We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adolph Soliz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Adolph, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Projects with a strong meaning are the most powerful. I find you’ll be more invested in the project and you find a drive to make it the strongest it can be. I think all of us have been in situations where you ” have to ” do a certain project and with little to no personal investment in the project or idea it can be hard to stay motivated. But that’s why I think personal projects are important to have. Find something that you can loose hours doing…sure it will bring its own challenges but that’s the fun of it all. Figuring things out and making things work. I’m sure others may think ,”nobody will like what I like” but I think that’s just someone talking themselves out of taking a risk. There’s an audience for everything.!! Tale the risk!! Create what means the most to you and see where it takes you!!

Adolph, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up.on the Salt River Indian Reservation and in 2005 moved to California to attend Laguna College of Art and Design. At the time my goal and passion was to be a traditional character animator for Disney. It felt like an eternity before I finally took that huge first step to reaching a dream I’ve had since I was young kid in love with drawing. In 2009 I graduated, and at the same time animation studios were beginning to close up their traditional animation departments but it didn’t stop me from applying to studios. While at LCAD i found a new interest as a storyboard artist, and character designer…I was game to enter the animation industry however possible. At the same time that I graduated I was also approached to illustrate my first children’s book for an independent author. That was the start of my journey as a freelance illustrator. Since that time I’ve been fortunate to work on a variety of projects over the years. Freelance work, like any job has had it cons and pros, but for the most part it’s been keeping food in the fridge. I was also approached after graduating LCAD by one of my favorite instructors and mentors to teach art with her at her after school art program. That lead to me teaching at my Alma mater and eventually to the liberal arts high school thay I’m fortunate to have been teaching at the last five years.

And although the freelance work has been helpful to pay the bills my real drive has come from my personal projects. In 2012 I commented to my partner at the time about why I could never find any gay themed illustrations. He simply responded ,” you should make it”. It took a few years and a lot of over thinking but eventually I did my first sketch of a gay couple kissing and that got the ball rolling. I loved creating illustrations that I had always wanted to see but never did. And the more I did it the more fun I had with it and I began to get more attention for my art. My goal with my work is to show the fun, light heartened and sonetimes erotic moments in a gay relationship. I want my viewers to see my art and feel happy, to feel seen and like what’s being drawn is possible if that’s what they want.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Creating art, like with most artist , has just been part of my DNA for as long as I can remember. It’s written into everything I do from problem solving everyday problems to bringing a blank page to life. I love to look to look at my creations final form… whether I love it or not… and take a minute to think,” whoa, I made something from nothing”. Another reward as an artist is meeting those who enjoy the art I create. Their stories and found connections to the piece is a part of the process that I enjoy hearing about.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I know it seems so much easier to go buy a mass produced piece of art at Target or type something into an AI generator but there are so many creative artist out there with art work for sale and something for everyone’s budgets. Those artist you follow online… go see if they sell prints of your favorite piece… commission them… share their work online. Share the magic that they meticulously conjured for others to enjoy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Solizart
• Other: I’m not sure if you’d like to include it. I understand it may not be everyone’s cup of tea but my twitter is erotic art @lickable_lines