Meet Janaye Pitt | Resin Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Janaye Pitt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Janaye, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Staying true to myself and the things I personally enjoy. Everything I make comes from my own personal investment and nothing else. Art is extremely personal for me and all of my work reflects that. I make a wide variety of art including earrings, DnD dice, keychains, coasters, bookmarks, wall art, and more. Each piece is uniquely “me” in the way it’s made, the design choices, color choices, etc. Every design either stems from my own preference of colors/glitters or is inspired by a show, video game, movie, or anime that I like. I never make art based off of something “everyone is watching/playing.” Popularity is nice but it will eventually fade. Real connections with your art will not. If I’m personally not into whatever is currently trending I simply won’t make art for it. I like being able to personally connect with my art and have genuine conversations with those who like it enough to purchase it. I think doing this helps customers see the amount of love and time I put into each piece and has contributed greatly to my overall success.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Funny enough my business wasn’t actually planned. I kind of just…ran out of room for my art.

I started my business in 2020. When I tell this story I usually say that I was “bored in the house and in the house bored.” Which I feel like a lot of us were, right? My main creative outlet is cosplaying but there were no conventions to attend due to the pandemic. So I was scrolling on Instagram one day and I kept seeing reels about resin art. I had no idea what resin even was at the time but I loved the artwork I was seeing. So I decided to order some resin and a few molds and give it a go. And I loved it! I had so much fun that I kept making more designs and ordering more molds. Eventually I hit a wall and I’m not talking about an art block. I mean an actual wall! I looked up one day and I had made so much stuff that I literally had nowhere else to put anything.

So I had two options:

1. Throw most of my art away so I could make room for new things.
2. Sell it all…so I could make room for new things!

Obviously I went with the second option and the rest is history!

As I mentioned before, my art comes from a lot of personal connections from different medias. I love frogs, witchy things, horror movies, anime, video games, DnD, books, and much more. I’m never really at a loss for what to make because there’s always a long list to choose from. This is obvious when looking at my website or stopping by my booth at conventions. I have a little bit of everything for everyone. You’re into unique earrings but your boyfriend likes 90’s cartoons? No problem! You’re a big fan of magic and wizards but you also really love frogs? Boom! Wizard frog!
I think it’s the fact that I cover so many themes and interests that makes me stand out from other artists. I’m very proud to be able to cater to smaller audiences of more niche things as well. I love hearing that someone is really happy to see art of an indie video game we both love but can’t usually find fan art for. Being able to provide those kinds of pieces to fellow fans makes me so happy.

I won’t say running a small art business has been easy. It has definitely tested my endurance and patience at times. I chose a harder avenue of being my own…everything. Being the only artist. Being the marketing person. Being my own PR person. Basically anything you can think of to make a business run, I’m the person who handles it. Now on one hand it is incredibly nice to be in charge of everything. I don’t have to have meetings and long discussions on topics about my business. I can choose a direction and go. This is the sort of freedom a lot of other business owners wish they could have. On the other hand…it can wear you down. Knowing that everything, EVERYTHING, is on you can come with some pretty long nights. After doing it for a while I can certainly see why some people just hire others to deal with certain tasks. I don’t regret the path I took but I have had to learn when to step away and take breaks. I’ve learned important time management skills and created schedules that help me wear all my “professional hats” effectively.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
You’d probably find us in a museum or bookstore! We’d probably visit the North Carolina Museum of Art and the Museum of Life and Science first. Then we’d spend hours in different bookshops around Raleigh. We’d spend an especially long time in Quail Ridge Books at North Hills. In between each place you could find us either getting boba tea or eating Korean BBQ.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to give a huge shoutout to my family, friends, and returning customers. Each one of you has helped me in so many important ways. From great advice, financial support, business tips, art suggestions, mental health check-ins, and much more. You all have been there for me and my business through the good times, bad times, art blocks, and more. Having a solid support system is so important and I have been very lucky to have these people by my side.

Website: https://www.verdonadesigns.com

Instagram: @chibiakirachan8

Twitter: @verdonadesigns

Other: Etsy: https://verdonadesigns.etsy.com