We recently connected with Johnny Rodriguez and have shared our conversation below.

Johnny, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

How did I learn to do what I do:
I put in the seat time, there’s no magical path. I skipped school, skipped the party scene, cut out distractions, and did a deep dive that seems to have no end. Meaning, I’m still in the process of learning. As per my dad’s example, always be a student.

What could I have done to speed up the learning process: The journey will take the time it needs to sharpen you. Speeding up the process will only extend the incubation period. Slow is fast, enjoy the journey.

What skills were most essential: I would say what characteristics are most essential. The skills are developed along the way. I needed the right mixture of angst, stubbornness, fear, fearlessness, and most importantly self awareness. One skill that can also be seen as a characteristic is repetition. As over time, it sharpens the skills you pick up. It eventually elevates you to master level.

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

What obstacles stood in the way of learning more: ME and only me. I can cite a laundry list of items that are road blocks. People, situations, misunderstandings, money, distractions. They are only as important as I allow them to be. They become powerful when I’m not in tune or out of focus with my self. Obstacles are perpetual, they return as quickly as they are dealt with. It helps to mange your perception, other wise obstacles will eat you alive.

Johnny, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started my career at Disney as an illustrator and graphic designer. This was pre-web, and our job was to explore and create for the emerging internet. We were working with new technology that was evolving at a rapid pace. We were so early in the space that I became the first person at Disney to push an animated GIF to the internet.

I eventually moved on to various agencies, working with all the major studios and creating for an older demographic.

However, client service can be mentally draining, and I found myself wanting more. I needed to work with my hands. It had to be analog. I needed ownership.

So I picked up painting. Years of digital training as an illustrator had given me all the tools I needed to transition from pixels to paint. I set goals for myself, defining the level I wanted to elevate my style to and envisioning where I ultimately saw my work being displayed. Museums, galleries, curated walls, and in the homes of some of my favorite people, Painting constantly surprising me.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Shooting from the hip, I believe the best thing society can do to support creatives is to respect our resistance to AI. Support studios that are taking a clear stance against using AI as a creative replacement tool. Protect artists from having their original IP scraped and repurposed without consent.

Trust the cool kids when they say: you don’t want to live in a world where culture becomes aesthetically homogenized.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

There was a brief period on a platform called Tezos when artists were trading and selling NFTs for small amounts of money. It felt punk rock. There was a culture of uplifting one another and sharing genuinely fun, creative work. Almost no real money was being made it felt experimental and pure.

Then the people who only saw dollar signs entered the space. Yes, it allowed some of us to cash in, but it also shifted the energy. The creativity started to fade. Eventually, it killed the space altogether. We just can’t have nice things.

I miss NFTs when they were about the art. I don’t miss how it eventually pulled me out of a creative community and into a money grab.

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