We were lucky to catch up with Lmao Geno recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lmao, appreciate you joining us 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?

So back in 2020 my college decided to have classes done remotely due to covid and I really didn’t like it. I didn’t mind the time at home, but I was a major in graphic design and I really missed being hands on with the work and being in studio with my classmates. I heard that the following fall semester would also be online so I made the decision to take a break from school. I’ve taken breaks from school before but at the time I didn’t know when I’d be back due to the pandemic and also me having to pay off my previous semester.

A few months had gone by since I had been out of school and at some point I thought to myself “Well I have to do something” and that’s when my friend suggested that I start streaming my art on Twitch. Streaming has forever changed my life and my art. It has opened up opportunities for me to work with individuals who I thought I’d never work with. I wouldn’t say that I’m making a full-time living off my work just yet but I am comfortable. Since building up my audience its almost always someone who wants a commission done or whenever I sell merch I get a ton of orders. I believe a huge part of my success is due to the fact that I network with others on social media. I know the internet can be a scary place but there are people out there that are genuine and are willing to help you. Just have to put yourself out there!

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

People on the internet know me as LmaoGeno and I am a African American Art VTuber on Twitch. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan my artwork is best known throughout the community as being in the anime style with the use of very vibrant colors. I majored in graphic design for 3 years before taking a break to pursue streaming and building my own brand. A lot of my clients come to me for caricatures of themselves in my art style but I also provide social media graphics like avatars, banners, emotes, overlays, etc. Also, have done over 30 album covers for up and coming musical artist. I think what attracts people to hire me is the quality of work I provide for the price I charge. I have a quick turnaround for the work, which people love, and also I’m reachable. I allow clients to message me directly through social media so if there’s anything urgent they need I can respond quickly. Yanno something I’m very proud of is my merch sales, cause designing clothes have always peeked my interest so every time I drop a new piece of merch its nice seeing how many people get excited for it.

Oh and I also was in the top 3% of Art streamers on Twitch in 2022 :)

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I was already on Twitch, but I didn’t stream, I was just a viewer in people’s chats. My friend streamed at the time and was telling people that I draw and they convinced me to do so as well. So when I did eventually stream all those mutual friends and streamers showed me lots of love. Later on I would start doing fan art of all the new streamer friends I was making and sending it to them while they were live to see their reactions. This is most likely what made me blow up cause the friends I would do it for viewer average was wayyyyyy more than mine so when they showed my art the people in chat would all be like “WHOAAAAA” and follow my channel. So the main thing I would say to build your social media would be to network with others on the same platform. Try to make genuine connections with people and not just seek something that’s only for your benefit.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is seeing yourself get better. Being able to look at past work and see drastic improvement is a magical feeling.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/genocideart
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lmaogeno
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7tgZP2XJCs
• Other: https://www.twitch.tv/lmaogeno

Image Credits
lmaogeno