Reflections on a BFA Journey

Q: Jessica, what inspired you to study illustration, and why did you decide to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree?

I have been drawing for as long as I can remember—and I have always enjoyed the process and the creativity that comes along with creating. I enjoyed art class in elementary school, and always made sure I had art as an elective in middle and high school, so of course, it only felt natural to me to pursue art school! I wanted to learn new skills and round out my current drawing style.

I decided to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree because I am always eager to learn new things and wanted to expand on what I already knew with proper guidance through a curriculum and professional artists.

Q: You’ve begun to do some professional work as a concept artist. Can you tell us about those projects and how they came about?

I recently did an internship that lasted about two and a half months for a private client when I was in the midst of rearranging my illustrations. The client was very kind and almost apologetic for bothering me when she asked for my help in creating a crochet mascot for her brand.

Because of confidentiality, I cannot yet showcase the project, but it was a huge learning experience for me. Zoom meetings with the client were very productive and brainstorming concepts, color palettes, and creating mood boards is something that I definitely want to get better at for future clients. I thought I would be stressed throughout the entire process, but I found that it ended up being extremely fun!

Q: How do you approach translating your ideas into a character or environment design?

I usually start by making sure that I understand what the client is looking for. I’m not afraid to ask questions and often encourage them to share any visual references they might have or might find that gives me more of a clearer visual of what they are looking for. I’m very big on communication so I always press upon my client to reach out to me as soon as possible through Zoom or email if they need any changes, adjustments, or just want to go over the concepts or any further ideas that they want to share with me.

Once we have communicated on a direction and established a plan, I take the client’s references and create several rough concepts and thumbnails. I try to focus on exploring different ideas and silhouettes rather than making everything tidy and perfect. I want my clients to be able to have a change to react early to the designs I share with them in the event that if changes need to be made during the sketching phase, it is easier to accommodate those adjustments rather than after the design has been rendered. Developing details such as a character’s silhouette, color palette and clothing tend to also be something I add onto my sketching phase to give the client more of a choice in deciding what they like or do not like during the sketching phase.

I love sharing my progress throughout the process and always welcome feedback. Clear communication is very important, as I mentioned earlier, so if something does not make sense to me, I do ask a lot of follow up questions. My goal is to create a design that always matches the client’s vision while also bringing in my own creative input and making the final results feel polished and useful.

Q: Looking back to when you entered the program, where have you experienced the most growth in your skills?

I think that I have definitely seen growth in my drawing style. Instead trying to draw like other artists, I just need to draw like myself! In telling myself that, my style has adapted and fallen into how I enjoy light sketching versus full color and rendering. This has also helped tremendously with learning how to take my traditional pencil and paper medium and transferring it to digital software like Adobe Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint.

It is still a bit of a learning curve, but I am determined to be more proficient with it. I also have seen some growth in terms of communication! As an introvert, I am better at writing out my thoughts and what I want to say versus verbally communicating them. However, with my recent client that I had for my internship, I have learned to slow down when speaking so that what I am explaining is clear and understandable.

Q: What has been the biggest turning point or breakthrough in your development?

I would have to say that the biggest turning point or breakthrough in my creative development would have to be not only my art style, but also the direction I want to take in my future illustration career. I was always worried about trying to develop my art-style by trying to draw like other artists that I have admired for years such as Yoshitaka Amano and Yoneyama Mai, instead of just trying to improve my artistic abilities by just drawing like myself!

That type of mindset really clicked probably within the last year or so and helped me discover that I want to be a concept artist while originally I had wanted to just be a character designer. While I still have a lot of polishing to do, I see a very huge difference in when I was a student pursuing an Undergraduate Certificate to being a student who is now obtaining their BFA in Illustration.

Q: You’ve balanced freelancing alongside your online BFA coursework. Any advice for new students starting out?

The asynchronous, online format has helped a lot! While there have been weeks where I have had to cram a few assignments in alongside working on a private client commission, I have always been able to get things turned in on time and re-submit them if I missed a critical piece of an assignment with no issues.

New students should not be afraid to ask questions! The professors and advisors are all very patient and go above and beyond in making sure that their students understand what is expected of them. They will always do their best to help you to the best of their ability.

You can find Jessica’s work at https://jessieart.carrd.co.  Visit sessions.edu for more information on our Illustration programs, including Bachelor’s Degree, Associate Degree and Undergraduate Certificate programs.