We were lucky to catch up with C.J. Ellison recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi C.J., thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
-How did you learn to do what you do?
I’ve been learning art in some form or another for most of my life. I started taking art lessons when I was just seven years old, took just about every art class in primary and secondary school that I could, went on to do art school at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and later took courses on Schoolism while I was working professionally. I’m also extremely grateful I had family, friends, and teachers along the way that would help guide me in directions to help me. However, I wouldn’t say it was a linear, learning journey even though it certainly sounds like that when I say it that way.
When I went to art school, I majored in animation and was even focused on 3D animation for a while! That’s not even remotely close to what I do now with my realistic paintings. Early on in my career, I was focused on character design for children’s media and did everything vector-based illustration, toy design, video editing, and even graphic design at times. A lot of these things from the outside look like detours or wrong directions, but they taught me many things that shaped me into the artist I am now.
And even though I’m a professional now, I have a mentor, the artist Jonathan Hardesty, who guides me and helps me refine my craft these days. I really have no plans to ever stop learning. Taking the time to learn is a part of this just as much as putting a paintbrush on a canvas.
Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process?
Well if money and reality were no object, I would get a time machine and just go back to ask the old masters like John Singer Sargent and Anders Zorn how they learned, and I’d repeat that exactly. But seeing as that’s a bit out of reach for the time being, even for this hypothetical situation, what actually would have helped would have been slowing down and learning one thing at a time.
Yeah… that’s probably not the answer people wanted to hear. Oof, sorry guys! But early on, I spent a lot of time hopping from one thing to another trying to learn as much as I could in a short time. But what that actually meant was I hadn’t taken the time to understand anything fully. Ironically, I understand but not enough to put into practice. Very frustrating when you’re working on a piece and realize that!
But when you’re trying to learn how to do everything and you start thinking, “How long is going to take to master this one thing I’m trying to learn?” – it’s kind of discouraging, The really, really miraculous thing about learning though -and you don’t figure this out until you’re already pretty far into it- is you don’t actually start from new everytime you add a new skill to your toolbox. The first skill is going to take the longest, for sure. And there’s going to be a few along the way that just don’t come naturally to you, so those will take time as well. But over time, all the things you already learned, that you things you took the time to really understand, help you connect and relate to any new things you’re trying learn. So it gets faster as you go!
What skills do you think were most essential?
From a hard skills standpoint, it is absolutely the fundamentals of art. Specifically, those are things like understanding proportions, values, edges, color, and composition. An artist’s use of these elements forms the foundational building blocks to every painting, drawing, illustration, etc. that you see. And nine times out of ten, if an image isn’t working, it’s because one of those things isn’t being executed strong enough.
For artists, the fundamentals are like scales for musicians or practices for athletes. They’re not always the most fun and people probably aren’t going to be all that impressed when they see you working on them. They are, though, what makes the difference between good and great. Moments in my career when I saw the biggest leap forward in both skill and quality was when I had taken time to increase my understanding of one or more of the fundamentals.
From a more soft skills standpoint, I’d say just plain, old, hard work. There’s no substitute for it. And yes, there’s the old adage ‘work smarter, not harder,’ but to me, that’s always meant do it in a way that makes sense rather than get around doing the hard work. Even if you’re doing it the smart way, you’re still going to need to put in the time and effort to understand what you’re doing. There are a lot of tricks and shortcuts out there when it comes to learning how to do something in art or make it look good quickly (I’m looking at you, art side of TikTok, haha). But in all seriousness, learning a trick or shortcut is good in the short term but if you want to do this for the long term, it’s all about genuine understanding. That’s going to take good, old-fashioned hard work.
What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
Learning how to learn! It’s one of the most rudimentary things really but how many of us can remember being taught how to do it? I certainly can’t. Growing up, it was teachers who broke down the order that we were going to learn things and what things we were going to do along the way to retain that knowledge. But actually, learning how learning works so we can replicate that on our own later on? That wasn’t a big focus.
And that caught up to me a few years into doing this. I mentioned earlier that I hopped a lot between different things while I was trying to learn it all as fast as possible. While I still picked up some skills and developed along the way, it didn’t really work out that well. The good news is I think I’m finally at a point where I understand how to learn. Funny enough, it wasn’t even art that taught me how to do that. It was learning how to play the bagpipes.
