Rising Stars: Meet Jordan Arnell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Arnell.

Hi Jordan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
The name is Jordan Arnell Evans mainly known as Jordan Arnell. Born and raised in the city of Sandusky, OH also known for our amusement park Cedar Point. Since about the age of 3, I have been known as a kid who draws. I use to draw all day every day outside of playing videos games. I usually drew on notebooks at my grandparent’s house to drawing on walls in the house. I never knew what this God-giving ability was until I won second place in a coloring contest in kindergarten and got to eat with the Sandusky fire department. After that, I always had an interest in creating things through pencils, crayons, markers, and pens. I remember growing up and during class in elementary school, kids use to stand around me and watch me draw, at the time I didn’t know why because I thought everyone could do what I was doing. Of course, there were others who also were good drawers but for some reason, people were always interested in watching me draw. During my elementary school days, I was always interested in all different types of art forms from creating wrestlers, NBA players, and football players with my brother on video games to making beats on the kitchen counter. I just loved art, and that may be the reason why I was just an average student grade-wise. It makes sense now though because I would consider myself as a C average student but to me that means balance.

In 5th grade, I ended playing the violin. I was pretty good but I never practiced I’m sure if I did I would have been great at that too. At that time it wasn’t the cool thing to do so I kind of was shamed about it but I’m definitely glad I took a chance at it. 7th grade through 10th grade I joined the school band and played in the percussion section which I was decent at, but I didn’t take it seriously enough either. My dad was also a percussionist and my mom played clarinet so doing some type of art form was always in me. During the 7th – 8th grade period I spent a lot of time in detention though because I always doodled on desks and had to stay after school and clean them. Not only during this period of time I did do art, but I also played sports (football and basketball) so for me, I really gave that more attention and put art on the back burner as my interest in those 2 activities grew. By 9th grade basketball season I ended up gaining the nickname EZ and that has been stuck to me till this day because I was a pretty good 3 point shooter.

During high school 9th through 10th grade, I never took one art class. I don’t know why this happen that way but like I said before, I put art on the back burner because I was only motivated by sports. 11th grade came and I finally took an art class called “commercial arts” run by a teacher named Mr.Shannon. That year I also took a semester of doing architect but Mr. Shannon’s class was a breath of fresh air. I had some of my best high school memories in that class. I had some of my closes friends in that class, and all day we would be in there creating, making jokes, making beats, designing, and talking about relationships and girls. Honestly, we had a whole podcast in the making there. Commercial Arts were really the best thing that happened for me. As my Jr. year continued on after football season-ending, basketball season was next up, and what happened that year I had never seen it coming. I ended up getting cut from the team. Never in a million years I would have thought I would never play for Sandusky High ever again and that broke me. I cried for about a week and eventually got over it. Although that time period sucked for me, a few months later I was prophesied at church that I would make a lot of money with my hands through art, and at the time I didn’t understand it but it makes 100% now. During my Sr. year, I continued playing football and left the hoop dreams behind, and focused on art. Also during that time, I didn’t know what I would do after graduation. I was living with my grandparents by choice cause my mother moved away and I wanted to graduate with my friends. My grandad intentionally wanted me to go to the military but I knew that wasn’t for me. He was a Navy vet so I understand. My stepdad also wanted to know what I wanted to do and for some reason, I was like I wanted to go to art school. So we did the research for about a month looked at a few different schools in Ohio and we decided to visit the School of Advertising art in Kettering, OH. Now known as the Modern Design School.

The school was pretty cool it had everything you wanted and I was super excited, plus with the tuition, we got a MacBook Pro, a camera, tons of art supplies, and free adobe programs so they had me sold with just that. During the school year, I did what most students did and that has great grades the first 2 semesters and eventually lose interest. The reason for me was that I found a program called GarageBand. The program was made for music purposes at the time and once I learned that art was back on the back burner of my journey again. During my Thanksgiving break, I went back home and showed a few friends that rapped, that I knew how to record music and we formed a rap group called “The Affiliates”. I know the name sucked but it made sense at the time. By this time I was so caught up in the music and producing trying to focus on art school went out the window. I eventually failed out last semester of school and never looked back. Even though I failed the knowledge I did gain from the school eventually came back full circle.

Fast forward I went back home that summer and reformed our rap group and eventually we changed our name to “Mulah Gangg” and from that point on we were known around the city like that. We were pretty popular around the local area for about 3-4 years. Those were some of the funniest times in my life. We literally would wake up every day and record music every day. We had our ups and downs but as a team, we were pretty cold. During that time tho I did question life a lot and the spirit of depression set in because I always wonder when would we get a break. We were getting older and partying, drinking, and smoking everyday phase made my depression worse. I was really depressed like not wanting to be here depressed. But I guess God always has a plan for us all. After the split of the group, I knew I had to make a decision between staying home or moving to Cleveland and I choose Cleveland. Although I lived in Cleveland I traveled back and forth to still do the music thing with my friends but my interest in it became less and that’s when I started shifting more of my energy back to art. Around 2014, I went to my first art show by Glen Infante. He’s like one of the top artists in Ohio and probably the nation at this point, But I remember asking him, “did you paint all these pieces and he said no.” I never fully got a full answer but that’s all I needed to know because I then did my own research and started learning how to digitally draw and print. That year Lebron James returned back to Cleveland and I decided to do a tribute piece of him and his high school teammates and it went somewhat viral. They saw it and then asked to get the piece. So I got them printed and ended up meeting before Lebron’s homecoming party. That moment right there kind of changed everything for me especially with Instagram starting to become a powerful tool to expand my brand. I would start to post more and more art, and celebrities would see them repost my work and my followers grew. 2015 I partnered up and with an artist named Sean McGee and we did an art show/concert that was a pretty cool experience. I don’t think I sold one piece but my name became recognized in the city for art. As I began to grow on Instagram I started getting booked for projects like album covers, flyers, logos, and illustration designs. It seemed like 7 years later my college experience finally started paying off. At this time I was still working a full-time job at the Shoe Department and doing my art stuff on the side which at the time made sense until I started making the same amount of money at my job that I was making at home. So in January 2016, I decided to leave my job and that was the last time I ever had a full-time job.

