Meet Ceez Cerulean | Founder and artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ceez Cerulean and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ceez, why did you pursue a creative career?
The interesting thing is that my journey into the 3D printing world came on a simple whim one day. I’ve been in the pharmacy industry for most of my adult life which is the complete opposite of what I do with CryptoCreations as one can imagine.

I remember as a kid and teen, I was very much into drawing, painting and designing. I’d spend endless hours and days just creating and getting into “the zone.” When I turned 18, I kind of had to let it go and pick a major in college in which I could “make more money.” Well, that didn’t pan out ultimately and I just had to get a job to make ends meet.

I always yearned to start drawing again but life of course always has a way of pulling you in all directions and I found myself just blending into the daily grind for well over a decade. Pharmacy provided me with financial stability but there was always that creative itch that eluded me and stuck in the back of my mind. Fast forward to April 2021 and still very much in the middle of a global pandemic, I finally decided to tap into my artistic side again.

One day while scrolling on Amazon trying to decide what I should get into; I saw an ad for a Creality Ender 3 Pro randomly. Knowing next to nothing on the subject, I decided to YOLO into buying one especially when I saw how relatively inexpensive the printer was. I was excited to start building my first printer and see what I can do with it. After cursing more than I’d like to in constructing the Ender, I peeled my first fresh print off the heated bed and to my surprise it came out great. I was immediately floored by the endless possibilities of what I could create with the little printer, some code, filament and imagination. This became a new passion very quickly for me and the idea of turning my ideas into a business came very naturally.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art is mainly focused on helping bring people’s ideas to life through the magic of 3D printing. Since I started learning and expanding our services over the last year and half, I have absorbed many new skills and am always excited to try new things and challenge myself. What makes CryptoCreations special from other creators and businesses is that we will work with you to create something truly special and custom to meet and exceed the client’s needs. No idea is too niche for us to take on and we aim to be a one stop shop for client’s ideas from concept to the final result.

I got to where I’m at as an artist by simple trial and error. It was quite a process in the beginning to learn so many things at once but in a way, I lived in the chaos of it all because I truly enjoyed what I was doing. There’s nothing like the rush of starting a print and watching that first layer get set and it being a success because it’s (usually) smooth sailing from there. The satisfaction of when a print completes is very cathartic. On the flipside when a print fails, it can be devastating especially when you are say 10 hours in but guess what, you can go back to the drawing board as they say and try again. Everything has a solution, you just have to find it.

Many times I’ve thought to myself “man, you are waaaay over your head in this.” But the mantra of “practice makes perfect” is a classic for a reason and I have stuck through it all and I owe my success to persistence. Right now, my biggest challenge is trying to balance my work on CryptoCreations with my still full-time job in the pharmacy world. My goal is to continue to build an online community and set up pop up shops early next year to better network and connect with the community. I also want to educate anyone who is interested in my line of work especially youth. With a lot of hard work and hopefully some luck, I cross my fingers and hope I can quit my day job and dedicate myself to CryptoCreations full-time to bring all my visions to fruition.

I’m excited to be able to offer all these wonderful services to the people of San Diego. Being such an amazing city full of different communities and cultures, I feel like 3D printing can definitely help bring new ideas and creativity when it comes to art and even everyday use cases. Think about it, we have experience in printing models of your favorite anime characters with high resolution resins. We can print props and large items for cosplay using PLA+ filament. 3D printing allows us to print squishy toys for toddlers in a few hours using TPU filament. Cat jumped up on the counter and swatted down a vase? A new one can be printed in a couple hours out of a durable filament such as PETG. Jewelry, lithophanes, decorative pieces, I can on and on about what can be created. The possibilities are literally endless. Can you see why I’m excited about this industry and how CryptoCreations will play a part in it all based in San Diego? This is only quite literally the very beginning for us.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a born, raised and still here despite the ridiculous cost of living San Diegan, so I’d like to think I know the city pretty well. Great thing about us is that EVERYTHING you could want to do is within a short trip. Beach visits are pretty much mandatory so I’d personally pick spots in Coronado and La Jolla especially the “La Jolla Cove.” One of my favorite places to visit often is “Balboa Park” because it’s central to everything and has so much to offer. A cool night’s stroll over the Cabrillo Bridge always sets my mind at ease and really helps give me perspective. Can’t forget our world famous “San Diego Zoo” which is literally within walking distance and all the museums and attractions that are throughout our wonderful zip codes.

This may be the part where I lose the reader but I’m actually Vegan (not the preachy kind.) If anyone is plant based curious, San Diego is very Vegan friendly and its much appreciated. All the types of cuisines are well represented if you know where to look and I’d love to give a few recommendations if you’re open to it.

Being Hispanic, I love muh tacos. The great thing is never had to give anything up fully because of amazing places like this restaurant named “Tacotarian” located in the North Park area. They seriously have it down and you can’t tell the difference with the flavors, textures and condiments. Give them a try! I also love me some Vietnamese food and to satisfy that craving, I can’t recommend enough “Thanh Tinh Chay Restaurant” on El Cajon Blvd. Once again 100% Vegan, 100% delicious and they have an amazing variety of delectable options. I love to support small business in SD as much as possible and I hope you do too. Please give them your patronage to help support! Thank you for your consideration in trying something new (:

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Honestly, I was surprised how little people around me knew about 3D printing. I guess in a lot ways people still see the industry through a sci-fi lens and something futuristic. It’s actually become very user friendly and accessible especially the last few years.

With that being said, I didn’t really have someone to learn from in person. Plus I’m also very stubborn and like to take the “I’ll figure it out on my own” approach. So like a lot of self-directed people that want to learn new things these days, I turned to YouTube for guidance. I was drawn to quite a few content creators since I had to learn many different trades pretty much consecutively.

I’d like to shoutout channels such as: “3D Printing Nerd”, “Zack Freedman” and “Uncle Jessy” for anything 3D printing related. All three have their own styles of teaching and I appreciate their humorous/entertaining approach to everything. Airbrushing is very hands on and I very much fell in love with the art of it and for that I have “Miniac” to thank. Such a cool dude and very talented. When I decided to try my hand at sculpting in Zbrush and designing basic shapes in TinkerCAD, I turned to tutorials from “Pixologic ZBrush” themselves and “FlippedNormals.” Sculpting feeds my artistic hunger the most as it’s essentially working with “digital clay” as they say. I still very much consider myself a novice in in these different crafts but I’ll never stop trying new things, failing and learning. The only way to get better is to try and try again. Never stop being a perpetual student.

Website: https://cryptocreations.io/

Instagram: CryptoCreations.io

Twitter: @CCreationsIO

Youtube: CryptoCreationsIO

Other: TikTok: @cryptocreations.io Email for any inquires: contact@cryptocreations.io

Image Credits
All pictures were taken by myself. If you need any other information, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Thank you! -Ceez