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

Alright, Randu thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Every day I get to wake up successful, and it’s not because my job or my sticker sales or if people really enjoy my newest book. Trust me, those things are really nice and make a good day, but what allows me to be successful is just being happy with what I already have. I feel I’m already really set with what I got. Im a simple person with simple joys. To be successful is to enjoy where you are. You can have lovely big goals, but don’t let those goals ruin your time. Its a beautiful day today, you just have to enjoy it.

I found a “happy retirement” banner at a yardsale. I bought it for $1 and hung it in my room for years. From that day I decided I’m retired. I already made it. Just needed the banner to remind me. Since then, I’ve never felt like I’ve been working. Just a permanent vacation.

Randu, 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?

A friend in college gave me the nickname Randu, and at the time I didn’t realize how much Randu would become my identity. I always made art but as I slowly got more serious about it, I played around with some brand names. I started vending regularly and selling my art online and eventually I became Randu Art.

I was an artist since I was born. My mom was a really good artist and my dad did the occasional doodle, so I felt like I combined those talents with my own creativity and Ive been making cartoons ever since.

In elementary school, I use to get in trouble for making comics and reading captain underpants books. I had a notebook where I turned every classmate into their own super hero with different powers. Honestly I think the art even kept me more focused in class although I didn’t care for the lessons much.

Many years of doodling cartoons went by but once I started selling tshirts on etsy after going to a screen print meetup, things started to pick up. Id hangout with friends at Flemington DIY where I learned how to screen print tshirts and had lots of resources and similar artists around to inspire me. I started making more artist friends in my hometown of Hamilton, NJ. A local show, Punk Rock Flea Market would happen every few months or so and on a whim I had the idea to sit in the parking lot selling prints of my sketch book drawings. I made $50 until the organizer found me and kindly kicked me out, inviting me to sign up for the actual show. I’ve now done around 30 of the shows and 300+ other vends.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Honestly, Instagram has been a crazy tool for me as an artist and even making friends. I lived in jersey and slowly started going to events in philly. And Id find all those events on instagram. After a few years of driving out almost every other day from NJ to Philly, I finally moved out here to be closer and more connected to the art community. Instagram connected me to so many artists, and even today I make a lot of money from vending my art at events I find on Instagram. My followers slowly grew and people that bought and recognized my art grew even more. A combination of Instagram and Philly has been a beautiful source of art appreciators and friends alike.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Over the years I’ve gone to many different distributors to make my various products. I’ve always tried to find local shops first before surrendering to paying some online shop. I started making tshirts by screen printing them but eventually I heard of DTG shirts and that was a quicker way to make a lot of them. Plus I liked how soft the shirts would stay. I found a local shop in west windsor, NJ and had my shirts made with them for years. Eventually, i’d jump around trying different shops, also looking for more philly located businesses. I have a new jersey print shop that still makes my zines for me after all these years. It’s hard to find a reliable manufacturer for anything. There will be problems with the local shops, the friends small business, and even the online shop where you have no idea where it’s coming from. My advice is try them all, see what works, and if you find a good one, hold on as tight as you can.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://randuart.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/randuart
• Other: https://linktr.ee/randuart