Creatives making a living — Illustrator Chelsea Charles [Interview]

How Chelsea Charles is carving out a lane for herself in illustrations.

You might have seen Chelsea’s work in the latest articles of The Walrus, Zora and ESPN or on the cover of recent fictional release, The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones. Residing in Brampton, Ontario, Chelsea uses a combination of digital and traditional mediums to create these click-worthy pieces.

Why Illustration?

I know it sounds cliche but I’ve kind of always been drawing since I was a kid. I’ve always seen myself becoming an artist so I decided to pursue that as a career.

I liked that you can create your own world. I always felt through drawing that it could be an outlet for me. I mean, I tried photography and it didn’t really work for me in terms of capturing certain feelings or thoughts that I have. It was always through drawing that I could release emotions.

What is your creation style — moody artist or more regimented?

I would say it’s a bit of both. What got me to stick with drawing was my experience in middle school. I went through depression and I was bullied a lot. So I used my drawing as a way to escape from all of that.

So sometimes when I am feeling that way, I draw. Whenever I come up with an idea or see something cool, I just draw.

What has been your toughest obstacle in being a full-time creative?

For me it’s been self doubt. That imposter syndrome. Just being on social media too, you kind of start comparing your work to other creator’s and I found myself doing that a lot. So that’s probably been the biggest challenge for me. It’s kind of finding that happy medium between being able to post online and not being too consumed by what I see. So that’s why I schedule my time on social media. On my phone, I have a time limit so that I am not scrolling for hours. I’m only on it when I need to be.

I also had a lot of self doubt coming out of college because I would see my peers getting jobs and I wasn’t really getting anything at the time. In the beginning of me freelancing, I never thought that I would illustrate a book cover and I was finally able to do that last year. So my advice is just to keep going, keep practicing and it sounds cliche but to stay positive throughout it all. You never know what can happen and when things can change.

Advice on how to get your work noticed?

For me, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot of my jobs through previous jobs that I’ve done; through word of mouth. So that exposure has helped me.

So I’d say to put your work out there — whether it be through a website or social media. Marketing yourself through Instagram, Twitter and also simply networking. I had to teach myself to do social media because I was pretty lazy with keeping a schedule to post on certain days. Now I’ve created a bit more of a routine. Like if I have a new job, I post that with all of the proper hashtags. I used to find that overwhelming, but I have a bit of a routine now.

I also found that creating social media challenges for myself is helpful in building a routine and getting my work noticed. A bit earlier this year, I decided that I would post daily. I’d post certain black or POC actors and singers every day for a month. Through that challenge it’d create a bit of engagement for my followers and it also helped me gain new and different followers. So that’s another strategy that I sometimes use. I will post work I’ve created outside of my freelance projects, so that people get a sense of all the different styles of work I create.

CRY

For more of Chelsea, follow her on Instagram or visit her website.