Rising Stars: Meet Corey Lowry of Raytown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Corey Lowry.

Hi Corey, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I come from a fairly creative family. Naturally, I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil. After getting my GED, I completed a course in Graphics Communications. I learned a lot of software and quickly overcame my grunge and punk-induced aversion to computers. It didn’t take long until I needed a website for a portfolio, so I taught myself web development. I started with HTML; as you may know, it’s a gateway drug, quickly leading me down a spiral. First, it was ActionScript. Next, it was JavaScript, then I had to know PHP, and then I found jQuery.

I was developing interactive websites for local businesses and musicians, and as much as I loved to program, I burnt out and decided to close that chapter. I decided to animate cartoons instead of websites. I’ve been animating flipbooks in school books since elementary school. So I spent years learning to animate through books, online, and a process I called “Re-animation.” Then life got in the way for a couple of years, things were dark, and I wasn’t very creative. After some time, I got a sketchbook and started drawing the faces of those who inspired me. I started drawing every day, bought an acoustic guitar, and started writing songs, which I hadn’t done in twenty years. It was great I started to get closer to where I wanted to be. Over the next few years, I worked on my drawing skills and eventually started painting. More importantly, I was devising my master plan! People started asking to buy my artwork when it was on display at Dollar General, So I registered my business, invested in some equipment, and began selling prints of my art on canvas. I’ve recently released a series of calendars for 2023, four containing my photography. The final one has what I’m calling a mash-up of all my artwork across mediums, all mash-up digitally. It’s only been out a week, and it’s starting to sell better than my best-selling Downtown KC edition. I have also been putting my art and photography onto puzzles, and they are doing well. I have plans for exciting stuff like a tarot deck using my characters and a line of coloring books from my photography. Then I’m going to do a series on Youtube called Coloring with Corey, where I step by step walk you through how I might go about coloring one of them in different mediums. My master plan, as mentioned before, is to animate videos to my songs with my characters, then animate some shorts and eventually a full-length dystopian under Mediocre Life. I know that’s a huge undertaking, but I’ll get closer as long as I breathe. But to introduce my characters to the world, I plan to make a commercial for my calendars and portrait services and run them on Facebook ads.

We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No. Not a smooth road, but I love a good climb as a cyclist. I would say my biggest struggle was when I was researching and developing footbags (Hacky Sack is a trademark). I couldn’t get the cost to manufacture low enough to sell at the price I’d like them to be, mostly due to labor. Also, I reached out to friends, family, the KC sewing club, and a company that makes footbags, and there wasn’t anyone interested in getting involved with sewing them up. So that project is on the back burner. Plus, for them to gain traction, they would need to be endorsed by a celebrity. I did try to get one to do it, but I haven’t heard back yet. There’s a huge local star you might have heard of. I’d love to get on board and had a plan to try and get him involved last year, but as I said, it’s on the back burner now.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I would say I’m probably best at doing portraits. I love drawing faces, especially with vivid expressions! I would have to say I’m most proud at this moment in my 2023 Corey’s Mash-Ups calendar that I just released. I took artwork I’ve done in every medium and digitally put them together with loads of narrative built for the viewer to discover. There’s even stuff I drew in there as a teenager in the 1900s, as my kids would say. I even stuck a colored pencil drawing my youngest did of Dhar Mann in the mix. Speaking of being proud, we put that picture she did on canvas, puzzles, buttons, and key chains. She made over one hundred dollars one time out with me. She’s my little prodigy!

How do you define success?
I believe I’m successful because, in my mind, there is no un-success or success. Yes, there will be failures, setbacks, and delays, but when you have a mindset on doing what you love and loving what you do. It’s all success, and the so-called “failures” are just steps on the path. The path isn’t to a place or destination, and once you get to this point, you don’t arrive at success. Success is a state of mind!

Pricing:

• Calendars $20 in color $15 in B&W
• Puzzles $12
• Custum Portraits Starting at $120
• Footbags $20
• Canvas Prints $20

Contact Info:

• Website: studiogivix.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/studio.givix/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/StudioGivix
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StudioGivix