Freelance Graphic Designer and Illustrator: the Power to Create
Becca Reitz is a graphic designer and illustrator from Colorado, United States, as well as a creative director for Spirit Daughter. She talked to us about the second-guessing of the early days and the freedom she got from pushing through.
“I’ve always been interested in creative pursuits. I started drawing my dolls when I was young. My dad was a landscape architect and watching him draw was something that I always got hyped on” remembers Rebecca fondly.
Rebecca Reitz is a graphic designer and illustrator from Colorado, United States, as well as a creative director for Spirit Daughter. She works on projects ranging from embroidery for jackets that go on rappers in Chicago, to tarot decks, to coffee can packages, to logo designs.
Merging her two loves
Her early days of childhood were spent without a computer. But as the early 2000s progressed, Becca got really into solving computer problems, skinning her MySpace, learning how to code. She took a graphic arts class in high school.
It wasn’t until her freshman year of college that she thought about it as a career. “It was clear upon my first couple of weeks in school I was in the wrong space, studying general communication. I reached out to someone to ask if I could be in a program where you “create the ads not analyze them” were my exact words. The next semester I was placed into the Visual Communications program” she looks back.
It was there that she realized she could perfectly merge her two loves for art and technology, and become a graphic designer.
Stepping away from the “artist” stereotype
The path is not a traditional one. Not even in the “fine artists” kind of way. “I don’t even really consider myself an artist, in the traditional sense. There are all types of jargon and lingo that can put us in our boxes — I often consider myself a commercial designer & illustrator because most of the work I’m creating is for a client” Becca points out.
But in the evenings, for fun, she dips her toes back into being more of “that kind” of artist stereotype. Because she has this balance of design and art, she never felt like the struggle has been as intense as people make it out to be.
“I think if you want to make it work for yourself, and you can market yourself and take the time to learn how to do so, the starving artist archetype doesn’t apply”.
The societal norms to cast aside
That’s doesn’t mean that they were no obstacles to overcome. Far from it. For Becca, it was tough to “overcome societal norms and understanding that you can’t be the fastest and the most efficient and best at everything”.
She had to overcome a lot of judgment from others at the beginning. Overcome specializing or creating things that most people thought were crazy, such as tarot cards, astrology specializing, or natal charts.
“The subject matters I tend to design & illustrate oftentimes veer into the spiritual space and I was scared to show who I was, what I thought, what I wanted to draw, what I was learning”.
Luckily, after 2018, more and more people got into astrology or healing, and she got a bailout there.
The freelancer doubts
The second battle she went through was more about her career path in general. Departing from an agency job to became full-time creative freelance was a scary leap, it took a lot.
“I had always freelanced on the side so that was easy. I’m good with business, taxes, emailing, client communication, management. And in 2020 things were shaken up. While I actually had plenty of work and felt very grateful for that, I was also exhausted and on edge” Becca remembers.
Other people in their 20s were doing 20s type of stuff and she was thinking “Wait…I haven’t done anything, all I’ve done is work! So I can pay off student debt, and pay for a place to live and pay for my car. I haven’t even thought about going to Bali?! What?!”.
She had to take a good look at the situation and be honest with herself to realize that none of this was permanent.
“I can go back to freelancing or maybe I never will again. I can get a full-time job, and also I don’t have to stay at it forever. Breaking down those imaginary boundaries can be hard. We put ourselves in boxes, get hyped that we’re in the said box and can define ourselves, and then struggle to see that you can just open it up and pop on out or get back in. Choose your adventure!” she smiles
Now, she sees the creation of her own “beautiful pie-chart” of things she loves to do as her biggest accomplishment.
“I’m not defining myself as one thing. I experience all the benefits of being a full-time employee and creative director, with the freedom also to create on the side for people of my choosing. I create murals, I design websites, I create products, logos, I sell prints and do pop-ups” and the list goes on.
The freedom of finding your flow
Becca loves the diversity of her days. A lot of emailing, planning, but also sketching, writing down concepts, drawing, designing.
“Sometimes I’m laying out a book, other days I’m painting a mural, other days I’m researching logos and demographic profiles for a branding project, it really is all depending on what is on the docket as far as projects go”.
Her days are sporadic, and her schedule is hers to define. In the beginning, she found that overwhelming and anxiety-inducing. Now, she thrives in that environment
“I truly need the freedom to bop from project to project. Otherwise, I get bored easily. And burnt out. Our creativity is not a forever-flowing resource! Oftentimes, I take a break — when I’ve been drawing for days I need to shift gears to either emails/business-related tasks or more production-based work. It takes the pressure off and recreates room in my creative brain”.
Becca is happy with her flow. Her expresso/meditation morning routine, her freedom of schedule, her inspiration. As parting advice, she encouraged: “push through the discomfort. Don’t shortcut things that matter. Stay forever curious. Make sure relaxation and dreaming are balanced with a healthy dose of eagerness and motivation. Whatever that means for you”.
