How and why am I a Graphic Designer - Story time!

Hi everyone!

Another quarter of the year has passed, blog-less. I'm really going to try and change that habit, and do more creative things that feel good. Writing about my life and current projects is one of those things. 

I want to write about my Day Job today. My J.O.B. My 9-5. If you follow me here and not in real-life, you may just know me as a muralist/art teacher type. But I am also a Graphic Designer. This is the story of how I became one.

Looking back at my life, as soon as I discovered that you could create art in digital spaces as well as traditional analog ones, I was IN TO IT. When I was a kid, I would get on our little box-y black and white mac computer so that I could play Kid Pix, and drag around those digital brushes that would paint different patterns onto a blank canvas. It was so fascinating to me. I was a teenager in high school when I began (wildly... WILDLY) experimenting with Photoshop. I made a fake magazine about the pop-metal and alternative rock bands I was into at the time - complete with multi-page articles and music reviews (written by yours truly) and ads for fake products. All in Photoshop, with roughly 1 MILLION layers (cringe). As an angsty 16 year old, it was my digital masterpiece. In college, I took a few introductory graphic design and pre-press courses where I learned layout softwares like Quark Express and InDesign. I took a digital illustration class which opened my eyes to the complex world of Adobe Illustrator (and the pen tool I dreaded so much) and Corel Painter. It was incredible to me to be able to zoom in 200% and correct such tiny details in a piece of art. It was magic.

Despite all of that early interest, Graphic design was something I came to fairly recently in my life. A few years ago, after growing tired of the less-than-lucrative hustle of freelance and short teaching contracts, I came to Graphic Design in pursuit of a "safety net" during a move to the Big City. I viewed Design as a creative, yet reliable means to support my life and side business as a muralist. It was a practical and deliberate decision, satisfying my Taurus need for some desperately-needed stability. 

Being a Taurus also means I am stubborn, strong-willed and independent. Those traits have been both strengths and weaknesses in my life. Looking back, I think they kept me from pursuing this career as a younger adult. See, my Dad was a Graphic Designer. In college, I didn't even see that path as an option. I wanted to explore a path that was fiercely, uniquely, MINE. I chose my college major quickly, and stuck to it: Illustration with an Emphasis in Animation. I liked the idea of working at a Pixar-type studio, and making character designs and backgrounds (everything BESIDES actually animating, which I soon discovered I did not have the patience or passion for.) After graduating college, I put those plans on hold and joined the Peace Corps.

Peace Corps consumed my life for a good 3+ years. I was only actually living in Madagascar as a Peace Corps Volunteer for a total of 27 months, but a forced evacuation paused my service for 9 months of chilling on my parent's couch. I then went back to complete year 2 of my service. After coming home finally, I found myself reeling mentally and emotionally with the struggle of re-entry to life in the U.S. But I needed cash. Immediately. I went back into food service (sigh). I then worked my way into a sort-of-kind-of-regular job contracting at different K-12 schools, teaching kids art and making murals with them as an Artist-in-Residence, with commissioned mural jobs on the side. I took stock of my career goals and did some deep soul-searching. I reached out to a former professor for advice, and learned I needed to narrow my focus. Trying to keep ALL of the doors open, was preventing me from walking through any of them. I made a pro/con list, and a priority matrix (a tool I learned in Peace Corps. Need to decide something? See p. 43 of this document.) I entered so many interests and options into the matrix: Illustrator, Muralist, Tattoo artist, etc. Graphic Designer? Still not one of them. I decided that being a Muralist was what I really wanted to focus on. That hustle was HARD for me, and I soon realized I could not support myself that way full time, in that size town. So, a move! And then to facilitate that move, a job! What kind of creative job could be so "normal" that I would have it by the time I arrived in the city? Graphic Design finally appeared in a real way. 

I spent a few months refreshing and re-learning design skills and software I hadn't used since college. I watched hours of online tutorials and made myself a little web portfolio. That finally landed me an entry-level design job at a non-profit in Portland. From there I moved into the private sector, and now I've landed in the public sector. Working as an in-house designer has lead me to learn in-depth about industries I never would have otherwise: religious private school, fitness facilities, "green" and "eco" conference and event planning, aviation data sales, and now, criminal justice and community supervision and treatment. I have learned to code a bit, and so many new tools and programs. Graphic Design has lead me places I never would have imagined for myself. And I still have my other love on the side - murals. It's so satisfying to be able to pick up a brush, after days of clicking a mouse. It's the same creative drive - the same language, but a different dialect. 

Now that I'm in my 30's and doing this work, I realize that Design was always something I loved. Like that Taylor Swift song about her unrequited love story. Graphic Design was always there waiting for me, she just needed me to grow up and into myself a little more. Thanks Dad, for the genes. 

