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

Marc, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I grew up in a Car family! My brothers and I would regularly help with repairs and maintenance on the family car with my father. We would also watch hours of auto racing on the TV as a family! This is when I started drawing cars when I was about 12 years old. Drawing became the center of my life! In school, I was the one in class, not taking notes but drawing. Somehow, I managed to graduate High School and later received a scholarship to Syracuse University which got me totally immersed in painting. I was hooked! I was painting everything I could. I became a proficient painter of landscapes, animals and yes, cars!
Fast forward, I began the restoration of vintage cars. I loved the intricacies of taking this vehicle completely apart and re-assemble it. It was very tedious, but the results were exceptional! I began to use this same process in my paintings. I would do whatever it took to refine and define my paintings. I became a hyperrealistic painter. In fact, I produced a painting of Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park and had to paint the water three times before I felt it was right!
I started posting on social media my hyperreaistic paintings and made friends with other painters. Harold Zabady, one of these painters, was quite impressed with my work and asked me if I would like to be part of a nation-wide Travelling Art Exhibition of Realism and Hyperrealism in Contemporary Automobile and Motorcycle Painting called “LUSTER”. Oh yes, I said Yes! I submitted 3 wonderful paintings for the show and could not be happier with the results.
“LUSTER” the nationwide traveling art exhibition which centers on realism and hyperrealism in Automobile and Motorcycle Painting produced by David J. Wagner L.L.C. Luster opened March 10, 2018, at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, Florida, and continues its tour around the country until 2025.

Marc, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hyperrealism is a genre of painting and sculpture in which the work resembles a photograph in high resolution, although it does not imply that it is a copy of the photograph. I rely on photographs, pencil drawings and subject studies, along with a multitude of imagery that comes from my imagination to craft each painting. The result is never from one source. This is where I am now as an artist. Like many artists I’ve tried a host of mediums, graphite, pen and ink, watercolor, oil paint and eventually to acrylic paints. For me, acrylics gave me supreme color saturation and flexibility along with almost no drying time when aided with a hair dryer. I found amazing results with multiple layers of color. Every painting is an experiment to see how far I can take the medium.
Every year I get to do commissioned works for folks wanting that singular painting that they can help design for that special person or for themselves. These works include animals, cars, motorcycles, landscapes and murals. When a client says to me “This is so wonderful, how did you do this? I reply with, ”I have to make my client happy, my prime objective”.

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

I started on social media with Twitter. This was many years ago with a new technology that was in its infancy. It wasn’t tested and really no one knew what it could do. I thought it would be a good tool to expand the influence of my art! I was trying to get the word out for upcoming shows, so I signed up! I would post when I had an upcoming show or exhibition and expected some traction. with it. The results were dismal at best. I knew I had to make a change and decided to look into another emerging platform, Facebook.. It has a larger visual platform than Twitter that seemed great for artists so I signed on.. It wasn’t immediate but I started getting responses and likes for my paintings. I was happy in the fact that my work was getting noticed! I started posting more and more. The thing about social media is that you need to keep up the posts. At the same time you want to engage your audience by asking questions.. “Where do you think this is?” “I need a title for this painting, what would you say?” Simple questions such as these are key elements in getting positive responses!
Another big element in social media viewership is to make a schedule for your posting. For me I find that posting every other day helps keep your audience in suspense. When ever I have an upcoming exhibition or Art show, the week prior to the show I make a different post for every day! You really don’t want to repeat your posts! You need to give them something different to look at! Short videos about you producing your art is another great way to let your audience into your studio!
I have garnered a healthy following on social media and to do this you need to be consistent, creative with your presentations, and engage your audience

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.

Fresh out of college I thought the world was my oyster. All I had to do was to show them what I could do! How wonderful my Art is along with my desire to succeed.! It didn’t quite go the way I planned. What I found out was that it is extremely difficult for emerging artists to make a living. Most emerging artists as I found out, needed a side hustle in order to survive. Welcome to the real world! For most of my adult life, I needed to have two jobs. Along with being an acrylic painter, getting into galleries and shows I had my side hustle of being in the building trades. My actual painting was relegated to evening and weekends. Seven years ago I took an early retirement from my day job and have been a full time artist ever since! My life and my existence were finally free to do my art. My art income has ballooned and my life is so much more fulfilling!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marcjonesstudio.com
• Instagram: @marcjonesfinearts
• Facebook: @marc.jones.946 @MarcJonesStudios
• Twitter: @marcjones3