We recently connected with Sullivan Whalen and have shared our conversation below.

Sullivan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned a lot from my older brother and past teachers. After I got out of school I spent hours upon hours on the internet. Just listening and learning from masters of the craft and studying from them. The things I learned from the old masters where all things I wish I was told when I was much younger. Unfortunately art, at least where I am from, is taught as more of a fun class and often neglects the harder more technical side of things that are required to become proficient. All the “boring” stuff like anatomy, structure, flow, and the like are some of the hardest, most time consuming things to learn. However; they are also absolutely essential when learning to become a competent artist. Luckily art is extremely accessible. There are hundreds of classes online, whether they are free on YouTube or something you need to pay for. The toughest part is putting in the time and doing the hundreds of bad drawings/studies to practice but with time and effort you can learn to draw just like the people you look up to.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For all of the people that don’t know me I am Sully, Online I am Scully1800. I’m a artist, I enjoy drawing and painting pictures on the internet. I started drawing a long time ago with my older brother and haven’t stopped ever sense. He is definitely someone I look up to. He has his Illustration job but I haven’t gotten my break through into the “Industry”. For now I am growing my following online. My goal is to make a loving and welcoming place on the internet. I find that the internet has grown to be quite negative so I always want my page to a positive place for people to gather and see some art. Through this page I have gotten a few opportunities. I will be teaching a few classes here and there to hopefully spread the joy that art has given me in my life.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Growing an audience online is far from easy. It takes a lot of time and resilience. There were many times when I pondered the Idea of giving up on social media but you have to preserver through the years of practice and growing pains. Everyone has to find their own way. For me it was Instagram reels. I found that my art jokes resonated with people. for others it is their raw skill that propels them to success. With trial and error, dedication, and a bit of luck I think anyone can find their key to their own version of success.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My ultimate goal like many artists is to earn a living from my art. It might be in the form of a job, it may be just from contracted work, it may just be from the social media side of things. In any case that is the goal and how I will achieve it isn’t entirely decided and I’m not 100% sure how to go about it. So, in the mean time my mission is to continue growing a bright place on the internet. a place where people can go and not have to fear being themselves and letting their creativity flow.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Scully1800
• Other: If you live around the Midland MI area check out my class at creative 360!