PUYALLUP, Wash. — When COVID-19 shut down schools, Jaiden Stipp decided to play with his most recent Christmas gift, The Adobe Suite.
He used the software to make graphics and logos; and eventually moved on to creating colorful characters.
When he put one up for sale on the web, he never expected what happened next.
The art was bid up to 30 thousand dollars!
"It was crazy," Jaiden said. "My parents were freaking out. My dad said 'these are fake bids. You can't be getting that much.'"
"His dad and I were like, 'This can't be actual money they are giving him for his art, much less the amount they are paying for it.' Not until it hit the bank account did I think, 'oh my God, this is a different world,'" explained Tracie Stipp, Jaiden's mother.
And in this world, Jaiden is known as Jasti!
Jasti has gone on to sell hundreds of digital art pieces worth close to a million dollars.
"I was just happy he had found an artistic outlet," his mom Tracie shared. "But then, wow this is going where I never thought it would be."
In addition to his digital art, Jaiden is now doing more painting. Some of the designs are so intricate, they can take months to complete.
In the last year, he was asked to paint a Ferrari in Miami and a mural in Los Angeles.
"I don't think anyone should call it crypto art. It's just art. People like to separate it and say it isn't real," Jasti explained. "It's just a new way artists are getting themselves out there."
The 16 year old is hoping to one day have his own art space and to make this a long term career.
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