We were lucky to catch up with Nick Flook recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nick, thanks for joining us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

I still think back on this fondly. I’d always had an interest in art. Creating art and music was always my favourite thing to do, even as a super young kid. I just knew that’s what I was meant to do. Around 1995, when Toy Story came out, my love and interest for 3d animation really took off. I was 9 at the time. I still did traditional artwork like drawing and painting, but there was something so cool about 3d. When I was around 12, I acquired a copy of some 3d software and went to town trying to figure out how to use it based on whatever tutorials were on the internet at the time. By the time I was 13 and on my way to high school, I was already at a stage where I was rendering out images that were capturing some of my family’s attention, wondering how I was able to make such technical works of art. By 15, I had my 3d renderings at a level in which I was submitting them to online contests and galleries. This gained the attention of one of the biggest 3d art websites at the time, 3d Total, who also happened to be making 3d texture cd’s for artists. They were one of the only companies doing that, so they were widely known throughout the artist community. This was around 2002-ish, so the world of 3d rendering was still very new and exciting, especially on a hobby level. I was contacted by 3d Total to help them showcase their texture cd’s by using them in my own scenes. In return, they would send me all these $100 dollar cd’s for free. As a kid still in highschool, this was the coolest thing ever. I eventually became a professional 3d animator for film and tv for the next 15 years before switching back over to painting full time. Even just typing this was such a fun reminder of the time. Everything was so new and exciting back then.

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.

Im mostly known now online as Flooko, a play on my last name Flook. I have a niche little corner carved out in the art world for my acrylic painted space adventures starring Astro and all his friends. I currently have an Instagram audience of around 160k followers that tune in each day to participate in Astro’s hand painted fun. I also sprinkle in 3d animations I create based on this world to help bring the whole neverending story to life. Its been a long road as a professional artist, having specialized in a wide variety of mediums. Lots of ups and down. Super highs and super lows, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s just what comes with being a professional artist, having their work judged and criticized daily. Being a true artist is all about the love of art and the entire creation process, whether its smooth sailing or pure frustration!! I’m very blessed to have met and connected with a wide range of creative people along the way, some of which I have forged life long friendships. If there’s something you truly love to do, and cant even image doing anything else, its worth the time and sacrifice to get to a point where you CAN make a living doing it. Its not easy whatsoever, but so very worth it.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

Nft’s were a cool idea at the start. I was totally on board with digital artists now having a way to add value to their work. Before that, it was traditionally thought that a physical painting could only be bought and hung up on the wall, and most digital stuff was just downloaded for free and printed endlessly. This gave digital artists a chance to make a living off their digital images!! Sounds cool!! However.. like all cool things.. word got around. Once something becomes popular and trendy, all the business’s and get rich quick schemers get involved and just completely over saturate the space which is what happened here. I went from seeing insanely cool 3d animations being sold, to just total scribbles made in ms paint with a price tag of 20 thousand dollars. It just became a joke, everybody stopped taking it seriously, and it just kind of died. I still think there is potential there, but it needed to be more regulated. I myself kept finding my own artwork for sale by people claiming to be me, essentially scamming people, and there was nobody to stop them. It will be interesting to eventually see NFTs make a comeback one day

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Best think you can do is buy handmade art, plain and simple. If an artist can make a living making art, they’re going to spend more time making said art, and everyone wins !! And when I say artist, I mean an actual artist who sits, thinks, plans, and makes these things by hand, whether traditional or digital. AI “Artists” are just over saturing the art space these days with their generated images. Its just so easy to spit these images out with zero effort, its becoming harder and harder to find the creations that have soul behind them, made by actual people. I miss the pre ai art days, truly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flookart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flooko
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-flook-74984b34/
• Twitter: https://x.com/FlookoTheArtist
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKDKtibZDMfbUaTIpwTG8nw

Image Credits

Flooko