We recently connected with Jamie Koplin and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jamie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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 learned how to make art intuitively and from a lot of trial and error. I would pick up a medium and I would experiment. There were a lot, and I do mean a LOT, of “failures”. Every now and then I would see something good come out of it, but for the most part I learned to enjoy the process of putting the work in to get better. I started drawing when I was a child with crayons and #2 pencils and pens, and grew from there. I think that if we had the internet with Pinterest and YouTube, I would have learned much faster. Instead, I taught myself until art classes were available in high school and college, where I was able to get my hands on different mediums to try. The skills I found that were most essential to creating a good piece were learning to love the process and accept my failures as lessons or challenges, having patience with myself, as well as learning to look at things as they are instead of how my brain tried to trick me into how I thought they looked.
The things that held me back from being able to learn faster or learn different mediums were primarily financial restraints. I’m still learning, and I still have financial restraints, but I keep creating with what I have.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As I stated previously, I started drawing as a child, and grew from there with whatever I could get my hands on. I provide custom commissioned pieces, as well as originals in graphite, acrylics, ink, collage, fabric arts, or watercolors (or a combo of any of those). I do anything from botanical art and landscapes to people/pet portraits, and abstract fun designs! What sets me apart from other artists is my style of Fine Art techniques with a graphic novel twist, also the fact that I do not digitally enhance or alter my art – everything is done by hand (which, to me, makes it more authentic). Everything I make is hand to canvas or hand to paper, which I feel makes a piece more valuable and special.

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

The best thing anyone can do to support artists is to simply shop directly from artists! Instead of getting a print that’s been manufactured a thousand times to put on your wall, commission something unique from a local artist! Instead of that store bought baby shower gift, seek out an artist that can handmade a blanket, or wall art for the nursery. Instead of asking AI to make a portrait, commission one from a local artist. Ultimately, shop small, shop local, and always support your local creatives as much as possible. Spread the word about your new favorite artists. Help them to put food on their tables instead of filling the pockets of big box stores. A handmade piece will be forever cherished.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is to keep making things hand to canvas (without the assistance/editing/altering of digital software). There’s so much more personality and dimension to a handmade piece. So many people are working in digital media, now, and I want to make sure artistic roots of hand to canvas stay alive. It requires a different set of skills to work directly with physical mediums. I would absolutely be devastated if hand to canvas pieces disappeared in favor of AI/Digital/mass produced “things”.

Contact Info:

• Website: JamieKoplin.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jamiekoplinstudios?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AestheteElements?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
All photos taken by myself