Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Doucette

Hi Bob, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

I started my art career in theater, puppetry, set and costume design. I went to school for Illustration and animation. I never got very far with illustration before I realized animation was the best way to combine a lot of my favorite skills, painting, drawing and film making. I never felt comfortable doing just one thing and I had a deep desire to pursue my own passions while I was working in a big corporation like Warner Bros. Animation so I always maintained my other art as hobbies. My husband is a costume designer so we worked together to make art dolls inspired by my love of puppetry. Soon we had collectors that included Demi Moore and the White House. After years of being a TV animation director I had an itch to follow through on my dreams of selling my paintings in galleries and letting go of the corporate job. Starting in 2008 I spent all my free moments developing my painting style and creating a body of work to get into art galleries. I finally cut the cord from my job in 2013 and went into business for myself. It is a very hard thing to leave a good paying job to follow a dream.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

No it was not a smooth road, to start with, I had to cash in my 401K to get going on my new career. We eventually had to sell our big Hollywood house with a pool and move to the Midwest where it is a much more affordable place to live. I made a lot of mistakes at the start. In the 30 years I worked in animation I never had an agent. I didn’t want to waste my money paying someone to find me a job when I was doing it myself very well, but when I started my own art business I got scared and got one. It caused several mis-steps to occur. Firstly, most of the galleries did not like working with an agent. Secondly, through my agent I got into a few “commercial” galleries and this ruined my reputation amongst the “legit” galleries. After I left my agent and tried to get into new galleries I was actually told that I had ruined my chances of that ever happening as I associated with galleries that they considered to beneath them. Then as I was recovering from all these mistakes and trying to repair my reputation through getting into small galleries another thing happened that set me back. I was accused, by a prominent artist, of stealing her style and she proceeded to black ball me from getting into all of her galleries. This put me in a horrible predicament of not knowing who was against me and causing me great paranoias. I eventually recovered a bit of my self esteem and have managed to develop a good following through the smaller galleries that have embraced and supported me. It is hard to run your own business, there are always obstacles to overcome and surprises around every corner.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?

I may not be the most famous or well-paid artist but I have a strong, loving and supportive following that has allowed me to earn a living doing what I love. I believe that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum, we always need an audience. I love doing shows so that I can meet that audience. The audience has informed a lot of what I paint. I have taken all my knowledge of story-telling that I acquired through theater and animation and apply it to my paintings. I also think of my art as a conversation with art history and pop culture. I take all the visual images available to us through the internet and cull them together and use them as the building blocks of my work. Anything that helps me tell my story gets collaged into the mix.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?

I really believe that every human was born with the right to express themselves through art, but you need to be prepared to do the work if they want to make it their career. It takes a lot of perseverance to pursue art as a career.

Pricing:

• Research the market you are in.
• Discover your worth, be honest.
• Be fair and realistic in pricing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bobdoucette.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art_of_bob_doucette
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bobdoucette1962/
• Other: @artofbob — tiktok