Meet Collin Reynolds

We were lucky to catch up with Collin Reynolds recently and have shared our conversation below.

Collin, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

My mom and dad
While I’ve been through my own fair share of adversity, my parents were prime examples of how to handle difficult times. My father in particular always stressed to me that anything in life worth having doesn’t come easy while also instilling in me the concept of “Potential Unlimited” a phrase i still use today.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

In my mom’s own words, I’ve been drawing since I could pick up a pencil.
I used to always watch the older kids draw and ask questions when I was younger, because I’ve always been interested in figuring out how things work.

Art has always been my passion, but it wasn’t always easy to bring out that creative spark.
From dealing being diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, losing my father at 17; I had a period of going through the motions until I was introduced to oil painting once I transferred schools.
That was the moment everything began to click, because I used it as a tool to deal with a lot of my personal demons I was going through at the time. About a year or so later, I got into a bad car accident that left me with a concussion so I was out of work for a while. During that time I reconnected with an old friend on twitch and subsequently lost a bet which as per terms of the agreement had me streaming my art on twitch.

This was right before twitch creative started to become a thing on the platform and I was one of the first wave of artists painting on the site. Soon after they wheeled out the Bob Ross promotion, pushed Art full force on twitch and the rest is kinda history from there. I’ve had the privilege of being featured on the front page multiple times and meeting people I never though I’d ever be able to engage with.

I started off painting portraits anime, but started mixing my influences together to try and create something of my own brand. Drew Struzan & Alex Ross’ art styles have a big influence on the way I create, so I started combining realism & detail into my nerd culture pieces. I began creating realistic versions of video game & anime characters and that’s what started to gain me a lot of traction until i ventured over into my 2nd love, professional wrestling.

My family’s always been heavily involved in wrestling in someway shape or form whether it be as a fan, old classmates or a travel agent for Smokey Mountain wrestling it’s big part of who I am.

As I started venturing over more into the wrestling art world, I started getting noticed by more and more people within the industry to the point where now I can say I have working relationships with several wrestlers across multiple companies, even a former AEW World Champion.

Currently I still stream on twitch regularly, do freelance commission work as well as selling prints & originals on my online bigcartel & etsy shops.

properlyMAD.bigcartel.com
etsy.com/shop/ProperlyMADinc
properartist@gmail.com (business/commission inquiries)

It took me a bit of time to figure out what avenue I wanted to take in the art realm, but all in all I’ve found where I belong.

Like my dad used to say “Potential Unlimited”

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The 3 qualities I think that have hard carried me on this path thus far are as follows:

Detail
Even if I don’t know how to do something, forcing my brain to break things down to their most simplest shape & form has made it really easy to grasp how everything works eventually. Sometimes looking at the big picture can be overwhelming so learning to deconstruct things in segments can lessen that feeling

Perseverance
If there’s one thing about me, I’ll keep banging my head against the wall until it breaks regardless of how bad of an idea I’m told something is in the former. I’m used to feeling like an underdog (not just because I’m short haha) and it’s given me a bit of a chip on my shoulder that’s driven me to keep pushing myself further and further towards my goals.

Insatiable
I have a constant need for growth and I don’t think I’ll ever really quinch that thirst.
It’s not that I’m dissatisfied, but I know there’s always something new to learn that I can incorporate into my skill set. I like being around other motivated creatives because it makes me want to be better. I firmly believe you never can truly achieve your maximum potential unless you stop allowing yourself to learn. No matter how old you get or what you think you know, always be a student of the game; iron sharpens iron.

Best advice I can give for someone starting their path right now is to do what you love.
Doesn’t matter if the people around you don’t believe in you, but if you believe in yourself and your goals then you can make it happen. I know it’s harder than it sounds, but through submerging yourself in those dreams you can be who you want to be. That little kid who wanted to do big things when you were little is still in there if you listen close enough.

If you like drawing/painting anime then do that, but if you want to grow in other avenues say backgrounds, realistic details, whatever you feel you lack then use a subject that you like to learn.
Trust me when I say you’ll be more adept to learn rather than give up when things get too difficult.
If I’d of been introduced into oil painting via Bob Ross and that was all I was taught I probably would’ve never went as far with it as I have, but because I was given the freedom to just explore and do my own thing, I was open to learning so much more.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

Digital Art
I only started using procreate at the beginning of 2023, but it’s opened up so many more avenues for me than I would’ve ever thought possible.
Clean up is nonexistent and when I was working a normal job, I’d pull out my tablet and paint while I was at work in my free time. It’s allowed me to get a lot more ideas out of my head, even if it’s just a lose sketch with basic color because i don’t have to prep like I do with oil paint. It’s even improved my traditional skills because as I mentioned previously all techniques can blend into one another.
Roman Reigns even gave me a shoutout for one of my digital pieces I did at the of last year.
That alone showed me how much I’ve grown

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