We recently connected with Josh Bauer and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Josh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
Over the past year I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on my path as an artist. Early last year my family and I made the decision to leave Florida and move back to Ohio. We felt like we needed a change of scenery and wanted to be closer to family again. During the process of moving and settling back in, I made the decision to take a break from my art.
For the last few years while living in Florida, my work wasn’t selling much and I had become extremely burnt out. I had very little energy to paint or create anything new. I felt like I had lost the passion that originally drove me to start making art in the first place. When it seemed like no one was purchasing my work or even paying much attention to it, it became hard to justify continuing. I had spent over ten years traveling to comic conventions, art events, and markets trying to grow my art career, and it felt like I was right back where I started.
Thankfully, art has always been more of a side career for me rather than my full-time job, which allowed me the freedom to step away for a while.
I ended up taking nearly a full year off from creating. During that time I was also dealing with some pretty heavy depression and trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing with my life. I focused on spending time with my family, going on hikes with my wife, exploring Ohio again, and trying to reconnect with the things that genuinely made me happy. It took time, but eventually I started to find myself again—and a big part of that realization was recognizing how much I missed creating.
However, I knew I didn’t want to go back to simply painting random superheroes or movie characters like I had done in the past. I wanted to find a theme or concept that felt uniquely mine.
Toward the end of 2025, my wife and I were sitting at a local restaurant waiting for my youngest brother to meet us so we could play some pool. While sitting at the bar I found myself staring at the beer tap handles behind it. I’ve always appreciated how creative breweries get with those designs. That’s when the idea hit me—why not design my own beer tap handles and combine them with pop culture themes?
I let the idea sit for a while as I continued getting my life back on track. Around that same time I also found a new day job, which helped a lot with improving my overall happiness and stability. Once things felt settled, I started seriously working on ideas for the beer tap designs.
The first step was simply brainstorming. I sat down and wrote out as many pop culture movies, characters, and themes as I could imagine turning into tap handles. I ended up with around 25–30 ideas. Whenever I had spare time I would sketch quick concepts so I wouldn’t forget them.
The first tap I completed was inspired by the Disney movie Up, which I titled “Adventure Awaits Ale.” Finishing that first design really opened the floodgates creatively. As of this writing, I’ve completed Beer Tap #005, “Corner Pocket Porter,” which is inspired by billiards. Along the way I also decided to rebrand my artist identity and created a new name for the series: Hop Culture.
Right now, I can honestly say I’m happy as an artist again. I’ve found a new creative direction that excites me and makes me want to keep building. I don’t know yet whether this series will truly take off, but I’m having a lot of fun designing these tap handles and exploring where the idea can go.
My hope is that the concept can grow beyond just artwork—maybe small businesses could use custom tap designs as unique advertising, bands might want them as merchandise, or I’ll simply keep creating new interpretations of the pop culture icons I love.
Either way, it feels good to be creating again.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
For those who may not know me, I go by the artist name JBauerart. I started my art career a few years after moving to Florida in 2013. That year I attended a large comic convention in Orlando called MegaCon, and it completely changed how I looked at art. While walking around the artist alley, I realized that independent artists could rent tables at conventions and sell their work directly to fans. I spoke with several artists there and gathered as much information as I could. By the time the convention was over, I had decided that I wanted to try doing the same thing.
The first comic convention I ever sold artwork at was the very first Ocala Comic Con in Ocala, Florida in 2013. I started by painting my favorite superheroes and villains using acrylic paint on canvas. I would sell the original paintings along with prints of the artwork. Over the next several years I traveled all over Florida participating in comic conventions, art fairs, comic shop events, and gallery-style shows. I also submitted my work multiple years to local brewery art displays, including Hourglass Brewing in Longwood and Deviant Wolfe Brewing in Sanford, Florida.
Around 2019 I hit my first major wall of burnout. The return on my investment of time and money wasn’t what I had hoped for, and I knew I needed to try something new if I wanted to keep going creatively. That’s when my friends from a music group called KitchenKillaz convinced me to try something completely outside my comfort zone—live painting during one of their Facebook Live shows.
Before that moment, I had only ever painted privately in my studio. A fun fact about me is that I have pretty bad stage fright and don’t enjoy being the center of attention—something that isn’t exactly ideal for someone trying to build a career as an artist. Despite that, Billy Floyd and the rest of the KitchenKillaz crew talked me into joining their Halloween special that year.
For those unfamiliar with KitchenKillaz, they travel around Florida performing acoustic music in people’s kitchens while the host cooks a meal for everyone watching online. It’s a unique mix of music, food, and entertainment. For that show I sketched out a rough idea ahead of time, and when the broadcast started I began painting live. Normally a painting would take me several hours, but somehow during that first show I completed a Jack Skellington painting in about an hour and a half, and it turned out great.
