We were lucky to catch up with Alex Odnoralov recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Art is something I have always known. I’ve been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil. Through out my childhood and teen years I would use almost all my free time to either paint or sketch. I’ve always had a natural pull towards art and creativity but I always doubted I could ever make a career out of it. I convinced myself that I needed to go to college and get a degree in something practical. I chose to pursue a degree in industrial design because that field was the closest I could get to being creative while still learning practical and marketable skills. Industrial design was creative enough to keep me content but it turned to be too methodical and engineering-based in the long run. I graduated In the spring of 2020 and set out to find a design related job. While job hunting, I would paint and do art commissions for clients. Eventually that demand started growing and I realized I could transition into doing this full time. I believe this is the best time in history to be an artist. We have so many tools at our disposal like social media to put ourselves and our work out there. I’m not saying it’s all easy, but the opportunity is definitely there and it would be almost criminal to not at least try.

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 work mostly with oil and acrylic paint on small to large canvases. My work is mostly representational themes like landscapes, portraits, and still life. I also explore abstract art as well. I would say my art is led by emotion and feeling. Sometimes when I’m traveling I’ll end up at a place that just speaks to me. Whether It’s the colors, composition, or atmosphere. I end up wanting to capture that moment so I would take reference photos and paint it. I’ve had a lot of people tell me that my paintings have a dreamy quality to them and I love that. One of the things that makes me stand out from other artists is that I build my own canvases and frames. I did this in the beginning to save on material expenses but it quickly became a labor of love. There’s something about picking out the right wood, stain, and finish for the frame that gives the painting an elevated look and unique touch. I would say I’m a relatively new artist. I’m always learning and setting new goals for myself but I got to where I am by just being passionate about my work, putting my best effort into every piece, and reaching out to every opportunity that presents itself before me.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

There are many creatives that think being a full time artist is easy or somehow we don’t really work but have fun painting all day. There are aspects where its very fun and I do feel blessed to do what I do but it’s not easy. I had the opportunity to ease into this full time position by working another job but many artists jump in head first. The biggest difficulty I found when I starting doing art was that I had to figure out and learn so many things on my own like website design, photography, videography, bookkeeping, editing, marketing and so much more! Some of those things have a very steep learning curve. When I first began my artistic journey, I had a lot of self doubt, especially when I saw very success. All these are major hurdles I had to go through to and I think many non-creatives don’t know about that.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

There are a lot of factors that play into being successful on social media and there’s really no formula, but I think there are good principles to follow. First, you want to make sure that your main work is original and speaks to you. Don’t create art you think other people will love. Create what inspires you. Secondly, you need to make sure you post high quality photos and videos of your work. Learn what it takes to create aesthetically pleasing content because this goes a long way. Lastly, stay consistent about creating art and posting. Not every post will be a hit and that’s ok. Learn from your failures and successes.

Contact Info:

• Website: alexodnoralovart.com
• Instagram: @alexodn.art
• Facebook: Alex Odnoralov- Artist