We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Fredo Gillis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Fredo below.

Fredo, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

So I was a senior in college at the end of 2022 and my friend’s 21st birthday was coming up. I wanted to save a little bit of money on her birthday gift so I decided to paint her with some extra art supplies I had lying around from a class project. I had never really been much of a painter but I gave it a shot. Little did I know that painting would be something that I’d be doing for the rest of my life. With a bit of creativity, I painted her just in time for her birthday and she and all my friend’s absolutely loved it. Then Christmas rolled around, I painted my mom, my dad, and my sister. Seeing their reactions to their portraits on Christmas Day was more than enough to inspire me to keep going. Then I made an instagram and immediately launched my business “Fredo Arts”. My mission originally was to simply recreate pictures into paintings. My favorite part about my paintings was seeing the reactions to them when they would open them. Each time, their eyes would light up and a huge smile would illuminate their face. I would surprise my friends randomly with portraits of themselves just to simply see their reactions to them. I quickly realized that there was something here worth honing and cultivating. Initially, my business’s purpose was to serve as a gift giving business. My business all began with a gift to a friend so it’s only right that gifts became what I offer. I began offering commissions. I marketed Fredo Arts originally as a gift-giving business and then I started offering services in the form of paint and sips. For $40 I offer all the resources needed to create a painting and three hours of nonstop good music, good fun, and art. I was able to now not only offer products(paintings) but also services(painting events). My paint and sips specifically have allowed me to have so much more freedom as an artist and spend my downtime continuing doing what I love. I’ve since strayed away from only doing commissions to find my own style and am quickly building my portfolio of original pieces. I am dead set on getting my art in a gallery but I am really enjoying the journey thus far!

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?

So I was a senior in college at the end of 2022 and my friend’s 21st birthday was coming up. I wanted to save a little bit of money on her birthday gift so I decided to paint her with some extra art supplies I had lying around from a class project. I had never really been much of a painter but I gave it a shot. Little did I know that painting would be something that I’d be doing for the rest of my life. With a bit of creativity, I painted her just in time for her birthday and she and all my friend’s absolutely loved it. Then Christmas rolled around, I painted my mom, my dad, and my sister. Seeing their reactions to their portraits on Christmas Day was more than enough to inspire me to keep going. Then I made an instagram and immediately launched my business “Fredo Arts”. My mission originally was to simply recreate pictures into paintings. My friends started asking me to paint them with their boyfriends/girlfriends and families and pets and I kind of just fell in love with it. The more I painted the better I got. It was like I had found a piece of myself that I didn’t realize I was missing until then. I started to experiment with different styles and techniques all by myself. I would spend hours on end in college staying up late painting commissions. I would take my pieces over to my friend’s apartment and not leave until 2am when it was finished because I couldn’t bear to part from it without finishing. I remember sitting in class toward the end of my college career not being able to focus because I simply couldn’t stop thinking about art. In May of 2023 I graduated college and my art began to develop even further. I didn’t have a 9-5 lined up but I did have my creativity and a vision. I used all of my newly acquired free time to invest into myself and my art. In November of 2023 I decided to host my first sip and paint! This was the beginning of an entirely new chapter of my business. On November 21st I hosted my first event at Hidden Craft SD, a lovely brewery located in Downtown San Diego. It was a night filled with so much love. I was surrounded by friends and family, and even family of friends. I quickly realized the endless possibilities of sip and paints and was more than excited to host my next one. My events began to grow and become something that people actually looked forward to. In addition to being the “Instructor” I was the DJ, the server, and even the comedian(at times). I like to curate the vibes perfectly at each one of my events to ensure that everyone is having a lovely time. My events were what really allowed my business to grow and thrive. I started hosting private paint and sips in homes and corporate work events in offices in addition to my regular events. In March of 2024 I hosted my first event in LA at Bacari West Adams and have since been hosting events in both San Diego and LA. My goal is to continue to expand all over California and eventually to cities like New York and Miami. As for my art itself, I am continuing to find my style and express myself on the canvas and I absolutely cannot wait to see where it will take me.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One huge thing that I needed to unlearn was the notion that pursuing art as a career is not feasible or realistic. We’ve all heard about the “struggling artist” archetype. While there are countless artists with nothing more than dreams and creativity there are countless more that are actually making a living doing what they love: making art. It’s all about doing the research and having your idols. You need to know that there are people out there making their dreams a reality. Why shouldn’t it be you? As an artist you must be not only an artist but an entrepreneur as well. You are your own business. You are your own brand. You must do the marketing, the financial planning, and the research. There are so many books, webinars, and resources at your disposal in this day and age that you should be taking advantage of. You don’t need to go to art school; I didn’t. You can learn almost everything you need to become a successful artist through youtube tutorials and google articles, and books for artists. I am nowhere near where I’d like to be but I am continuously growing as an artist. As an artist you should constantly be learning. You should constantly be critiquing your work and experimenting through trial and error. Whenever you have a question about something involving your work, google it. There are plenty of resources as an artist in the 21st century that we are lucky to have at our fingertips. I will say however that you need money. There’s no way to pursue a career in art without it. Getting good at your craft is something that is a huge time commitment. You need the time to invest into not only your art but yourself. It won’t come without time and effort. Whether you’re making your money from your art or elsewhere, you need it. As an artist you also need mentors. You need people to look up to who are doing exactly what you’d like to be doing. They can offer you the guidance and support to launch you into the right direction. Now I do not have all of the answers and am still figuring things out myself, but I will say I am making progress doing all of the things I’ve mentioned above.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

I’ve always been good at marketing and sales. And as a business student I took a good amount of marketing courses throughout my academic career. During my final year in college just a month after I had painted my first portrait and launched my business on Instagram I wanted to spread the word. I created these cute little flyers on Canva with the question “Ever been painted before?” and my instagram “@fredo_arts” at the bottom. I printed about 40 of these in varying sizes and hung them up all around campus. I’d put them on bulletin boards in hallways, on staircases with lots of foot traffic, in parking garages, and on the pillars in the dining halls. I would sometimes come back the next day to find that somebody had ripped my flyer down and would hang up another the next day. There was something so exciting to me about showcasing my little business. I only got about three followers from my efforts, but the point is that I’ve advocated for my little business since day one. It wasn’t until one of my professors had seen one of my flyers and had mentioned it to me in class that my flyers had resulted in a sale. My professor commissioned me to paint her dog and at the time paid me more than I had ever made from a painting. I like to look back and think about my college self walking around hanging up his flyers. He had no idea where “Fredo Arts” would take him. And I honestly still don’t, but I am falling in love with the journey. I sometimes wonder if some of my little flyers are still in their spots.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Fredoarts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fredo_arts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fredoartworks
• Other: Eventbrite for events: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/fredo-arts-events-82779296083