Artist Spotlight: Meet Gremren, aka Renata, aka Colour Expert

Renata has been part of the Redbubble community since 2021, and has already made a splash on the marketplace. She’s also a part of Redbubble’s Ambassador Program— providing enriching feedback and stories for the marketplace to grow from. From Redbubble to her in-person markets, Renata is making her mark in the arts.

We chatted with Renata to learn more about her art style, what inspires her, and what it’s like to be a full time artist. Come meet Renata!

How did you start your art career, or what factors influenced you into pursuing a creative career?

I actually tried really hard to not be a professional artist, believe it or not! I definitely grew up artistically-inclined, always carrying around a sketchbook to classes, classic “art-kid” behaviour. But my self-confidence was low, and when you hear from every adult around you about the “starving artist” trope, the argument for pursuing a creative career’s a tough one. So I think I did what a lot of creative kids do and ended up going to university for a design degree, with Graphic Designer as the “safe” end-goal. The thing is, in fields like that, if you’re not truly passionate about the work, the people who are will out-perform you straight out of the water, as they do summer internships while you never push yourself.

So I graduate, find myself editing hospital forms in a pre-press printing job that doesn’t fulfill me, and I’m back to square one. I’ve learnt so much, but feel like I’ve barely moved.

And then I start drawing for me again.

Nights, weekends, I keep chipping away at it. Not working on anything specifically, just finding my creative self-confidence, prioritisng what I was too intimidated to do all those years ago. The way I saw it, I did the safe path, and it got me somewhere I didn’t want to be, so what more was there to lose? I posted to my Instagram account every day for about a year and a half, sitting at maybe 100-300 followers the whole time. Every new follower was a huge win. One day though, all those cumulative efforts, those classes, that job, those nights and weekends finally started to snowball. Strangers began enjoying what I made. I grew suddenly to 1,000 followers, and then to 10,000 followers about a month after that. Something was starting to shift! At the time, I had decent savings because I still lived at home with my parents while working full-time, and I thought, “there’s no better time than now to take a chance”. Even if it didn’t work out, at least I wouldn’t live with the regret of never truly trying.

So I quit my job to work as an independent artist.

It hasn’t been easy, and I’m still figuring things out. But it’s been 5 years now, and I’m still here, still working on fresh new pieces. Not a regret in sight.

You’ve cultivated a very specific art style, how did that process go and how do you think it might evolve in the future?

It was a mix of slowly refining my skills over hundreds of pieces, and trying new things along the way! I’ve always loved strong, bold uses of colour, and when I was at university, Posca paint pens were on my supply list for a few classes. I immediately took a liking to them, and when I started focusing on personal art again, I turned to them as a fun way to create! I ended up drawing with them for years, and now even though I’m leaning more into digital work, the way I draw, how I set up a composition and work with colour values has been heavily influenced by all the time I spent with those pens.

Things will definitely change as I continue to work as a professional artist; I’d love to work more with textures, and lean further into a lineless style (think vector, limited screen printing, or lino-printing inspired). But I’ll always have my love of colour and animals, so that will always stay at the foundation of what I do, and tie all my art together.

You’ve taken your art offline and sell in-person at marketplaces too. What advice would you give to other artists who’d like to do the same?

There are incredible resources online to help you get started, from blog articles, to market vlogs, to static photos of an artists table. Use them all! And if there’s something you’re stuck on, there’s no shame in politely asking a question to those who have more experience. I know when I have the time, I’m always happy to answer them. The worst someone can say is no, and then, hey, you’re right back in the same place you were before.

Oh, and one more thing. Your first market table is going to be a little ugly, and that’s okay. I have links to a photo of every market I’ve ever done on my website, and if you check out the first table there? She’s a bit ugg. But I have artists that I met at that table that I’m still in touch with today, they’re awesome. You learn something from every event you do, and even when the prep work to get there is so stressful, those lessons are priceless.

What are some of your favorite ways to find inspiration?

I have two processes currently: spitball with my partner, or scroll through Pinterest/Instagram until something hits.

If this is a safe space, I have a confession to make. My story-telling skills are WEAK, hahah!! Artistically, I can hold my own, but weaving a narrative in my work? Never been my strong suit. But my partner can run laps around anyone when it comes to telling a tall tale, so if I have a rough idea and am stuck on how to execute it, I’ll go to him and in 5 minutes he has me chuckling with fun ideas. If it makes me laugh, we lock it in. From there, I get to be the art diva and get lost in the weeds; how would this work compositionally, what’s the best pose for this idea, what background images do I need to source to get this cooking? We’re accidentally an exceptional team in this way.

But for simpler things, a cheeky scroll through Pinterest or IG tends to spark something. But I have to set a time limit on that, otherwise I fear I could scroll on forever!

How do you engage and grow your audience on social media? Are there specific strategies or stories that you’d like to share?

I have to confess, I’m not very strategic when it comes to social media posting! I’m just a girl who tries to live a joy-filled life and bring a splash of colour to the world, I’m not interested in being bogged down with social media strategies. Reply to comments, treat strangers with kindness, share your life, make your art, anything beyond that feels like a distraction.

Though I’ll admit, if there’s something that fits into my workflow, I’m happy to tuck in an cheeky strategy here or there. Tutorial-style videos have, in my experience, done very well for my online growth, and if you can put a hook at the start of a video, that’s always useful. Talking about a hot topic in the creative community is also helpful, especially if you dare to be a little controversial! But I think at the end of the day, people are looking for authenticity. Be yourself, learn to communicate well, be kind, and good things will come. Even if it’s not optimal, we’re little monkeys floating on a rock. We’re made to be imperfectly human, not robots.

Chances are, if you’re thinking about being a full-time artist, it’s because you’re a creative soul, not because you’re kept up at night by the thrill of tax calculations. You will make mistakes, you will drop some balls, but as long as you keep picking that ball up and rolling it forward, you’re doing fine.

(You’re also allowed to just create art casually for the love of the game! Not everything needs to be monotised my loves!!)

You work with quite a few mediums, from digital to paint pens to even 3d textiles with rug making. How did you settle on these mediums and which is your favorite to work with?

It’s mostly the mediums that got me so excited to see them when other artists work with them! Rug making was my Covid-craft, if you will, and seeing video after video of people making these gorgeous textile, tactile pieces of art encouraged me to do the same. I can thank university for introducing me to paint pens, but finding people on Instagram who made them sing, and eventually befriending them was a huge factor for my continued love of them too. We would share work-in-progress photos, complain about limitations, and be inspired to push further by each other’s successes. Those paint pens are woven into friendships and community for me now, and I’ll always have a love for them.

Digital art, on the other hand, is a bit different. That has recently grown more out of necessity; I don’t have to struggle with an outdated scanner, I can make the designs huge with no limitations, and being able to undo a mistake without 15 minutes of paint layering? Life-changing stuff. While it doesn’t give me the same thrill as doing traditional work, the practicality has been incredibly helpful, and it’s helped me grow my skills in different places. Besides, being able to jump between mediums helps keep everything fresh and exciting!

The theme is “Big Cats in a Little World”, and I draw illustrations focused on how giant house-cats would interact with our normal little world. As I’ve finished the designs, I’ve also turned them into individual stickers/prints! This has absolutely been a lesson on scope-creep […] but it’s a concept I’ve wanted to do for such a long time, so I’m very happy to almost have it done :) 

Renata is a talented multidisciplinary artist whose story and progress in the arts and commerce space has inspired us at Redbubble. Take a page from Renata’s book and dare to do something for yourself, the risk is worth the reward. Be sure to check out her shop and follow her for new artworks and designs!