We recently connected with Jonas Claesson and have shared our conversation below.
Jonas, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
It has been a long and slow process.
Starting out, I was drawing for fun, and it is still fun. But now I get paid to do it, which is amazing.
In the beginning, I was just posting stuff I’ve drawn on Instagram and people seem to respond to it which was really rewarding and fun.
I kept drawing every day and some people asked for custom drawings that I would just do for fun and for free.
probably started with someone asking to buy something and I was like, so amazed and stoked that I can make money from my drawings.
Fast forward a bit. I will start charging a bit and doing drawings for a Swedish surf brand called Nord. They did a collaboration with H&M and one of my drawings was on a sweatshirt I got popular and sold out worldwide. Which amazed me and made me realize
I had the talent necessary it was more of a distribution problem. That got me excited to keep going.
I think it’s important to say yes, a lot in the beginning. And then once you get to a spot where you can make a living on it it’s very important start saying no and be selective with clients and gigs you take on.
Jonas, 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?
My art and business stands on a few different legs.
I Do original artwork where I pretty much draw whatever I’m excited about and selling it as prints and originals and if it’s suitable I make T shirts and clothing designs.
Another leg is that I do client work for all sorts of brands, but mostly outdoor based brands like Patagonia, Columbia.
I also work with an agent that brings me clients in the advertising industry.
Another leg of my business is more the gallery side where I work with a few galleries around the world. Mostly Hawaii, Japan, and the UK where I sell original art and prints.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
I resonate with everything Seth Godin writes. https://seths.blog/
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Anything you want by Derek Sivers. I also love the book: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jonasclaesson.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonas_draws/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonasdraws
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasclaesson/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonas_draws