Bryan Braddy, the talented artist behind Bad Art Nice Watch , joined Michael Burpoe on the In the Loupe podcast to discuss how he has created a business from helping tell the captivating tales of luxury watches.
Beginning with a simple drawing session with his daughter, Bryan rediscovered his passion for art, eventually developing a unique and recognizable style using professional-grade watercolors. His artwork brings to life the personal narratives and histories of luxury watches, transforming them from mere timepieces into evocative stories worth telling.
Bryan's entrepreneurial journey from sharing personal art on Instagram to managing a growing art business offers valuable insights into balancing passion with profession. With the growing demand for his work, Bryan navigated the challenges of pricing and scaling his business while maintaining art as a therapeutic outlet.
Below is a snippet of the episode transcript between Michael and Bryan. Listen to the full episode here.
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Michael Burpoe:
I'm a big fan. Just to kind of summarize poorly, you are making illustrations of people's watches primarily on Instagram, and doing a lot of storytelling and voiceover, and it's been a really cool thing for me to stumble upon because, like I mentioned, I'm a semi-professional watercolor painter. So the fact that I work in jewelry and now I find someone that is actually bridging those worlds, it's something I've never found before. So how did you end up in this position? It's a very, very unique one.
Bryan Braddy:
Yeah, it is a unique one and I kind of stumbled into this by accident, just being completely honest. Here’s how I tell the story. My daughter, my eldest daughter, is really the origin of this whole thing. She was four at the time, she's seven now, and we were sitting at our dinner table and she was just doing some coloring at the table and she said dad, would you color with me? I was like, absolutely. She said color whatever you want.
So I'm really big into watches. I've unfortunately been bit by that bug, and so I went ahead and drew a watch and it really just kind of kindled this childlike memory that I had of how much I loved drawing back as a kid. I was like, oh, this might be fun. You know, just a little creative outlet, Just go ahead and throw up my drawings up there. I don't care if I get any likes, it's just something for me.
But when I started drawing, I wanted to challenge myself and I had always been interested in doing watercolor. I'd never done anything other than those cheap little school kits. You know, you got like an elementary school and so I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to give this a shot. And so I ordered some watercolors off of Amazon, but you know it's, it's been a lot of fun, it's a challenge. I didn't realize that I was picking one of the harder mediums when I went ahead and did this, but um, yeah, it's been a lot of fun now, okay, first of all, let me geek out for a moment.
MB:
If you don't mind me asking, do you know how much time a typical painting takes you?
BB:
Oh yeah, no, I don't mind at all. So it's kind of broken down into two parts. So for anyone who's not seen my work, I will start with a single circle. I got this really fancy [circle making tool], I think it's Maker's Cabinet, beautiful brass, you know circle thing that I'll go ahead and start with that. But everything else is done freehand. So I 100% will draw everything freehand other than that initial circle, just to get my proportions somewhat started. So that's the first part. That probably takes me anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, just depending on the complexity of the watch, how many details are in it. And then the watercolor component would take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. So all in total I'm probably usually in anywhere from an hour to two hours per commission.
MB:
Now I'm sure a lot of people are going to be listening and they are going to want a? Uh, a watch portrait, um, from you. Uh, where can they find you and watch more of your?
BB:
probably the two easiest ways to get in contact with me, uh, if you want to follow along with all the different stories, instagram is probably the best bet. So, @badartnicewatch, all together, no special characters. And then, if you're interested in commission, you can either send me a message through my Instagram account or, if you'd like, you can hit my website, which is just badartnicewatch.com, and there's a commission link where you can fill in some information and I'll be happy to reach back out to you and talk to you about your watch.
MB:
I love that, so cool. Bryan, I can't thank you enough. This has been one of my favorites interviews!
Listen to the full episode here!
Check out his work on Instagram: @badartnicewatch
View his website: badartnicewatch.com