2016 was a year of many trials and tribulations for me. To this day I regret a lot of things I did that year. I ended moving back home to help my grandmother that year, she ended up passing away from Cancer and that devastated me big time. That was like my first major loss because I was around her so much so it definitely messed me up that year mentally. I made a lot of irrational decisions that year that I would have never made in my right mind. I really never took time to grief through that period of time and that’s one thing I will always make a priority in those situations from here on out. Take time and get your mind together before you make decisions or let others influence your decisions. Not only did I take a loss with her passing but also a business loss as well. At this time I helped open a clothing store with a group of friends; by adding a brand I created and within 4 months it failed drastically. For me I always follow my intuition and this time I didn’t, I remember sitting in the car before making this big decision on doing the whole business move and hearing God say this is not the right move, don’t do it. I even called up one of my close friends at the time and told him about God telling me this was not the move. That’s why can’t no one tell me God is not real, I literally heard God say this is not the right move and by me being a team player I went against my own intuition anyway. That was one of my biggest regrets to this day. Although I learned from it, I know my mind wasn’t fully aware of everything and the surroundings of it all. I would have never made that decision at all. I honestly can say I have never been able to fully be happy with my accomplishments because of that decision, but I know I will eventually get over that feeling. Although 2016 might have been one of the worst times in my life in October I got hired for my first graphic design job and that same day I ended up getting hit up by Kyrie Irving for an art piece I made of him. That same day I quit that graphic design job, go figure. I think I worked for 2 hrs lol. The following week the NBA posted me up on their Instagram account for an art piece I created for the NBA champions the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that right there helped me gain a large amount of my following.

2017 came and for my 27th birthday, I did my first official Art Show in my hometown. It was truly amazing I had my homies doing their podcast, family involved in helping and the whole city shows up to support the event. It was definitely one of the best birthday events I ever had. The support was major. I think that year alone was a great year I visited Cali for a project, went to Jacksonville, and got my first major gig with former Cincinnati Bengal, now Seattle Seahawks Carlos Dunlap, the NFL, and did a collaboration with a clothing designer for New York Fashion Week.

It’s so much I could continue on with but I’ll save it for later.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wish I could say it’s been a smooth road but I would be lying. With this life as an artist, it’s really about management for real. Mainly not letting yourself spread thin. I have done that a lot by saying YES to everyone who needs me to do something for them and usually I lose at the end, depending on what the project is. As you grow as a creative you definitely got to choose what’s worth your time and what’s not worth your time. Meaning would this be something you would do for free if money wasn’t attached to it or are you only doing this for money to make ends meet. Of course, I have to do things to make money and pay bills but if I find myself when doing something for the money 9/10 I end up hating myself for taking on the project. So I definitely keep that in mind when taking on projects. Doing what I do is a major risk tho, I can’t front sometimes projects roll in left and right, and then sometimes you hit a bumpy roll and everything becomes slow and I have to figure of how to stay afloat, it is all a part of the game. So I need all the support I can get, support your boy people lol.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Honestly, I would say I’m just an all-around artist. I design clothes, illustrate, make logos, and help brand companies. I specialize more in Illustration I would say because I sell a lot of art pieces from custom work to iconic people of celebrities and sports. Illustration definitely made me well-known through social media. What I’m most proud of is actually surviving being a full-time artist. It’s a lot of ups and downs that come with being an artist because it’s so many other artists who can be in my position but I know God helped me find my purpose early to live off my art. Never in a million years, I thought I would be doing this. I thought I would graduate and get a factor job, have a family, and that’s it. I think what set me apart from a lot of artists is me being myself fully, understanding God’s purpose in why I make art, and being consistent in getting better. Just living and speaking the truth while putting out art as my candy in the medicine. Honestly doing art is cool but it’s a way bigger purpose and mission I’m on, to help change the people within my world.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Yes, understand why you doing what you doing. Understand support will not always be there in the beginning and it’s ok when it does come, embrace it. Everyone doesn’t see what you see so don’t be bitter if no one supports you it will work out in the end, it always does as long as you continue loving what you do. What I wish I knew when I started is always stay independent as long as you can. It’s cool to partner up with others if it makes sense but always look at the pros and cons when you do partner up with others. Knowing what I know today keep what you do great to yourself as long as possible and when you are ready to share it with the world do so.

Pricing:

• Illustrations start $300
• Logos start $500
• Creative Consulting (Negotiable)
• Mural Designs (Negotiable)

Contact Info:

• Email: eztaughtmebookings@gmail.com
• Website: www.eztaughtme.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eztaughtme/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eztaughtme
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Eztaughtme
• Other: https://www.enter.art/artist/eztaughtme

Image Credits
Dw3s Photography
Chris Goody