We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Guillermo, ASMA Sotelo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Guillermo, ASMA below.
Alright, Guillermo, ASMA thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?
I’ve had a few clients as an up and coming muralist, most of them came from applying to calls for artists, request for proposals and the like but, my very first client that I personally landed, is very special. There’s a business in the town I live in, it’s a video game bar. They have classic arcade games, classic console games and the whole place is super nostalgic but also very fun and live. Ever since I walked in the doors I was like I wanna paint here, I wanna work with them! So I set things in motion, I reached out to the business via social media, bugged the hell out of the them actually. Finally got them into an email, then a zoom and now I’m days away (as of this writing) from starting this mural!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
So, I am a muralist and amateur illustrator; I say amateur because I’m still learning/figuring out what it means to be an illustrator. I draw, I paint, I write graffiti. Everything I create is rooted in graffiti, rooted in my Mexican/Chicano heritage. I started writing graffiti in higshcool before I even really knew what graffiti was, just stylizing my various nicknames in my textbooks and worksheets. From there I became immersed in the culture and the craft of it all and then from there continue to learn and grow and let it influence my current work. As I said, im a muralist as well as an illustrator. I paint custom murals for businesses and organizations around West Michigan. I’m also creating illustrations in my spare time for fun and have done a few drawing commissions as well. One of the main problems I solve with new clients is how to bring their space to life. How can I activate this space, right? I sit down with clients and we basically build a world together that’s a collaboration of our two universes; their brand, my style, our creation. I recently created a custom mural for a ramen restaurant in Grand Rapids and that is another beautiful example of bringing two worlds together and creating a beautiful body of work that really makes the space come alive!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
The pandemic, right? Covid hit, hard. In 2018 my partner and I had our first and only child, things were great we had stable jobs, we were building our family and our life together, it was solid. 2020, the shutdowns started, things got rough. My partner and I lost our jobs, we fell behind on our rent had to move out and in with family. Finding work was difficult at this point too, childcare wasn’t easy to find either. So, we pivoted. The only thing we had in abundance at this point was time so we decided to dive in to our creative projects. I ran head first into murals and art commissions and my partner started creating handmade polymer clay jewelry. And now here we are, 2022, loving successfully as full time creatives!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn keeping my wild ideas to myself. I’ve always been taught growing up that if you have a great idea you need to keep it to yourself. That’s not true at all. You can’t build something without a strong support team.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @asma.speeks
- Other: Email: asma.speeks@gmail.com
Image Credits
Kris Gibbs