I had no prior musical experience whatsoever, so it’s been a pretty foreign experience in more ways than one. I was (and still am) learning literally everything from the ground up. In doing so, it’s shown me how learning actually happens. It’s through breaking things down smaller and smaller until you have something simple to practice until you get it right. It’s through consistency but also not trying to overwhelm yourself to push forward. It’s accepting mistakes are part of figuring it out. It’s also accepting that every time you add a new thing, you’re going to get all confused again, haha. Having that experience outside of art showed me what I didn’t know – which was how to learn out of all things. But now that I understand this, I feel like I’m growing faster as an artist now more than ever.
So if you’re going to try to pick up a new skill, whether it’s in your craft or something completely new, I’d recommend learning how learning works so you can set yourself up to succeed. Or you could join a pipe band. Both work equally well.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For a little bit more about me, I’m a freelance illustrator and artist from the Chicago area. I was originally known for doing more stylized or graphic design-esque work, much of which was tailored towards children’s media. Nowadays, my work looks markedly different. I am predominately a digital painter and illustrator of nature and creatures. This has been a part of a much larger pivot towards embracing my inspirations and creating work in line with who I am.
What are some of those inspirations you might ask? For starters, nature and science have been massive influences on me my whole life. My mother majored in exotic animal training and was even a dolphin trainer before I was born. Growing up, I was always surrounded by textbooks, photos, and feathers- not to mention pets too, of course! My love for creatures and the wild places they call home has never left me. If anything it’s getting stronger and I bring that into my work as often as I can.
Even more than that I’d say there’s an endless curiosity about the world around me that bridges the gap between the very much rooted real world of science and blurring the edges to explore what’s just beyond that. I was also an avid reader of fantasy books growing up so trying to connect to the magic the mystic, the otherworldly, and the ethereal never really quite left me.
And of course, art itself is an inspiration -not just the act of creating art but the works of other artists. The old masters had a way of painting that had to be seen to be believed. When someone like Sargent, Monet, Rembrandt, or Van Gogh created a piece, they had a way of touching one’s soul just by putting colored strokes on a canvas in just the right place. How can you not be inspired by that? That’s not to forget all contemporary artists have found ways to do that too. Artists like Craig Mullins, Greg Manchess, Donato Giancola, and so many, many more continue to inspire me.
As for how I stepped into this career, I started freelancing early in my career even while I was doing in-house jobs. Initially, it was a way to establish myself in the art industry without having to move across the country. Later on, it was nice to make a side income while working. But eventually, I found I really liked it. I would encourage all artists to try freelancing or doing independent art at some point in their careers. Many artists (I was in this boat too) are intimidated by the business side of doing art. We spend so many years just learning art most of us probably aren’t going to go to business school as well. But the crazy thing is once you accept payment for your art, you’re technically already running a business. The knowledge is far more available and accessible than ever before too. There are many resources out there to help guide artists from the VLAA to the Graphic Artist’s Guild to even other artists who are already doing this.
I highly encourage any artist or creative to learn about the business side of things whether they go fully independent, do contract work, work in a studio, or whatever variation best suits them. You never know what it could do for you!
Currently, I offer freelance digital illustration and design to commercial clients, predominantly in editorial illustration, book illustration, and product design. For anyone who might be interested in a painting of their own, I do also offer personal commissions as well. You can also find a selection of my work available as prints on INPRNT.
From my clients, I strive to bring the same care and vision I give to my own work to bringing their concepts to life. I like to embrace that often what I’m creating is a painting, making the strokes visible and leaving things for the eye to blend and blur. They get to see the strokes come together, the edges disappear into shadow, and of course whatever they’re trying to capture, whether it’s real or imaginary. My work has a somewhat ethereal feel. It feels rooted in reality but something a bit beyond it.
One of the things I am most proud of has been the ability to make pivots in my work. I’ll admit that earlier on it was a very scary prospect to do so. It was stressful and to any artist who’s been in that place or is in it now, I understand what you’re feeling. I will say though, it was something that was ultimately good for me both personally and professionally.
