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

Alright, Grady thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I can not stress the importance of parents allow some amount of oddity in their kids. When I was young I always had odd observations and a seemily eccentric sensibility. It did not matter the circumstance I either had a funny response or a completely left field way of looking at things. Their was a period in my life when I was in elementary school that I had dreams of being Spiderman to the point I would climb walls and jump off of everything before parkour existed, my parents started calling me Spiderman as nickname. I have spent my whole life drawing and as I got older, my parents would consistently encourage me to develop and purse my art. My mother has always been the greatest champion of my creative pursuits. There was a period of my life when I finished high school, I thought I wanted to be a computer programmer because it felt like the “right” thing to do, especially because my dad thought it was the more reasonable approach career wise. My mother was supportive, but she knew that my passion was art, and encouraged me not to walk away from it. The greatest thing my parents did was to allow me to make the mistakes I have made in my life. My mother has help me to be acutely aware and empathetic and my dad challenged me to think and analyze and make sense of everything. In soo many ways my parents provided a perfect balance to help shape me into a well rounded individual.

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 back background and context?

I am a storyteller. What I bring to the table that is valuable is the ability to take the abstract and make it into a visual. While I was in school I worked on a few group projects with some peers which we would later have opportunities to put those projects in the front of some decision makers. To this day, I still have had those same opportunities to develop ideas and pitch them. At the core, crafting stories that are entertaining and engaging is at the core of my work. When I’m not writing or illustrating Children’s Books, I’m designing these clever t-shirt graphics and giving back teaching art. One of the things I am most proud of is inspiring the next generation of artists through teaching and sharing my message of being uniquely who you are. In everything I do I invest a piece of myself, my sense of humor and my drive to craft a story in every visual.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the greatest lessons I have had to learn is the do it all myself mindset. For years I have forced myself to do it all, whether it was creating an animated short film, a webcomic, children’s book, or tshirt designs, I was determined to do every aspect of it, even to a fault. While it is possible to do everything, my productivity was hindered because I was isolated and making stuff on my own, in many ways entertaining myself. Creating work is a small part of the equation, marketing and selling those projects is such a big component and it isn’t a big interest of mine so I know someone else would be far better at that element than I would. In addition, when you connect with other people you gain a broader view of what you are doing, bouncing ideas off of your peers is soo invaluable because while I may think my vision is clear, an objective party sees things myself as the creator my not. While I know and have know the value of community, the ability to self publish everything under the sun makes it appealing to put your head down and do it yourself, but the more you get others involved, the richer the vision becomes in addition my personal creativity grew exponentially.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to tell stories that change lives. In general that is in the form of humor, but in everything that I do I want to be able to be fully vested and find the fun. Sometimes those projects are going to be my own, driven by my creative vision, but also taking other peoples ideas and realizing them visually.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gradeafun.weebly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gradeafun/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gowilliamsiii/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/gradeafun/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube,com/gradeafun/
• Other: https://www.redbubble.com/people/gradeafun/

Image Credits
All art is Grady Williams III