Today we’d like to introduce you to Makani Reyes.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Through a childhood obsession with vivid colors and fantastical stories my artistic abilities were honed; I hoped to one day weave tales that sparked the imagination of many like films such as “Spirited Away”, “Lord of the Rings”, or “Monsters Inc.”. During high school I began to take this dream more seriously, creating a roadmap to fast track my education. After graduating with my high school diploma and my Associate’s in Arts at the same time, I acquired my Bachelor’s in Animation quickly after. Unfortunately, the animation industry had gone through quite the re-construction, leaving me with few options.
Thankfully, due to my younger self’s planning, I had grown a presence online to give my future self a following online in case I wanted to pursue freelance. I hadn’t intended for my socials to become the bedrock of my future career; in our modern job market, social media has evolved to give people many working opportunities never even thought of before. Never underestimate the power of engagement! Freelance art has been so freeing, and although it may not be stable, I have learned an incredible amount of financial and social skills from my many years in this position. Running my business alongside a day job isn’t easy… but I wouldn’t trade this for any other job in the world!
I vend at various events in California and online, maintaining two storefronts. Piles of taxes and paperwork have taught me a few things: always save for a rainy day, write EVERYTHING down, and be ready for long working hours.
I’m proud of how far I’ve come. I have quite a lot of work still to do, but if I’ve been able to weather all the ups and downs of freelance artistry, I’m confident I can take the next steps. I love to give advice to fellow artists on resources and what I’ve learned since freelancing is considered such a mysterious, unstable path. I hope to one day begin tutoring to re-approach the role of teaching. I had pursued this before through the public school system, but found it unsatisfying due to the harsh structural restrictions.
Currently, I am slowly re-emerging from a short break after a car crash to revive my artistic sensibilities and engage with my audience with a fresh mind. I hope to wrap up the year with resounding success!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’ve faced quite the plethora of challenges, but through each one I learned a new technique to strengthen my future self. One part of freelancing is it is incredibly difficult to truly pause; you’ll find yourself always answering client messages, wanting to post regularly to keep up engagement, writing/scribbling down ideas for the next item, etc.
But you also have to remind yourself to regularly unwind. I faced incredibly artistic burnout when put through long periods of constant work, work work- this just isn’t feasible.
Even just a short five minute break to get up, stretch, and drink water can help push one through the last leg of their piece. Art block is discussed as this mythical curse somehow randomly put on artists, when in reality it’s a manifestation of stress and stasis! If you’ve been working too much or haven’t picked up your artist tools in a hot minute, of course your mind will have trouble creating. Creativity isn’t an endless well.
Despite my reluctance to, I’ve had to take many breaks from engaging with my audience to just focus on myself. There’s even been day jobs I’ve had to leave despite their great pay or benefits due to them conflicting so greatly with my future goals. As long as you have the finances and a game plan, tactics like these are possible.
All I can say is this: treat your mind and body like a plant. Well, okay, maybe more like a plant that also runs around. A really weird plant. Fresh air, nutrients, rest, and movement on a regular basis will help you create much more. Do this, and you’ll find creativity rushing forth by leaps and bounds.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My specialty is in both digital and physical creations; in the physical realm, keychains, prints, stickers, lanyards, and live traditional portraits are my specialties. In the digital realm, I create portraits/scenes for unique commissions, animations, and even videogames! I took a few coding classes, but I’m mostly self taught. I work mainly with Python and create visual novels, but wish to expand to RPG’s as well.
I feel like a sort of “jack of all trades” when it comes to art. Whatever catches my eye, I like to tinker around with. I’m unique in the sense that the writing and programming part of some of my projects come naturally to me; my peers have no idea how I manage to do it all. Personally, I feel like I have a lot to learn. But that’s the fun part for me, learning! I’m proud of my curious nature as it has pushed me to learn a plethora of skills that help me artistically.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Keep your loudest supporters, your cheerleaders if you will, close to you. Having a good support group will help when things get tough. Or even just for those moments of when you’re not sure what to do, it can be great to have those to give advice. Don’t just befriend those who are similar to you either! Befriending all sorts can help constantly expand you horizons. Sometimes you need a creative eye to give feedback, and sometimes you need a practice person who’s never touched a paintbrush to give feedback to see how general audiences might react to a project. Community is so, so important.
Pricing:
- – Digital portraits: $50-60
- – Traditional live portraits: $40-60
- – Keychains: $12-25 (Depending on design)
- – Stickers: $2
- – Lanyards: $5
Contact Info:
- Website: https://makanioverlord.bigcartel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makanioverlord
Image Credits
I have taken all images myself of my own products. The personal photo is a selfie collaged onto a table setup I use for boothing at conventions.
