We were lucky to catch up with Courtlyn Sholten recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtlyn, 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.

I am primarily a self taught artist. I first started my art career as a practical effects makeup artist, taking my experience of doing my own makeup and a lot of youtube tutorials later I was working in haunted houses. Practical effects was a great starting point in learning multiple mediums like painting, sculpting, and mixing 3D and 2D art. Practical effects is really relient on shading, lighting, and depth which translates and are necessary skills when it comes to doing almost any form of art. I did take some college art classes that helped me refine my drawing skills and helped me start learning oil painting as I am mostly an acrylic painter. I do wish that I would have taken more art classes when I was younger as that would have sped up my learning process, as I am mostly self taught. I do believe as artists tho, we are always learning new techniques, new ways of making our art. I think we are all always learning when it comes to being artists. The skills I find most essential when it comes to the art I create and that I use in every piece are underpainting, shading, and highlighting. Underpainting helps your colors have the same undertone and stay cohesive. Shading and highlighting are techniques that help pieces come to life instead of staying flat on the page / canvas. The main obstacle that stands in my way when trying to learn new techniques or skills is staying consistent in my practice of the new skill.

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 started pursuing art seriously in the end of 2019 / beginning of 2020 starting as a practical effects artist. My best friend’s parents own and operate a haunted house in the fall season and it inspired me to start learning how to do the makeup the actors always wore. I practiced everyday, doing gory makeups on myself and eventually working my way up to practicing on my friends and finally getting a job as a makeup artists on the haunts actors. Practical effects is still my favorite type of art to do and one day I hope to see my makeups / effects on the big screen. When 2020 came around I had to find new mediums to pick up as doing makeup on people wasn’t a thing I could do during that time. I started painting and drawing more and by the end of 2020 I was doing commissioned pieces for people. I did trays, canvases, shoes, and even customized a jacket which I will add a photo of below. I now have my own art business, CourtlyNikol FX, where I am working on creating a gallery space for me and other local artists in the Traverse City area to hang and sell our works. I participate in art shows / events to show off my pieces and I looking forward to see us all grow as artists together. The thing that sets me apart from other artists is simply being myself. No other artist can be me and create my art, just as I can never be another artist and create their work. I am most proud of how much I’ve accomplished especially in the last year, I was able to participate in my first art exhibit at the Tangent Gallery in detroit as well as do a number of commissioned works and start working on my own gallery / studio space. I also was able to contribute to an awesome union legislation project in Michigan using my artwork and seeing a piece of my art inspire my fellow union members was a feeling that I will cherish forever.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My main goal as an artist is to not only make a name for myself but to uplift and support my fellow artists as well. I want to use my art to inspire change in a world that may feel bleak. Doing art helps me feel like i’m putting something out into the world that desperately needs people to express themselves. Art is human expression and can be used to make people feel and see things differently and inspiring those feelings is what drives me to continue creating.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In order to see a world with a thriving creative collective we need people to buy local art. Donate to local art centers, go support your nearest art museum, share your art friends work. It’s not necessarily always about buying artists work, (although that helps immensely), but a simple interaction to an artist friend’s post can help. Encourage your friends’ that work in the creative world to continue creating and sharing their work. Support local communities art events. People are constantly consuming some sort of art / media, make sure to support that creatives that are making that content. The world would be boring without the artists.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://etsy.com/courtlynikolfx
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/courtlynikolfx
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/courtlynikolfx