Makeda Morrison - Contributor
Writer & Crochet enthusiast.
This week, A Tryin' Yute- the Mentorship Advice Guide had the opportunity to dive into the rabbit hole that is CeejArts. Sitting down with graphic designer and digital artist Ceej Carpio, he shared with ATY his experiences having set foot in both worlds of art, the importance of failure, advice to a younger self, influential reads and of course how to handle "bad mind" from others.
Working with both individual and corporate clients, Carpio uses his artistry to move projects from the realm of ideas into reality. The computer graphics student cum digital illustrator has sold pieces to collectors in North America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
A few of his noteworthy accomplishments include being the first digital artist/ graphic designer to be featured in an interview with Reggaeville's 2018 Festiville Magazine which saw his artwork of reggae giant The Gargamel "Buju Banton" framing the magazine's cover.
Locally, a Gleaner interview showcased his Augmented Reality collection portraying reggae revival artists such as Chronixx, Protoje, and Jessie Royal. The 24 year old has worked alongside the British Council Commission on their Windrush Exhibition, where he was tasked with bringing to life 7 murals through augmented reality, which depicted the prominent effects of the Windrush Era in Jamaican history.
Dabbling in marketing and rebranding he has worked alongside Cannabis brand Lion Pride in the development and creation of new products. He has also received commissions for pieces such as the large-scale art piece for Romeich Entertainment CEO, Romeich Major, which hangs from a place of pride in his office.
Of course we got it his views on ATY's 10 core must knows:
How do you handle “Badmind” from others?
Having not studied at the most prominent art Institute in the country and being in an industry that tends to be filled by the same individuals I have now come to realize that even though I am a prominent individual of the art industry there is a "circle" of which I am not included. I have not been given mutual support as with others. It can never phase me as standing alone, I have come thus far and those who watch my journey will only follow in my footsteps.
So to answer that " Mi just a gwan pree dem from a far and keep winning".
What advice would you give for any student/youth that wants to enter your career field? What advice should they ignore?
The most important advice I believe is to:
"Forget formal education if you don't have the money for it. School is just a more expensive version of YouTube in reality. Seek out what you are passionate about and then move from there. The creative industry is a wide industry and while some can do many, others specialize in a few; so focus on that. Focus on your few and develop those. It takes 1 to get it right but many to find it.
Also it is also good to know your rights in the industry because if you are great others will definitely exploit your greatness and in many cases you don't only lose recognition, you also lose monetarily.
Another golden advice is to remember that you are in this business (if you're in it for business) to make money. Don't let anybody make you feel guilty because your expression of your art isn't like the cliche "guy".Let your passion show through your art form and not the words from your mouth. "
And the advices to not listen to are,
" You can't make money selling art or being in the creative industry. That is utter rubbish. People who don't make money in the creative industry just don't know how to make money.
In closing, just like the advice I would give, the advice I would not listen to is that true artists don't sell their art or that true artists don't care about the money. Let me be frank, if sharing their passion for free is what makes a true artist an artist, then don't be a true artist, be the artist that you are.”How has failure, or apparent failure set you up for success?
FAILURE IS LESSON IN DISGUISE.
It has taught me that patience is key. A Lot of times when great things are about to manifest, everything that can go wrong tends to go wrong but it's like life teaches, "Before your greatest breakthrough comes your biggest setback."
It also teaches resilience and strength. It's like a video game, a rpg to be exact. It's like Pokémon. When you start you start at Lv 5. You have to then go out there in the grass and train, train, train to get " Experience Points" so that you can "Level up". Now, during the training period you will get hurt, damaged, knocked unconscious but as long as you keep pushing and training you will gain experience. When you've gotten enough experience and level up, you will evolve into a stronger individual and the cycle continues. Pree life like this because the ultimate success is in Life not business.You have to have discipline in life before you can have discipline in business. You must have success in life before you can have success in business.
My many failures have taught me that life is the greatest teacher of all and that failure is only lessons for you to learn from.
When you feel overwhelmed, or unmotivated, what do you do?
Seek advice from individuals who will tell me the truth and reflect. Self-reflection is key actually. A lot of times I am overwhelmed. It's due to overthinking on my behalf so I always try to keep my mind from going on a world tour to all the worst case scenarios. As for my unmotivation, that's a direct side-effect of my overwhelmed state of mind. When I am most at peace my mind creates in harmony and when I'm overwhelmed my mind is in shambles. This is a beautiful lesson I have learnt on my journey because it showed me that it's not a matter of art and being creative. It's about the human mind and the war we face with ourselves in our heads and as a result that can cripple you from action, no matter what industry you're in.
