We were lucky to catch up with Will Woodrow recently and have shared our conversation below.

Will, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

For me personally, it became a necessity. I spent a good 25 + years working a regular job, while also moonlighting as an artist. I worked a lot of construction jobs, which ultimately led to spine surgeries, which inadvertently forced the decision to taking the leap of faith in my art career. I just decided I wasn’t going back to the paycheck life. It’s too short, and there’s nothing else I truly ever wanted to do. I’ve switched off and on between music and visual arts over the years, but have specifically focused on visual art since Covid. A decision that came at the height of my music career, with the foresight to see the damage that covid had brought to the music industry, I decided to dive back into visual art. I was able to purchase an industrial warehouse which I then converted into a business/studio/living space. I’ve been earning a living with art for 3 years now, though I run a 3D print business and do a lot of prototyping, design, and commision work with that as well.

Will, 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?

I’ve been an artist my whole life. I started drawing, painting, working with clay, very early on. I was never classically trained. Just took art class all the way up through high-school, and have been self-taught/learning ever since. I’ve worked in just about every medium there is at one time or another throughout my journey. More recently, I’ve found sculpture to be my niche. I currently run a 3D printing company, and do mostly custom one-of-a-kind sculpture design, and implementation with that. I’ve done a lot of work with galleries throughout the country, and have been fortunate to acquire a great network and collectors along the way. But I also work with inventors, designers, and other creatives to produce custom parts, tools, or whatever niche needs to be filled. I love the versatility that digital design provides. It’s literally infinite, and have found the cross-over applications to be the same. I’ve been able to marry my background in construction with art and engineering, and am able to produce highly accurate and detailed works using technology and innovation. It’s not just 3D printing. I can take a design, convert files, have the parts laser cut, or water jetted, or sent to a foundry, or to a manufacturer, and can produce just about anything out of any material based on computer files. There’s no other medium I’ve worked in that is that versatile. I do some welding, and metal sculpture as well. Some molding and casting, some wood-working, and some refurbishing/re-finishing projects too. Quite often I have to take engineering into consideration in my work, which then puts an emphasis on things like weight, structural integrity, temperature, and climate conditions, etc. I used to own a body shop as well, so we end up doing some fiberglass, bondo, tons of sanding, and a lot of spray applications for finishing. Aside from a print studio, we have a bodyshop, paint booth, welding, and woodworking areas in the building. For instance, while we place a large emphasis on custom sculpture work for the galleries, we also build in-house our own pedestals, with different lighting and display options, which I’ve found has been a nice filler for the slim months when I get an order for displays from a gallery. Most recently, I just got into bronze, and my first bronze sculpture is on display in Chicago. I also just did one of my first public outdoor installations of an 8ft. historical marker that was entirely 3D printed and reinforced with autobody coatings. I’ve done underwater builds for aquariums just to see if the technology would hold up. I recently became partner as the designer for a new tool company, and have the parts patented and set for manufacturing, which will be going into injection molding in the coming months.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I also have a photography area within my studio where we capture both stills and videos of all of our work. So I have accumulated a lot of media. Why not? It doesn’t hurt me to put out some digital images of my work and see what sticks. I’m sure that your popularity as an artist probably impacts your sales of NFT’s, but we’ll see.
While I agree that the NFT market is still wide open, there is a lot to learn, that I haven’t had time to dig into. However I did hire an NFT Manager, and centralized all of my new works so that he could build my portfolio and test the markets. They will likely be launched by the time of this interview.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There was another interesting question here which was, “What lessons have you had to Un-learn, and what’s the back story?” So I suppose my response here tackles both. I’ve spent probably 8+ years deep diving into the personal development realm. Listening to all of the available youtube videos and audio books I could get my hands on. There are a few things that stand out to me in this regard. One is that if you have had a lot of traumas (I have) un-learning your thinking is pivotal. Rewiring the subconscious programming that takes up about 95% of our daily responses, takes habitual recognition and practice to change. Otherwise you repeat the same thinking, expecting a different outcome. Dr. Joe Dispenza is a great author on the subject.
Another one, that is a really old book is “Think and Grow Rich”. Not really for the purpose of getting “rich”, but more so for the lessons it teaches about the pursuit. For example, to become rich, you must first turn yourself into the type of person that gets rich. And out of 10 or so steps, the monetary part is the very last thing you will acquire. Giving more in value than you expect in return, will ultimately lead to more in return than you’ve given in value. So I treat each client, and their project with the upmost quality to the very best of my ability, and it generally builds great relationships, that usually result in repeat business. This topic could go on forever, but personal growth is the absolute pinnacle of business growth. I see a lot of people who aren’t making art for a living that want to, who choose to blame it on their jobs, or wages, or circumstances as to why they can’t overcome the hurdle, rather than turning themselves into the type of person that can and does.
Oh, and manifestation is real. Getting good at it takes practice. But it’s all hand in hand. Like “unlearning” and overcoming blockages to be able to manifest the life you want.
Am I rich? No. But I get to practice at being better everyday doing something that I love, and earning my living which is a decent place to be in my journey. Personal growth can be an artistic pursuit as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: circlecity3d.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willwoodrow_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/will.woodrow