Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jordan Burton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jordan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I started off young drawing everything that I could, then soon I was introduced to painting. Which then led me to my first group showing the top three painters between all the high schools in my city. I never knew art could sell for a lot until this show, it definitely put me in a better headspace of what I wanted to do with my artistic practice. I’ve loved art for my whole life and at this time I was figuring out what to do with my practices that could give me a well paying job. Being a freelance artist has made that happen for me and although I haven’t made a living off of it yet, I know it’ll get there soon. Creating and making a living off of it would be my dream job.

Jordan, 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 am a freelance artist from Columbus Ohio who works in fine art paintings, graphic design, character design, illustration, logo designs, clothing designs, and creative direction. My artwork comes from personal experiences of my day to day life based on feelings and mood. Through portraits I make a scale look to the skin tone of my figures. adding different shades of a color using different hues, brightnesses, and saturations to the scales creating abstract shapes on the skin. Most of my characters are not based on real people, often just made up figures. I blend my style of figures with different articulate clothing pieces with deep shadows and vibrant colors.

I had my first solo exhibit at the end of 2023 at WIT gallery, the show represented my work two to three years prior to the show. My first set collection of series all in one space to collect an understanding of my style before the next step into my work. This will be the first representation of myself as an artist in my form of expression. At the showing I  released my first ever coloring book that consists of some of the paintings in my solo show, my graphic designs, clothing designs, abstract pieces, and designs of my shoe collaboration that I released at my showing as well.

Honestly the reason I’m in this industry is from the support of my family, friends, the people in my city, and the love I have for my art. I kept creating and making it last long all because of that, and through that I’ve met new people to help me grow.

I think what sets me apart from others is that I bring my own style and it’s always growing with the modern times. The criticism I get from my work gives me more understanding of my work that I don’t see myself, I feel I haven’t reached my full potential yet so I have no choice but to keep going.

I’m honored to be able to show my art to different types of people in different places and be accepted by them. I want my art to bring a feeling or type of energy to a space or person, that’s when I feel my job is done being an artist.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

In the end of it all my main goal is to sell pieces for high and to eventually make a living off selling my art, Collaborate with new clients and businesses. I would like to take my talents to New York City and eventually live there, I feel that NYC is the art capital of the U.S. and I can grow so much there. Life outside of art would be great there too, I love the atmosphere there. I also want to be an inspiration to others pursuing a creative career because it’s easier said than done.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Back when I first started making digital art, I offered free portrait drawings on my instagram. This was way before I knew I could sell my artwork, digital art in fact. I made a post and the directions on the post said to follow my instagram, like, share the post, and comment “done” when done under the post. After someone doing this I drew them a black and white digital drawing of themselves or whatever portrait picture they wanted drawn. This grew my following by a lot and pretty fast, I ended up reaching 22k on instagram. It worked to build a foundation for my instagram but the followers I made didn’t enjoy my personal work, they only wanted their portrait drawn. Some followers will stay, most of them will unfollow you.

In order to build a loyal following you have to build relationships with people outside of social media in real life. Let people know about your socials and tell them to follow you. Get more involved with your local community and spread the word. Show love in others to receive love back. To reach an audience outside from where you live is to first build a community foundation from your locals first. Also posting a lot consistently will build a large audience but always remember to make your posts genuine and unique to you and your artwork.

Contact Info:

• Website: Theartbyjburt.com
• Instagram: @joordanburt