story time...
Hi, I'm Rob and I am the founder of Paper People Creations, Inc located in Chicago, IL. As an artist that specializes in creating portraits out of layers of paper, I have meticulously fine tuned my craft from scratch into what it is today.
I started this journey in 2015 as nothing more than a hobby – making paper portraits as gifts for close friends and family. Before I knew it, I had a waiting list for commissions over a year long.
Once I got more comfortable with these creations, I decided to make my first celebrity portrait for fun – Ice Cube. I uploaded the portrait to Instagram, tagged him in every way possible, and that was that.
Two days later I woke up and my phone was basically frozen from receiving an absurd amount of notifications. Little did I know, Ice Cube had reposted my art and tagged me on all of his social media platforms. I couldn't believe it.
That was the exact moment when I realized this "hobby" of mine might have the potential to be more than just a hobby. Even then, the thought of doing this full time seemed unrealistic.
The amount of what ifs were endless and I couldn't imagine quitting my job to pursue an art career. I was comfortable with how things were at the time and I didn't want that to change.
But...
as Incubus once said, "If not now, when?"
It's now March of 2020.
COVID hits. The country is on lockdown. The world is about to end – or so it seems.
I was scheduled to work the day after the nationwide lockdown went into effect. My boss called me and said that if I didn't feel comfortable coming into work to just stay home for the time being. I had a bunch of commissions booked that I knew would cover me for at least a few months.
So I took him up on his offer and stayed home.
And I never went back.
When I didn't have the guts to pull the trigger and pursue art full time, the trigger was pulled for me. Two years later I incorporated Paper People Creations into an actual business.
From a hobby to a full time business, this was never my plan.
I'm a firm believer in the saying "everything happens for a reason" and this is the perfect example of that. My life and career path would be drastically different had COVID never happened.
Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am when it comes to my artwork. I have worked my buns off to get to where I'm at today, and am beyond grateful that I get to do something I absolutely love every single day.
We live in a society where we're conditioned to believe that the only way to succeed is to go to college, get a degree, and work a meaningless 9am-5pm job the rest of our lives. It's sad.
I hope to see the day where the educational system puts more focus towards creative arts. Because I can promise you the world would be a better place with more artists.
Over the years, my art has allowed me to meet some pretty rad people. I've been fortunate enough to meet and give my art to various celebrities, musicians, and entrepreneurs such as
- Method Man
- Chris D'Elia
- Dave Portnoy
- Andy Frisella
- Danny Dixxon
- Steve Aoki
- Krewella
- Crizzly
- Figure
- Dillon Francis
- Tom Segura & Christina P
Where do we go from here?
With the help of my partner, Lexi, we have recently expanded Paper People Creations to offer fine art prints. Lexi is a graphic design guru and my go-to when I'm in a bind. She's helped me with designing a bunch of our prints and also got this website up and running.
We have some unique ideas for future prints that we're working on and can't wait to share them.