2020 ColorByFeliks Year in Review & Looking Forward

Hello Friends!

2020 was a difficult year for all of us. Through the many struggles and feelings brought on by the pandemic, I was very encouraged to see so many of you in my community taking to your canvases and creating through all the difficulty, whether you were just starting out or refining your skill. Art is incredibly therapeutic for me, and I know that pretty much despite whatever is going on in the world, you will find me at my canvas. It's how I process my feelings about life, good or bad, and it's where I feel best.

I am eternally grateful to all of you in the community for your support that allowed me to continue to make a living doing what I love during these rough times, and I hope I can continue to provide you with all the resources you need to continue to connect with your own creativity. 2020 was a very busy year and it was all made possible through your support; I count this blessing every day. As we grow ColorByFeliks, I am constantly thinking about you in the community and how I can use our growth to give you better products, help rising artists get more exposure, and give you all the resources and encouragement you need. I would like to use this post to update you on how the ColorByFeliks team and I have grown this year, and give a glimpse into what we have planned in 2021.


So without further ado, here is what myself, my wife Andrea, and the rest of the ColorByFeliks team got up to in 2020:

 

We started the year with two products for sale; we are now offering TEN different products! I am truly overwhelmed by the support they've gotten as we strive to give you affordable, quality products that I use myself. I couldn't have done this without my wife Andrea and the rest of our business team. Part of the success of our product lines is that we've listened to what you as creators want, so please let me know in the comments below which products you'd like to see in the future.

If you haven't yet tried our paints or other products, you can check them out [here]. Like I said, I only use my own materials and I know you'll love them as much as I do.


I am a big believer in putting the important things first. Growing a business and gaining followers is nice, but it pales in comparison to the importance of mental health, happiness, balance, and especially family. Those things will always come first for me. In that spirit, I decided this year to scale back my YouTube tutorials a little bit, because creating and editing a three-hour tutorial every week was getting exhausting and was leaving me uninspired. Doing that every week alongside the many other projects I do to run my business was not sustainable and left me feeling pretty burnt out. I needed time in my week to recharge and get inspired, which is how I create my best work and I wasn’t able to do that with the rigorous painting schedule I was trying to maintain. I am feeling much happier and more inspired now, and I strongly support any of you reading this to also prioritize your health and happiness. We all have to make a living, but there comes a point when overworking yourself in the pursuit of your dreams becomes bad for your health. I create best when I'm taking care of myself and have a clear mind. Anyway, the YouTube tutorials will not be going away; they will just be less frequent now, and you can still go learn from my large back-catalogue of free tutorials [here] if you haven't seen them yet.

We launched the ColorByFeliks Painting Academy!

I wanted to create an option for those of you who want to go deeper with your art or reach that next level, and I realized that I had enough knowledge and material to create a comprehensive acrylics course to help you do just that. I worked like crazy to make the Academy happen, developing new and exclusive lessons that go into deeper detail than my regular tutorials.

I specifically made it so that both beginners and advanced painters could benefit from the lessons. I've been so blessed to hear the amazing reviews on something I put so much of my heart into. If you're interested in taking a deep dive into acrylic painting, you can find the ColorByFeliks Painting Academy [here]


I am always reading your feedback and using it to plan what's next for my community. My followers were repeatedly asking me about seeing tutorials and artworks from other mediums besides acrylic. I could always try new mediums myself (and maybe I will one of these days!), but I figured, "Why not just invite some of my artist friends to come on the channel?" My ongoing mission is to support emerging artists financially. I've discovered the path to building a business out of my art, and I want to show that path to others and share my success. In my opinion, there are so many insanely talented artists out there who deserve way more followers and recognition than they have, so that's why we started CBF Presents this year.
We get to help emerging artists with exposure and financial support while giving you in the community access to free lessons. CBF Presents has been a huge success and is one of our most exciting projects right now. You can check out the videos [here].
 
After a year of hand-packing all our orders, Andrea and I finally decided to get a warehouse for our products. Thanks to your support, we are no longer tripping over boxes and shipping supplies in our apartment, so a big thank you for that!

We have been waiting for a couple years to update our website and we decided that 2020 would finally be the year! This has been an ongoing project for months but the site is so close to finished and we can’t wait to share with you all. The customer experience is very important to Andrea and I, and we think you'll love the new site. Websites can be very expensive so we want to thank you for helping us make this possible with your support over the years and we will let you know when it is ready!

Finally, I've taken a big step this year into following my dreams of making fine art. Making fine art was always a dream of mine, and after many years of struggle to get the business up and running, I finally feel like I have the time to really experiment in this area without feeling pressured or rushed. You've probably seen my style evolving on [my instagram feed]. I am incredibly excited for this new, experimental period in my work and I can't wait to see where this path leads me in 2021.

Speaking of 2021, here are some things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:

 

  • We want to continue to build and grow CBF Presents and support artists financially, through exposure, and with art supplies.
  • Our products will be available in multiple new countries for much cheaper shipping rates so they will be more accessible to our international friends both on Amazon and our website.
  • We are outgrowing our current studio and hope to find a new location this year.
  • We will continue to create new & innovative art supplies for you.
  • Based on the success of the Painting Academy, I will be releasing a new art related course this year.
  • I will continue to experiment and develop my fine art pieces.
  • Our new website will be up in January for products and soon afterward I will be offering my fine art pieces for sale there as well.
  • I will be posting many more blogs! There will be occasional business updates like this one, but I really want to use my blog to share my thoughts with you all about my own creative process and the personal struggles and victories behind it.


Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for all your continued support. You all inspire me more than you know, and one of my favorite parts of my job is getting to read your beautiful comments and see your incredible works of art. Stay tuned to the blog for all this good stuff I have planned for you and much more! Let me know in the comments what you thought of everything we did in 2020. 


What inspired you? What would you like to see more of? I'm always listening.


Until next time, keep creating!


Feliks K.