At the beginning of my career, I made a lot of style and directional decisions based on what clients wanted and or what work was available. A lot of artists right out of art school are very much of the mindset ‘I’ll take any art job I can get.” It’s valid for the most part because we do have to make a living after all. Do that for too long though and you find yourself burnt out doing something you did not really want to be doing in the first place. While I will say I did enjoy working on those early projects for the most part, it’s something that wasn’t a great fit for me long term.
Now, I’m finally at a place where I see my work falling into line with who I am – something that I found that my audience responds to far more than anything else I made previously. My influences and inspirations are shining through more and more and that has made me a better artist than just using skill alone.
The unexpected bonus from taking such a winding path to get here is I find that I now enjoy trying new things. I may even have some ideas already of new things I’ll be bringing into my work in the future. (I’m not going to say what those are yet. You’re going to have to stay tuned and see!)
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Of course!
As for books, these ones made a massive impact on me:
“So Good They Can’t Ignore You”, “Deep Work”, & “Digital Minimalist” by Cal Newport
– These are three separate books all by the same author. I would recommend anyone at the beginning of their career or trying to figure out what they want to do to read “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” A lot of the concept is in the title itself, yes, but it goes even deeper on what it takes to find fulfillment in your career.
“Deep Work” is all about what our brains actually need to focus and make strides in whatever we’re trying to accomplish. In a world, where there are more and more distractions each day, this one is particularly helpful.
“Digital Minimalist” asks us to take a closer look at technology before we integrate it into our lives. It’s not anti-tech by any means but the idea of conscious consideration of the pros and cons especially when thinking of joining a new social media platform or something bigger, has helped me filter out potential new time sinks (that may not help my business or creativity as much as they promise to).
“The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles” By Steven Pressfield
– Being an artist comes with its own mental and emotional challenges and this book gives them a name so you know what to do when you’re experiencing. I have a very beat-up, well-loved, ink-stained copy of this on my desk. It’s one that’s always worth coming back to.
As for videos, I’d highly recommend watching:
“Making Your Freelance Career Bulletproof with Nathan Fowkes”
– This is talk from LightBox Expo 2019 but so much of what Fowkes addressing is invaluable as a freelancer to this day. For anyone looking or considering to be a freelancer, it’s a must-watch.
“The Perfect Bait audiobook – How to be an Artist” by Bobby Chiu
– I wish I had this back when I first started my career but it’s still worth a listen now! It’s a great reference point on how to set yourself up for success as a professional artist including what to focus on at different stages of your career.
Here are some organizations that have great resources for artists as well:
Volunteer Lawyers & Accountants for the Arts (VLAA)
– VLAA Is an incredible organization that creates resources and seminars for creatives, most of which are free or for a reasonable fee. They have resources on writing contracts, understanding copyright, setting up LLC’s, and so much more. It’s an incredible resource for artists since most of us don’t walk into the art industry with a business degree in our back pocket already. Depending on which city you live in, there may be similar local organizations that provide services like this as well so it’s definitely worth doing a Google search.
Creative Carbon Scotland
This one is a bit of a newer one for me but it hits on something I’m personally passionate about: bridging the gap between the arts and sustainability/climate change. Not only do they have resources for artists and organizations, but they also are doing web presentations now as well.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
It wasn’t talent that got me to where I am, Sometimes when I talk to non-creatives, they will use the word talent to describe what me and my fellow artists are able to do. It’s very well-meaning and heartfelt but it’s usually used in the context of having a born ability that you either have or you don’t.
If you go back far enough in each artist’s life, there was a time when they couldn’t even hold a pencil let alone create these amazing works that they do today. It took hours upon hours, years upon years for them to develop the skills and knowledge to get to where they are. Maybe some of them had a knack in the beginning or were naturally fast learners, but it was still their persistence and practice that made them artists.
And that is an absolutely, amazing thing! Because what that actually means is anyone can start doing this. A lot of non-creatives also give up on doing art because they’re not “talented enough” to do it. Art is magical not because of talent but because of the way it can connect with us, inspire us, and help us experience things we never would have been able to otherwise, That comes from the artist themself and it comes from the people experiencing what they’ve created. That’s where the real magic is.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cjellisonart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cj.ellison/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cjellisonart
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chandlerjellison
- Other: BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/cjellison.bsky.social INPRNT (for prints): https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/cjellison/ Contact: https://www.cjellisonart.com/contact
Image Credits
C.J. Ellison