We recently connected with Paul Rowan and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Paul thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

My entire business changed from Covid. My regular 9-5 job went to a Hybrid schedule, allowing me 2-3 free days each week, which opened a lot of doors. Before Covid, almost all my art jobs were painting and caricature commissions, which were not as steady. I hadn’t done much of any digital work the prior few years, and once Covid hit, I had time to be at a desk working digitally and switched to full-time digital art. I even got pulled back into making music again after some years away, so I got 2 businesses back all at once. I did more digital art in the first 3 months than the prior 5 years combined, and more since then than I ever did. I was able to make enough money to upgrade my equipment in under 6 months, and have constant work to this day. Covid was pretty good to me!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been making art since a kid like everyone else, but I had a passion for it, so it’s always been second nature. I guess High School was my introduction into doing work for “clients” and I’ve been going ever since. Today I do Illustration, logo design, graphic design, lettering, cartoon, caricature, portraits, album art, and so much in between. I’ve worked many styles on many mediums, but my business now is primarily digital. I think the other mediums have given my style a unique-enough perspective which matches my approach to each job. I tend to mix styles/techniques alot to achieve whatever I see in my head, and all that gives me a step-up from others in my field.

I find I’m constantly solving problems for clients- sometimes they’ve been searching for the right artist, or they have ideas they can’t fully explain which I can translate into telling them what is possible or what can be done to make their idea work or put a new spin on it. I believe problem-solving is the most practical everyday skill you have when you’re a creative. It’s satisfying to be able to think outside the box and work with people to make their ideas and goals really jump.

I think I’m the most proud of raising my kids in a creative household where it’s a constant and a part of everyday life- It’s helped them stay connected to their creative interests and ambitions. I’m also proud of now being able to get hired for my style and never have to compromise what I do anymore just to get paid. On top of that, it took a while to establish that I’m getting paid no matter what, and people don’t expect anything free anymore.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2013, when I had my second child, I had to pack my art room away so she could have the room. I had been doing primarily paintings (commission and selling pieces) for the prior 6-7 years, and was starting to get bored with it anyway. There were other personal issues in my life that made me have to fall back from producing so much work, on top of losing the space.

After a few months, I couldn’t live with not creating alot, so I started carrying a sketchbook with me everywhere I went. I would sketch people on the train- keep in mind its moving and swaying, I’m standing up, people move in front of each other or get off on their stops etc, so it was a challenge in so many ways, not just practicing portraits and sketch styles. I would actually give the sketches to the people when I could, it was just to challenge myself and stay creative. Although it was a few years before I got back into working for clients more regularly again, all that practice and experimenting enabled me to do so much more later. It made it very satisfying on many levels, and it was fun to do.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Honestly every given day is a good example of that! I’ll go off just recent memory to where we came up with an idea to try to get business for doing custom cartoon characters for people in the music industry. Many ideas don’t take off or get ignored on social media, but this one exploded right away. I received over 30 orders in 2-3 weeks (typically I have at least 5-7 orders at a time that I try to finish in 2-3 weeks), and turned them all around in a couple days each. During that period I managed to spend time with my family, doing all the everyday stuff that comes with it, work at my 9-5, as well as writing 7 songs with another MC- G Fam Black, and doing post production work for another album I made with producers CLOAQXDAGGER the month before, and shooting/editing promotional videos for the project. That’s kind of always how things are for myself and the people in my circle that I work with.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/Prowanart
• Instagram: @prowanart
• Facebook: Paul P-Ro Rowan
• Twitter: @P_RoUnstable
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKSKh9zTQdj4pi_E65K7lrw

Image Credits
Photos by P Rowan