Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Grant Gruenhaupt (or Gru). We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Grant, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents empowered me to do what I was passionate about. Beyond that though, they challenged me to seriously and wholeheartedly chase after it. My parents have never worked full-time in a creative field, so it isn’t something that they fully understood when I was a young kid who loved to draw and paint. Despite this, they encouraged me. They believed that if I truly loved it, got the proper training, and worked hard, the rest would fall into line. With my parents in my corner, it allowed me to become what they believed I could become. In my career and life as an artist, I feel that it has been more about proving my parents/mentors right than proving doubters wrong. That freed me to confidently chase after what I was passionate about without wavering during difficult seasons.

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?

My name is Grant Gruenhaupt (aka Grant Gru), and I’m an illustrator and designer working in sports and entertainment. I was trained primarily at Concept Design Academy in Pasadena, CA, with an emphasis in illustration and visual development. My artistic training and background mainly come from a traditional approach. Most of my commercial work right now is painted digitally, but the traditional techniques and approach have remained a significant part of my workflow. 
 
I got my start freelancing with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019, illustrating limited-edition posters for two home games during the NFL season. Over the past several years since that project, I have built up my business freelancing with clients in sports, music, and film. I have created key art and posters for major sporting events and films, murals for speakeasies, cover art for popular podcasts, and more. In every project, my goal is to bring creativity and imagination to the brands I’m working with. Every client has a different story and identity, and I have the opportunity to come in and collaborate with those brands to tell their story in a new and unique way. 

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Coming out of high school, I wish I had known about all of the different paths you can take to get the training you need to become a professional. Growing up in the Midwest, it was almost assumed that you go to college after graduating high school. Going to college is great, but I do not believe it is right for everyone. I originally started my educational journey after high school at Syracuse University but ended up leaving and opting to attend a trade school in LA called Concept Design Academy (CDA). When I first attended Syracuse, I didn’t know what a trade school really was. After searching and getting some insight from a working artist, going to a trade school started to materialize and become a very real option for me. 
 
I loved my time at Syracuse, but believe that I needed the training at CDA to become the professional I am today. I wouldn’t be where I am without it, and I’m thankful to the artist who gave me the advice and knowledge I needed at the time to make that leap away from a traditional university. If you are a young artist who is highly self-motivated and will hold yourself accountable to do the work, I would recommend looking at the trade schools in LA.

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.

For me, the thing that I believe most people don’t consider about freelance illustrators/designers is how much business is involved. Yes, I spend plenty of time drawing and painting, but in my opinion, the business side of the job is the other side of the coin and equally important. The marketing, the outreach, all of the backend work that no one sees, and how you conduct yourself when working with clients is huge. If you are a freelancer, you are a business and responsible for every side of that business. There is a lot of work that is not about painting and drawing, and I think it’s crucial for not only non-creatives to understand, but mostly young creatives looking to get into the field of illustration/design. 
 
The other misunderstanding I come across is about time and process. Most people are unaware of the time it takes to create an illustration and how much work goes into the early stages of concept creation and exploration. Most paintings will take around 50-100 hours to create, depending on the complexity of the painting and how much a client wants to spend exploring different concepts. I think there is this idea that a client comes to an illustrator and says, “Hey, we want you to paint X and Y and make it look cool,” then the illustrator paints it and says, “Here you go,” and the project is complete. Illustration is a form of communication, and it takes a mountain of preliminary work/communication to ensure your vision and the client’s vision are aligned.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://grantgru.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grant.gru/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantgruenhaupt/
• Twitter: https://x.com/GrantGruenhaupt