We recently connected with Arnold Guerrero and have shared our conversation below.

Arnold, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I’ve recently, along with 3 others, purchased the rights and trademark to Gold Key Comics. This iconic brand has been lying dormant since 1986. We’re meeting regularly to get plans in place to publish our first book. We will be launching an NFT series soon as well as a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding. There is obvious risk involved to this investment however, as comic book lovers, we’re enjoying the ride.

Arnold, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Long before I was born, my father tragically lost his younger sister. One of the items he saved of hers was a sketch book that he passed along to me to take care of. She was extremely talented. I loved going through the pages and analyzing her work. I believe this sketchbook, along with my family’s admiration of my late aunt’s talent, compelled me to draw. Drawing is all I ever did or wanted to do. Luckily I had parents who nurtured my interest. They bought me a drafting table, and would bring home stacks of green lined dot matrix printer paper from their office. I would tear off the perforations and use the blank backside to draw on. One of my first creative projects was a comic strip in the Junior High Newsletter. I was also fortunate enough to have, from a young age, friends who were also extremely talented artists, and were (very obviously) going to spend the rest of their lives in a creative pursuit. Fast-forward to the late 90’s. A fine art career wasn’t as secure or lucrative as one using a computer. I decided to attend the Art Institute of Phoenix, where I graduated in 2000. I’m not sure this was the best decision for life, but I’ve been working in design ever since. It has allowed me to raise a family and create a lot of cool memories along the way. I have gotten back to working with my hands when I’m not designing on a computer. In my off-hours I’m filling sketchbooks and am a member of Megaphone Studios in Downtown Phoenix where I can get away to paint along side a group of absolutely amazing artists. My current goal creatively is to successfully launch a comic book and free up more time to be at the studio. These two goals are in constant battle. The vast majority of my time is spent working as the Art Director for PHNX, a local sports media network that allows me incredible creative freedom. I’ve worked in small, medium and large advertising agencies in art director, sr. art director, and creative director roles but my current position with PHNX has easily been the most rewarding and enjoyable. I guess it’s the fruit of 20 years of labor and I feel very fortunate.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
We need to recognize when a community is thriving and fight to preserve it. We must somehow learn to value people and culture over more and more money. We’ve seen first hand in Phoenix what art can do for a city, and continue to see what it is doing for cities all over the world. Artists make their home more beautiful…more “attractive”. For a time this attraction, of people towards art and beauty in an often underserved community is a blessing, but eventually the blessing turns into a curse, the artists move on and all that’s left is overpriced capitalism. Luckily the cycle will continue. Unfortunately the cycle will continue.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Unlearn everything you’ve heard about how hard it is to be a professional artist, because everything is hard. The struggle for an artist who decides to go the “corporate” route, is just as great as the struggle for an artist who stays true to their craft. One struggle is for freedom of the spirit and the other is for money. Eventually, if you’re dedicated and true, the money will come. On the other hand, you can never rewind time to pick up what you’ve lost in the rat race. I was in my own world for many years, working for other people and doing what I needed to raise a family. There is plenty to be thankful for in that journey. As my kids got older and I got more time to be out in the community and join a studio. I have had the opportunity to reconnect with other artists I knew years ago. Many who never stopped creating and honing their craft. They stayed true and are thriving, traveling to different cities and even different countries to practice their art. We all have our own path to take, but I want to encourage anyone who is fearful of going all-in on their art, don’t be afraid.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.phxad.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arnoldg/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnoldg/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/____arnold
• Other: NFT gallery: https://opensea.io/GhostCactus

Image Credits
Main profile photo credit: Charles Barth