don’t know that I would have sped up the process to be honest. There is something to be said about getting in the trenches and doing the work versus taking shortcuts. All the things I’ve learned along the way are backed up in my mind with all the ways I failed at something first.

Fine art skills are most essential – taking the time to understand basic concepts such as color theory, light and dark values, composition and more really sneak their way into everyday sketches.

I wish I didn’t care what people thought of me years ago – I was always embarrassed to whip out my sketchbook in a crowded room for fear that people thought I was just doing it for attention. Sketching at any chance I get nowadays has shown me how quick I can hone in on my skills and become better at what I do.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I’ve been fortunate to always know I’ve wanted to be an artist. After high school, I studied graphic design, got myself a degree and went on to work as a corporate graphic designer for 10 years. I did everything from outdoor garden decor and confectionary gifting, to video game cover design and packaging for pet products. I picked up a little freelance work on the side, became sought after for portrait work and started working with ArtWorks Cincinnati, a non-profit organization that helps people get involved in public art. In 2012, I painted two beloved 6-foot pig statues. One named Herbert, or the “Over-the-Swine” pig and I was the co-artist for Frederick, the Christian Moerlein Brewing Heritage pig. In 2013, I even opened an art studio and held private wine and painting parties, and taught art classes. It was fun, but grueling when still working a full time job.

After 10 years of various corporate design work, I was given the opportunity to spread my wings, aka my company was relocating. I was exhausted by the thought of finding another “desk job” so I tried to stay busy with freelance work but it was hard. In 2016, I became a teaching artist on the Ezzard Charles mural on Liberty and Republic Streets in Over-the-Rhine, downtown Cincinnati. For the past 9 years, I’ve been a regular vendor at the OFF Market where I sell prints of my personal work, greeting cards and other various paper goods. I still sell quite a bit of my work through my Etsy shop. Mainly my drawings of local Cincinnati landmarks and notable Cincinnati Zoo animals move the most. My style definitely sets me apart from others, and how I choose to illustrate what I see makes me proud because I feel like I’ve finally become confident in my work.

Today, in my free time, I am one of four admins for Urban Sketchers Cincinnati, a local sketching group that is an official Chapter of the global non-profit organization Urban Sketchers. We do on average 3 outings a month where we invite anyone to come sketch with us on location, regardless of skill level, to show our surroundings, one sketch at a time. We show up at a designated place, sketch on location and enjoy slowing down a bit to just draw.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I absolutely love when a customer or client can connect with my work. I do a lot of Cincinnati landmarks, including some of the most notable churches in town where many weddings are held. I think it’s so wonderful when prints of my work are given as gifts, especially when a newly married couple receives an artwork print that is my drawing of the church they got married in. It makes it so personal and I love it!

On a more personal note, I get such a high off of seeing the stack of completed sketchbooks in my office. I see all the hours I put into making myself a better artist, or remembering the memories associated with certain drawings.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is a fickle thing – between the algorithms and what not, it can be hard to nail down a consistent engaged audience. One thing I do with my social media accounts (mainly IG and FB) is keep a cohesive identity. I try to look at my profiles as if I’m someone else; what would your profile and posts look like to someone who isn’t familiar with what you do? What is the reason someone would follow you? Your posts about art, or more personal photos? I only share my art through my pages; that’s the audience I’ve targeted, and overall why my audience follows me. They most likely don’t want to see my personal vacation photos, or unrelated memes that I find funny. Now, I may show a sketch of something I did while on vacation, but that relates to the overall intention my page has – share my art. And that being said, throwing in a personal photo of you participating in your craft and using it as an “introductory/about the artist” post has shown positive results in audience engagement – people like to know that a robot isn’t running your page. You’re a human with passion, feelings and daily life beyond what your craft is. Every now and then it’s ok to remind people of that. And your page doesn’t need to have a perfectly branded look, with a clean white background in every image, and the same thing over and over. Variety is important!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rewersdesigns.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/rewers
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/rewersdesigns
• Other: www.etsy.com/shop/rewersdesigns

Image Credits
Scott Ledyard (only the image of myself, not my art images)