You were invited to a dinner party and you could invite five (5) guests (Dead or alive, real or fictional), who would you invite and why?
Haha! Good question, well first and foremost it would have to be my pops, so it would be:
Cappo
My greatest inspiration, advisor, mentor, everything. Having lost my pops when I was just 15 I feel like now would be a great time to be able to sit and have a good chat about life and everything.
Dan Lok
I always consider Dan a mentor of mine. We've never met and he probably doesn't even see my comments on YouTube *chuckles*l but this man reminds me a lot of myself. He's an unorthodox thinker and his frank personality is something I definitely can relate to. If I got the chance to ever meet him it wouldn't even be to get all the knowledge at once but to actually get to know him as a person and vice versa because information can't be shared in one go, it's a lifetime thing.
Drake
Got introduced to Drake about '09 and 11 years later he's my favorite artist of all time! I would love to meet Drizzy because it takes a great man to stay relevant for a decade and a legendary artist to stay on top for almost if not half a decade. This man's reign is within itself historic. If anybody's a Drake fan they'll tell you that he prophesied everything, from So Far Gone he's been saying he's the greatest now he's literally the greatest.
Bob Marley
The natural mysticism of this man is unmatched. His interviews alone are something else to watch because of what it captured. His essence. Many who know me know how I am and to meet this man would be an extension of myself.
Uncle Iroh - Avatar the Last Airbender
We must all learn from our elders because our elders are the teachers of the present to gift the future. A man with both vast knowledge of the past and great predictions of the future. We all have something to learn and from our elders we can.What are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
In 2015 I read "Think and Grow Rich" and my life has never been the same since. That's what actually inspired and motivated me to go for it and 5 years later the rest is history.
"F.U. Money" by Dan "The Man" Lok
"The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent PealeWhat advice would you give your 15 year old self right now?
I know we just lost pops and you're broken but just give it time. Pops' gonna be sooo proud of you and the man you become and is becoming. The girl you are with right now is just to prep you for the girl you meet at 16. She's the one so just follow through and everything will fall in place just have faith and nuh boda follow nuh man just gwan be you, also don't be afraid to tell the ones you love that you love them and always hug up mommy and grandma cause dem ago become so much more important in time. You're gonna be as great as you are imagining. Don't let anybody's ways break you down, when is your time to shine you will shine just be prepared at all times. You will meet all the right ones in time and all the wrong ones will fade away. Life is going to become so much easier but so much harder at the same time hahaha! But it'll be better so don't worry yourself cause I did good and we all are good. Oh yeah! Just know you'll be basically married from 16 lol
I don't have much to say to you about our career path other than to just do what you think is best because you know what's best for you. Never forget! YOU KNOW WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU.
A lot of people assume being successful means you have a lot of money but we know money management is KEY. What money management advice would you give to someone reading this?
Assess and be truthful to yourself.
Many entrepreneurs and individuals make you feel as if you have to know or master everything when the truth of the situation is you won't be able to and you don't have to. Find your strengths and focus on those. Find your weaknesses and hire persons who can compliment that with their strength. Now if you are at a place where you can't hire someone to tend to your money because you can't afford it, for you it simply means you're not making as much money as you think so take that time to practice what you can until you can afford someone.
How did you find your passion? Tell us that story
My passion wasn't something I had to look for to find it was just there. As long as I can remember I've always had an interest in the visual aspects of art in any medium. The bold colors and line work, the voices for the cartoon characters that brought them to life and the world people could create for me to experience mentally in video games were all different aspects of art that captured my interests. My parents took note of my interests from a very early age and helped me in developing them by getting me the necessary materials and giving me the freedom to express myself in various ways like for example, drawing on the kitchen walls.
Up until high school I was a top art student in addition to that my father was a creative genius so all my projects were off the chain. I remember in prep school I had won Easter Hat Parade 5 years in a row and was not allowed to enter for my last year because you know.... Lol. High school now was a different story because I wasn't as passionate as before. I liked art but I never liked art class.
My passion reignited when I dropped university to find my way, and somehow Art and I found our way back to each other. I never stopped liking art because I view everything as art for example, movies, cartoons, video games, especially video games so when I got back into art it was to regain that level of admiration. Night in and day out I practiced and watched YouTube videos and when I started my art and graphics business it just flourished.
We all talk about “links” running the country. What are your thoughts on that?
What's that, FACTS. Me always seh, don't cuss the links, build di links
If you’re interested in viewing works from CeejArts portfolio or contacting them you can use the channels below:
Digital Artist and graphic designer Ceejay Carpio
Website: www.ceejarts.com
Social media: @ceejarts
email: ceej.arts@gmail.com