‘Sold out in 8 minutes’: Christchurch artist turns love for art into booming business

Saturday, 3 February 2024

If your idea of an artist is a scatterbrained creative with an amazing imagination but no idea how to run a business, you probably haven’t met Ellie Compton.

A trained architect, professional artist and business owner - Compton is crushing the “starving artist stereotype”.

“The whole stereotype that artists can’t earn a good living really frustrates me, because when the world of business is paired with creativity, it has huge potential to impact and change people’s lives,” says Compton, the owner and artist behind Christchurch-based art studio Maker of Chaos.

Compton, 31, was born in Blenheim but raised in Christchurch and says the Garden City is the place she calls home.

She knew she wanted to become an architect from a young age, and after finishing school she moved to Wellington to complete her architectural studies and start working in the industry.

In 2016 she was chosen as a finalist in the Parkin Drawing Prize and says she was blown away when her entry was sold on opening night. “That was when I was like, ok, maybe I could do something with this.”

Thanks to word-of-mouth she started doing custom artworks for clients and soon other opportunities popped up, like being chosen to create artwork for the QT Wellington hotel.

“About three years ago, I decided I needed to either get my architect registration or take [my art career] full-time. I decided to give it a go and three years down the road, I’ve created a great business out of it.”

Giving up a solid career with a stable salary to pursue life as a professional artist might seem risky, but for Compton it was a calculated risk. She discussed the idea with her partner, weighed up the financial side of it, and had the support of her boss who was more than willing to have her back if she wanted.

“I knew I had drive and was not shy of hard work, so I knew I could potentially accelerate my career if I went for it. It could also go down the toilet, but I knew if I didn’t give this a hundred per cent for some time I would never know what a hundred per cent could be.”

And the risk paid off. Since she started up Maker of Chaos, Compton has tripled her art sales, done work for international clients, started selling limited edition prints of her work, and has seen her latest round of bookings for custom artworks sell out within a mind-boggling 8 minutes.

“I feel so humbled and I always wish I could do more.”

She decided on the name Maker of Chaos after hearing a few people describe her detailed and layered art as chaotic. “While the word might sound negative, I wanted to spin it into a positive one. Because yes, our lives are chaotic and when you tell someone’s life story in an artwork, it is going to be chaotic. And I loved that I was kind of the maker of this chaos.”

She believes her experience in the corporate world gave her a lot of the skills she now uses to build a successful career as an artist, such as presenting herself in a professional and polished way, pitching projects to new clients successfully, and managing an effective social media presence.

She spends about 60% of her time working on her art and the remaining 40% running her business. “That includes social media marketing, documenting the art process, working on packaging, pitching to potential clients, and keeping an eye out for opportunities for collaborations.”

Beyond running a successful business, Compton is passionate about telling people’s stories through her art.

When creating a custom artwork, the client shares their life story - the big and the small events, the happy and sad moments - and Compton creates an artwork down to the finest detail that illustrates their life. “It is a time capsule that brings together the most important parts of you, forever.”

She says there are often tears when she hands someone their custom artwork and they see their whole life inked onto a page. “I think it is because people don’t realise how awesome their lives are until they see it in front of them. It gives them a chance to stop and to realise, wow, I’ve actually done a lot.”

Compton will soon be installing a mural at the offices of WellingtonNZ, is busy designing a mural for a company in London, and is in discussion about designing a book cover for a client in New York. She has also recently been signed with IllustrationX, a global agency that represents artists and illustrators from across the world.

“It is all very busy and very exciting, but I try to have fun amongst it all!”