Hidden Gems: Meet Jack Kelly of Ajax Anvil

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Kelly.  

Hi Jack, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
It’s kind of a funny story… I was originally going to go to Capital University for music production, where I had auditioned for the conservatory on tuba. I got into the program, but a few days afterwards I had this self-actualization moment where I realized I absolutely had ZERO interest playing tuba the rest of my life. 

I ended up going to Ohio State Newark for a year, where I took all of the art classes available as I prepared for the entrance exam for the design program at Ohio State. 

At the time, I had no idea that CCAD existed or the option to major in illustration for that matter. I ended up not getting into the Visual Communications program at OSU because, at the time, it was incredibly competitive. As I returned to my design class at OSU Newark the following week, feeling defeated, my professor Chris Taylor encouraged me to look into the illustration department at CCAD. 

I got accepted to CCAD, which ended up being the best thing for me. I spent the next four years learning as much as I could and honing my craft. 

After graduating, I moved home to Cincinnati for two years, where I began working in the licensed apparel industry, creating t-shirts for Rick and Morty, PlayStation, Attack on Titan, and many more, for retailers like Hot Topic, Box Lunch, and Spencers. 

In 2018 I accepted a new position in Southern California and was lucky enough to get moved out as part of the job. I spent the following two years working my way up and became a senior designer at Fifth Sun until like many others; I got laid off due to Covid. 

Thankfully I had spent enough time networking and building relationships with some local businesses and other artists that I was able to keep myself afloat through the end of 2020 until I was able to truly begin working for myself in 2021. 

During 2021 I began doing a lot of mural work, along with small branding projects, and creating private label apparel for Pacsun, Urban Outfitters, and Tilly’s. 

At the end of 2021, my wife and I moved back to Columbus to be closer to my family, and I began teaching at CCAD. I’m currently teaching Self-Promotion for Illustrators, along with juggling being a new Dad and probably one too many clients for my design business. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I would say, as a whole, I have been incredibly fortunate, but that isn’t to say it didn’t come with a ton of hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. I’ve always been a big believer in manifestation and goal setting, and when I was in my early 20s, I was really deep in the whole “hustle & grind” mentality. 

This can end up being a really lonely road because I would give up a lot of chances and opportunities for fun things in order to go work on whatever project I felt was really necessary at the time. Which granted, there is absolutely a time and a place for that, but I still kick myself in the butt for giving away the two free tickets that fell into my lap for the first Breakaway Festival while I was in college. Especially because all of my best friends still went, AND I could hear it going on from my apartment on campus at the time. 

One of the biggest struggles I’ve found over the years is the ability to just be patient and not want everything to happen immediately. I’ve always had big ideas for all these things I want to do, and I want to do them all at once. The hardest thing is just stepping back and trusting that everything will happen when the time is right, and the opportunities that you miss now are just setting you up for something bigger and better down the road. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
I am in the final stages of making the transition from just being a freelancer to positioning myself as a design studio/agency. Ajax Anvil Co. is a creative studio focused on branding, murals, and merchandise. 

The goal is to help business owners tap into their creative vision and to bring their imagination to life by transforming their business into a unique brand that is truly representative of them and makes them stand out against the competition in their market. 

By utilizing my unique visual style, experience in the apparel industry, and divergent thinking, I am able create full-service packages that are guaranteed to catch the customer’s eye and leave a lasting impression. 

One of the early highlights was the work I did with Radiant Beer Co. in Southern California, where I got to create this vibrant mural on the outside of their building. Their location is in a pretty drab area in a business park, so the colors were incredibly radiant (which was the goal, obviously) – and from there, we were able to utilize the design to create a number of other types of merch such as glassware, apparel, bandanas, and even coloring pages for kids. 

Another highlight was when a family asked me to redesign the logo for their pizza restaurant, as well as create a merch capsule and mural for their grand opening in Sonora, CA. It’s a really small mountain town outside of Yosemite, with a population of around 5000, but you would never know based on their pictures from karaoke every week. It was awesome to hear that when they opened, they thought Flappy’s Pizza Co. was a new chain that moved into town from Los Angeles and couldn’t believe how cool it was to have something like that in their town. 

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I think the most important lesson is to just keep showing up and being consistent over time. I had mentioned before how I always have a hard time wanting everything to always happen right now, but nearly everything that I have now and have achieved is all due to the steppingstones I’ve laid along the path over the last 8 years. 

I can pinpoint nearly everything I’ve accomplished to a single poster I made for a band when I first moved to California solely in the hopes that they would see it and get me into the show. Ever sense than all of the following projects have helped pave the way and create this foundation for my creative career. 

For all of the younger creatives out there, don’t give up and don’t get discouraged if things don’t happen as fast as you’d like them to, everything happens when it is supposed to, and make sure to keep creating the things YOU want to create. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ajaxanvilcompany.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajaxkelly/