CLINTON LOFTHOUSE
“The only way to live through art is to be able to sell it. If I could give AN artist any advice it would be to learn marketing”
Clinton Lofthouse
Creative artist & photographer
Leeds, UK
instagram.com/clinton_lofthouse
When we’re in our 20s and 30s it’s easy to look around, see others achieving great things, and start comparing. It’s one of the worst things to do as everyone’s circumstances are different and we don’t really know where we each started out. The best thing we can do is take action. Start writing, start drawing, whatever it is, take that first step. This book shows some of the best examples of people taking that first step on their journey, or pivoting midway. Clifton Lofthouse’s story is easily one of the most motivating.
We met via LinkedIn from hundreds of people tagging him about how he would be perfect for the project. After reaching out and hearing his story, it quickly became evident that Clinton wrote his own future through pure dedication to a passion. A passion that ended up as a career. I couldn’t be prouder to be able to feature stories like his in this book.
Jonathan: What do you do now?
Clinton: I am an advertising and entertainment photographer, creative art worker and digital artist.
What were your first jobs?
I pretty much was in dead-end jobs until I was 33. My first job was at an upholstery factory. The second was fitting laminate flooring. The third was sheet metal fabrication. The worst job I had was putting lids on empty paint cans.
Did you study?
I left school with not many grades. When I first started photography, I went to college to study photography but dropped out halfway through as I felt I wasn’t learning anything new. The same college asked me to go back last year to speak to all the photography students and offered me a job. I turned it down.
What were you curious/passionate about as a kid?
As a kid I loved horror movies, graphic novels, and drawing. I was always told at school, none of the interests would help me career wise. But it was going back to these interests at 30 years old that pushed me to where I am now.
So how did you go from dead-end jobs, to where you are today in what seems a very successful creative career?
It is probably not a very linear journey, but I was always creative, I will try to give you the short version. As a young boy I would create my own comic books, and pretend radio stations by recording them through a mic on to tape cassettes. As I grew to a teenager, I started hanging out with the wrong crowd and left all the creative things behind, for a long, long time. I was actually 30 when I decided to buy a camera, to try to scratch my creative itch. The same month my son was born I bought a Nikon D3100 and Photoshop. I began by taking random photos around the house, and very bad landscapes. But as I played around, I had the urge to tell stories with them. This started with horror photography and dark art, which is where I learned most of my skills in Photoshop.
At this time, I was working in factories in Bradford, mainly spray painting or powder coating. They were not the best environments to be. They were very negative places with old school managing, basically not being treated very well. For some reason, I quite quickly took to photography and even more so to Photoshop. Within my first year I had gathered a little social media following and had my work published in magazines, and within a few years hosted workshops teaching others. I decided this is what I wanted to do with my life, I wanted to make a career from it. But with a family to feed, and many bills, I couldn’t quit my job. So I had to build up my business in my spare time after work, usually when my son had gone to bed, and the weekends. To make the most of my free time, I built up little routines and systems to make myself more efficient. I would get up at 5am, do two hours of photography, then go to my factory job. Get home from work, play with my son, then once he went to bed, work until about 12 mid- night. Eventually, I started to pick up traction, business wise. Because I was a spray painter, I was usually alone in a spray booth, so I would run my photography whilst I was spray painting at my day job. I would spray with one hand whilst sending emails with the other, organising shoots, and writing down ideas. I pretty much built up my business in that spray booth with one hand and the early mornings and late nights. Once I had enough business, I cut my day job hours down to three days a week. Once I had an extra two days of free time my work grew quicker, I quit my job four weeks later.
What would you tell your teenage self ?
That art is a way of making an income. Do something that makes you happy, and it will not feel like work. Work hard.
Do you have tips in terms of how art can go from being a creative endeavour and turning it into an income?
The only way to live through art is to be able to sell it. If I could give one artist any advice it would be to learn marketing. I know it sounds boring, but if you can’t sell your work, how will you make money? Young artists need to get out of that artist mindset very early or they will be just another starving artist. Marketing doesn’t have to be boring. I never had any marketing education, I looked at what the other successful creatives were doing. I saw that essentially, all the successful creatives were all salespeople too.
What have been some of the best projects you’ve worked on in your career?
I recently did some concept work for Nike, which was great and I would love to do again. I created a series of 360 marketing images for Hollywood director Eli Roth’s Crypt TV, which was super fun. I also recently did a globally published magazine cover for Athlon Outdoors for one of their most popular genres. But I love every job I take on; I try not to do work I am not passionate about. I am currently about to launch my own agency.
Did you have mentors on your journey?
Unfortunately not in the photography industry. I approached people, but they were always a little prickly or would just ignore me. Because I had no mentors, I had to be very proactive and learn everything through trial and error. I would say to younger creatives, do not wait around for others. Do as much as you can every day, and a little more, ha-ha. My biggest mentor growing up was my grandad. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be the creative I am today.