Today we’d like to introduce you to Rudy Pollorena Jr.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Good Day Humans-
My name is Rudy Pollorena Jr. and I am the Founding Alien Artist over at Jolly Spaceship.
Jolly Spaceship is my artistic getaway, where I travel across the cosmos, seeking inspiration where I Voltron traditional and digital disciplines of art to express myself.
When inspiration hits, I throw paint on a canvas and see what colorful creations come to life. I have painted Jolly alien creatures, playful takes on Earthly iconic destinations, such as the Taj Maj Hal blasting off into space, bold and fun colorful geometrics, and out of this world cosmic landscapes.
Right before the viral apocalypse, I was about to begin painting my first commissioned mural which was postponed indefinitely, so I hope to paint one before year’s end.
My goal with Jolly Spaceship is to be as creatively free as possible, creating fun pieces that paint a smile on someone’s face when they see them.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being an entrepreneur, the road is always chunky and though you do get moments of smooth peanut butter pavement, chunky is the consistency.
Jolly Spaceship was inspired by my previous adventure, Craft Beerd, where I crafted “beer art” by celebrating Craft Beer culture onto tees, prints, and many other fun accessories.
Jolly Spaceship manifested itself when I had reached a point with Craft Beerd, where I was satisfied with the journey and wanted to push myself even farther as an artist.
The financial transition from one business adventure to another is more of an ultra-chunky peanut butter viscosity, so that is never an easy one to chew, especially if the previous business adventure was consistently successful since inception.
Craft Beerd struck gold with its timing and fresh offerings of niche beer art in 2013. With Jolly Spaceship, I started at the end of 2018, and the demographic is wide open until I can create a niche and a following for my art. While being business-minded is a great trait to have at the outset of a new adventure, for me, the “soul” of Jolly Spaceship needs time to be explored, nurtured and experimented with before I can confidently say it’s a “successful” adventure, at least financially. But that was never the immediate goal, for any of my adventures.
With experimentation comes paint splatters of focus, and those splatters start to paint the bigger canvas. Obviously, 2020 is presenting itself to be a real jerk with the viral apocalypse and all, but like I said before, the road is always chunky…
Simply, never give up and keep on creating.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Jolly Spaceship story. Tell us more about the business.
Color, I like color and lots of it with Jolly Spaceship creations.
That may sound like a “basic brush” artist, but I enjoy a range of colors that express fun, smiling emotions.
I create all my fine art prints at home, which allows me to create various limited edition series, signed and numbered. I get to “touch” each print I make – I enjoy that, a lot. I create the piece either as a digital creation or as an acrylic painting, then I scan the piece at very high resolution, print it on fine art cotton paper, cut to size and then package each print, print out the postage and send it through the magical shipping portals.
Up to this point, I am most proud of two intergalactic events:
The first, I had my first art show in October of 2019, showcasing all my digital and acrylic paintings that I created since I started teaching myself to paint in January of 2019. I unveiled the wall of art at Second Chance Beer Co. and a lot of wonderful humans came out to support – I was humbled, shed a few alien tears and was taken back by it all.
The second, in May of this year, I created a series of 8 unique creatures, all inspired by our long-overdue honeymoon travels in Oaxaca, Mexico – *right* before the apocalypse set in the U.S. in March. These creatures were unique, bright, bold, and I hand-painted all of them on paper and made a limited edition series of 5 prints each (there are still a few prints of each left and the original paintings themselves). Due to the pandemic, I did a showcase and unveiling on Instagram and that was a success! My second mini art show if you will.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck is an ingredient that plays a role in life, sure, but there are two more ingredients that I go heavy on, the “go-getter” mentality and “challenge yourself, always” mentality.
I am proud of myself for having evolved myself artistically and as an entrepreneur over the years because there is always so much new to learn – and with that comes new opportunities, new people, new experiences, new love and new smooth and chunky peanut butter.
Luck is just that, it’s not something you can count on or predict. If a little luck helps you along the way, great, but count on yourself, more than luck.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jollyspaceship.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jollyspaceship
Image Credit:
Rudy Pollorena Jr.
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
