SMOENOVA.
personal profile / this is me
Hello Friends and Followers!
You want some sidefacts about this "Graffiti Youtuber" from Germany:
My name is SMOENOVA aka. Andreas Plautz, I am 37 years old, and I obviously love painting.
Ever since I loved painting and since I was 16 years old I knew, that I want to be a professional artist one day. A professional graffiti artist. What ever this means.
I drew my first comics before I went to school, I was into monsters, super heroes and machines. Creating new worlds on the paper was always magical to me.
And then suddenly these letters came into my life...
​
But let´s go through my bio in a chronological order:
Bio
2001
First spray paint
2004
Marien Gymnasium Warendorf
When I bought my first spray cans in a local hardware store, I felt like Harry Potter choosing his magic wand. This moment in 2001 is the starting point of my career. For 2 years I was already sketching on paper, and now the time has come for my first wall... (yes it was my kids room, yes it looked terrible, but nobody starts as a pro.)
​
I finished highschool and wanted to study arts, but as I was the first person in the family who wanted to become a professional artist, of course my parents were concerned, that I will be a loser that will never be able to make enough money to survive. So they convinced me to become a tool maker first, (like everyone else in family) After 13 years of school, 3,5 more years of bullshit will not kill me.
​
2005
First own legal wall
During the time as a toolmaker i wanted to get an own wall in my hometown, so that I can paint faster without any travelling to other cities. Finally a company agreed, I had my first own painting spot in public and Warendorf had it´s first graffiti wall. Many people stopped and took some minutes to watch me paint. Some people even asked me to paint their kids room or their garage door! Nearly every time I painted some graffiti to this wall, I was able to get some commissions. I remember how my mother helped me, to create my first business cards back then. I felt like a genius, because I had a pretty expansive hobby, and I was even able to make enough money that this hobby was completely for free.
​
​
2004 -2007
Apprenticeship
The time in the factory, drilling, milling, welding - it was annoying me as hell. Because of my good grades in school the boss allowed me to shorten my apprenticeship to only three years. I got already so many commissions in my free time at the weekends and afternoons, that I officially became a full time artists right after the apprenticeship.
​
2007 - today
Full time artist
Since 2007 I make a living from commissioned artworks. It was not always easy, but I made it, because I never took a rest. If I got no commissions I went out to paint free walls to make advertising for myself. I take all my working time and nearly all my free time to paint and make advertising for my art.
​
2008 - 2012
Münster School of Design
I was already working as a commissioned artist, but I wanted to learn photoshop and all this digital stuff - so I went back to the "learning at the morning and earning at the afternoons and weekends" - schedule. After 8 semesters I finished my studies as a Bachelor of Arts in Designs. I missed most of the Parties, but I was able to pay for all expanses on my own. Ever since I took care to be independent.
​
2015-2016
Exhibitions
I still wanted to become a free artist, who paints what ever he likes and makes a living from it, that was my plan. So I made some pretty unsuccessful exhibitions and after the third exhibition with only 2 sold artworks in total I noticed that I just can´t afford it. I needed to find a smarter way to show my art to an audience that cares about graffiti and my style... sadly in my hometown nobody cared about these letters back then.
2016 - today
Youtube
After 8 years of commissioned art, illustration jobs, painting garage doors, electricity boxes, kids rooms, I felt like, this can`t be the solution for my life. So I started a youtube channel to show to the world, what I am doing here. I wanted to be able to paint more graffiti letters and hopefully be able to generate an income through my real passion. Maybe after 15 years of trying different things I finally found a key to my dream.
​
2020-today
Montana Cans
As my channel grew and more and more people saw me painting, I was able to get my first sponsoring. Since 2020 Montana Cans helps me out with free cans to support my activities on youtube.
​
2020
Influencer Award
The jury of the German Influencer Award chose me as the most influential German artist on Instagram in the category of Micro Influencers (below 100K)
​​
2021
Youtube Play Button
For passing 100K subscribers on Youtube i got the silver Play Button.
2022
Factory
Besides permissions for different bridges and walls, now I got the keys for a whole abandoned factory, where i can paint whatever I want and make interesting youtube videos.
​
Smoe last words
I know this bio is just a short version, and of course there is so much missing.
To get to the point where I can say, that I can fill the fridge for my wife and 3 kids (9,8 & 3) is something that makes me incredibly proud. I stand on both feet as an artist since 2007. Being independent was always goal number one. I painted the weirdest stuff, the craziest commissions, just to say one day, that I did everything to get to this point and never be a loser artist, who can not make it. On this long way since 2001 I painted more than 700 commissions, sold already more than 350 prints and original artworks on canvas to a world wide audience, I painted in several different countries.. More than 150 youtube videos all together reached already 15.000.000 views. It is crazy, and it takes a whole life of a 37 years old, to manage all this projects. Many times on this way it was more than critical - but I never gave up. Especially when the kids were small and we lived in a 2 rooms apartment... but this is another story. The love and passion for painting always kept me going... and always will.
​
Thanks a lot for your interest.
​
I really appreciate every single person out there who is interested in my art. Big up from Germany!