Today we’d like to introduce you to Todd Reed.
Hi Todd, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
So like a lot of artists, my journey started when I was still in diapers, I’ve always enjoyed scribbling and watching the pencil flow around the paper. I always say “talent” is a pursued interest and I was lucky enough to have my parents and other family and friends nurture my creativity and gave me the slight “push” to keep going! Whether it was art supplies for my birthday and Christmas or verbal support. I feel like we’re all artists, but our creativity is manifested in so many different ways.
Growing up, my mom was always an entrepreneur, from owning a barbershop, beauty salon, selling home security systems, owning Assisted Living Facilities, I’ve seen my mom try and try and try so “giving up” wasn’t something I’ve seen a lot growing up, especially when it came to following your passions. Sometimes you need almost a small level of delusional confidence.
But throughout my life, my technical skill seems to have grown so much faster than the other kids so I was always encouraged to participate in art shows and art contests. One of my more notable accomplishments was when I won an art contest and won not only for my age group but for every age group! (I was about eight years old).
When I got to high school, specifically my senior year was when my creativity exploded, I had two art classes throughout the day so I was constant practicing. That’s when I started diving into the world of entrepreneurship. I would go up to my teachers and friends and offer my services! I’d say things like “hey Valentine’s Day is coming up! Let’s get you a drawing of you and your wife that way you’d have a unique gift!” So while my friends were getting jobs at fast-food restaurants, I was selling original art and commissions at only 16! So that was all the confidence I needed going forward.
Later on, I would start doing caricatures which really gave me the confidence to talk to people effortlessly and find common ground and I really started caring about people and giving them the best product or service I could. I love being a full-time artist because I genuinely care about using my talents in service to others, as cliche as that sounds!
Now I’m thankful to use my art career to help people and support my small family! It’s truly a blessing and all it takes is hard work and some of that delusional confidence!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No, it has NOT been a smooth road at all, but I’ve learned how to thrive in discomfort!
Some challenges include the basics a lot of artists go through like not knowing your worth and selling yourself short or having people trying to take advantage of you especially when you’re young.
This was a common theme especially since I basically started my career when I was 16. So one way I would “combat” this is by treating myself the same way I would treat someone I love or like a child. Think about it, if you saw your friend selling themselves short you would breathe life into that person, you’d say “don’t give up, you don’t deserve that, you need to raise your prices, you’re talented” so that way I’d have the confidence to say “no”, which is a very underrated skill.
I started realizing that your time and energy need to be protected. And knowing that not everyone deserves it. So now at this point since I put out an energy of kindness and abundance’s I almost never get disrespectful customers, I listen to my gut and my energy naturally weeds out the negative energy. So the last couple of years have been truly peaceful and smooth.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
So I’ve always took pride in being a jack of all trades, but what I’ve realized that it’s important to niche down. The best businesses thrive from specificity. If you own a taco truck, FOCUS ON TACOS, if not you’re watering yourself down. So with that being said, I’ve done everything 2-D now I focus on portraiture, human and animals in acrylic paint. People portraits done with pencil have always been my first love, so I naturally progressed in that by using acrylic and oil paint.
I’m really proud of my MDF cutouts that I’ve been doing. So basically, I take a thick piece of wood or “board” and cut it into a custom shape with my jigsaw and paint in it with acrylic and I’d sometimes add lights to the back of it to give it a cool RGB glow.
Some of my more notable pieces were my Halloween series where I would paint horror characters on customs shapes like a knife for Michael Myers, a ballon for “IT”, a machete for Jason, etc and that got a lot of cool reactions. And I think these things really set me apart. I’m the future. I want to be known for murals. That’s something I’ve been getting into lately.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Just keep following your dreams and enjoy the process. You may get not “blow up” until your 2nd video/piece of content or your 2,000th. Just enjoy what you do and keep going. Stop worrying about an end result and stay consistent but also prioritize rest and your mental health! Don’t burn yourself out. Stay positive and keep your life as simple as possible! Simple doesn’t have to mean boring!
Contact Info:
- Email: Yourlocalartdealer@gmail.com
- Website: Yourlocalartdealer.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/yourlocalartdealer
- Facebook: Facebook.com/YourLocalArtDealer/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/ToddReedDrawings
- Other: Linktr.ee/yourlocalartdealer
Image Credits
Todd Reed Klee Mattes