My Dad's book of Pantone swatches from the 1970's.
I have it on my desk at work as a reminder of where I came from.

xoxo, Corie

Life update

Umm, wow. My last post was September 4th. Whoops! A quick little life update might be in order. And then I promise a few new kids art lessons are coming very soon, too!

Sooo how to summarize that last 3 months. Since getting back from Madagascar, Ive basically been job-searching, and here's why. While it would be my ultimate ideal to have 50% of my job be teaching kids art, and 50% of my job be painting murals for clients, at this point in my life, I've decided to pursue other paths to meet the same ultimate end-goal: being a full-time creative who gets paid to do creative things. I always hear that you should never, ever "give up on your dreams" and that you should "follow your bliss" and all of that. And in art school, you tend to hear a lot of "don't EVER sell out....man." I would say that one year ago, I was working really, really, hard at making that 50/50 Teacher/Muralist goal work out. And I still want it to happen, maybe someday. So what's changed and why am I job-searching?  I don't know how to put it any other way, other than my biological clock is ticking louder than ever. Ha! I know that at 28, I've still got plenty of time to make that happen. But, I guess I'm just realizing that I CAN still be paid to use my brain and creative energy, and also provide for a kiddo someday.... and have health insurance! As liberating as freelancing is, it wears on you. A stable, reliable paycheck would not be so bad. As fun as it is to work in a lot of different schools for a short amount of time (love the variety and changes of scenery), that wears on me, too. I'm ready for co-workers and a "work-family" that I can get to know, without having to leave them a few weeks later every time. The direction I decided to really pursue, is graphic design. Since learning Photoshop in my high school newspaper class, I've enjoyed the "techie" side of art. I like playing around with fonts and color palettes and arranging content so that it's visually pleasing. I've always made my own business cards and brochures and designed my own websites. That stuff is really fun for me. I didn't really think about bringing it to the forefront until pretty recently. I've done a little freelance work making logos, and the rush I felt, knowing my logo would be all over their printed materials and scrubs and street sign, was awesome.  This is a viable option for me, I realized. I think this will make me happy, too.  What it really boils down to, is that I am an artist who just likes the process of making art, in many different forms. I actually find I am MORE creative when given a set of constraints from a client, rather than creating something out of thin air for myself that can be anything I want it to be in the whole world.  I actually like being a commercial artist. Rarely have my mural projects been 100% concepts that I would choose myself for my own home..... but that's the whole point! My job is to get inside my clients' head and find out exactly what they might not even know they want. And then I make it for them, and it makes them happy. Whether I'm making that thing they want with paint or with a computer mouse, I think it would still be similarly satisfying for me. While that doesn't work for every artist, it works for me.  I'll never, ever stop loving the feeling of pushing paint around a canvas or wall, and if I get a full-time graphic design job, that doesn't mean I'll stop painting. But I won't have the added pressure of having that painting be something that has to make me money. That thought is incredibly liberating. So while it may seem that by working for an employer I will be giving up my freedom, it's actually gaining me a bunch of it, too.  So that's where I am right now... in the midst of job-searching madness, but still teaching and being a design intern at a local company in the meantime. Hoping to have something nailed down soon, but for now, staying busy, having fun, making stuff.

Stay tuned... next post will be more colorful, I promise ;)

- Corie

Art Career Rambling....

So I'm by no means already "making it" as a full-time artist.  I haven't yet "arrived" at the place I want to be with my career.  But, I can say that the last couple months have been busy as hell, and when I pull myself out of my art-cave to take a breather, I realize "hey, I'm not a Barista anymore, and I'm keeping a full schedule on making murals and teaching art!"  I am my own Boss.  That, to me, is an incredible personal victory.  Even though this insane busy-ness has only lasted for a couple months, I'm trying to keep the momentum going and the dream alive and well fed.  I know there will be slower times where I'm not working as much, and times that are even busier than the last month.  I repeat, by no means am I already THERE, but it feels amazing (if it's not too cheesy and cliche to say this...) to know that I am following my heart.   I feel I am on the right path, putting one foot in front of the other.  Along the way,  I think it's important to stop and look around every once in awhile, and appreciate where I've been able to get to thus far.  In this economy, a person is lucky to have a job that keeps food on their table.  I'm lucky enough to be in a situation where I was able to actually pursue my passion, and go to school to study it.  And now, I am in a situation where I don't have any huge debts, child care costs, or bad mortgages keeping me from taking the giant leap to ACTUALLY TRY.  I am actually trying really, really hard.  I'm trying to build a life for myself where I will be happy and fulfilled in my work that I do for a living.  I figure, it will be OK if I fail and have to move onto something else, as long as I know I tried as hard as I could to make my #1 first choice career happen for myself.  Because why not?  If you're in a creative field, check out this article on goal-setting to make your career happen.  It's baby steps.  It's knowing where you want to go, and putting one foot in front of the other until you get there.  Good luck to us all!