After that first experience, the live painting opportunities really took off. I ended up painting at numerous KitchenKillaz shows, created a large version of an album cover live at an album release party for Landon Noland, painted pieces that were auctioned off for various charity events, and even painted live on stage in front of large crowds. It was a wild couple of years and some of the moments I’m most proud of as an artist.
One particularly memorable experience was meeting and painting live in front of the voice actor for Courage the Cowardly Dog, who later signed the painting I created. That piece now hangs in my man cave alongside a variety of collectibles. I’ve also had the opportunity to create artwork for several charity events that helped raise funds for organizations doing amazing work. It’s still surreal to think that my art was able to contribute to causes like that.
During this time I also expanded into other products. I began selling bookmarks of my artwork and invested in the equipment needed to start producing my own custom tumblers. Over the past 13 years I’ve scanned or photographed most of my paintings, which allows me to turn those designs into drinkware for fans. It’s been a great way to combine my painting background with my graphic design skills.
In recent years the live painting slowed down quite a bit. Between doing too many events in a short period of time, feeling like it was starting to dilute the integrity of my work, and honestly putting a lot of strain on my shoulder, I decided it was time to step back from doing it regularly. That said, I’m always open to doing it again for special occasions or charity events.
Currently I’m in the middle of a new rebrand and a new art series. I’m taking my favorite movies, characters, hobbies, and other pop culture inspirations and transforming them into unique beer tap handle designs. So far I’ve created taps inspired by Disney’s Up, The Boondock Saints, Donald Duck, Batman (1989), and most recently a billiards-themed tap.
I’ve named the series “Hop Culture,” which I describe as being brewed fresh from the JBauerart Fictional Brewery. Each design is individually numbered starting with Tap #001, and I’m currently working on producing stickers and tumblers for each design. The artwork will also be available on my TeePublic shop where fans can find the designs on t-shirts, hoodies, pillows, and other merchandise.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
This next part might get me into a little hot water with some people, but I’m going to be honest—I wish I had given AI tools a chance sooner.
I know the topic can be controversial in the art world. A lot of artists feel strongly that AI is harmful to creative industries. But the way I personally use it is very different from how many people imagine. I’m not using AI to create my artwork. All of my designs, drawings, and paintings are still created by me.
What I use AI for is more like a brainstorming partner and business tool.
For example, it helps me come up with clever names for my beer tap handle designs. One funny thing about my “Hop Culture” series is that I actually don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol has never agreed with my stomach, so I eventually stopped trying to drink it altogether. Because of that, I don’t have a deep knowledge of different beer styles, ales, or brewing terminology. AI has helped me learn about those styles and generate fun, creative beer names that fit the designs I’m creating.
I also use AI to help me better understand social media and marketing. I fall into that early millennial group where I’m comfortable with technology and social media, but I don’t always know how to fully take advantage of it as a tool for growing an audience. AI has helped me think about how to present my art online more effectively—things like what types of videos to create, when to post them, and how to turn a single piece of artwork into multiple pieces of content.
In that sense, AI has become more of a creative assistant and strategy tool rather than a replacement for the creative process itself. It helps me organize ideas, brainstorm concepts, and better share my work with people who might enjoy it.
At the end of the day, the art itself is still mine—but AI has helped me think about it in new ways and approach the business side of being an artist a little smarter.
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.
One thing I really wish more non-creative people understood is that creative professionals can’t do every type of creative work. Creativity is a broad field with many different specialties. A graphic designer isn’t necessarily a video editor, a painter isn’t automatically a caricature artist, and not every creative person is an extrovert who thrives performing in front of people.
Over the years I’ve had a number of people approach me asking for creative work that simply isn’t within my skill set. I’ve even had someone argue with me that I should be able to draw caricatures, even though that’s something I’ve never done in my career. While it’s always good to challenge artists to grow and try new things, those challenges need to be reasonable and within reach. Growth usually happens step by step, not through huge leaps into completely unfamiliar territory.
What I hope more people understand is the importance of recognizing an artist’s strengths. When you work with a creative person, take the time to look at the type of work they already do and listen when they explain what they can offer. Every artist has areas where they truly shine, and that’s where they’re able to deliver their best work.
It can be frustrating when people assume a creative person can automatically do any creative task simply because they’re an artist. In reality, creativity is just like any other profession—it involves different skills, different disciplines, and different areas of expertise.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://JBauerart.com
- Instagram: @JBauerart
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/JBauerart
- Twitter: @JBauerart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JBauerart
- Other: TikTok: @JBauerart22
