We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Erika Flores. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Erika below.

Alright, Erika thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I have always viewed art and my work as more than an aesthetic practice. To be a creative is to have the tools to share meaningful stories that empower and positively impact communities.

I tend to gravitate towards projects that are meaningful and holds values and stories that go beyond just aesthetics or profit-making. This is why I try to be intentional when it comes to choosing which clients – whether it be individuals or brands. I like to work with clients that share the same values as me in terms of telling a meaningful and impactful story through artwork, and action-oriented brands that want to use this artwork as a message or means to provide support and empowerment to their communities.

For example, I’ve worked with on meaningful projects with brands such as Nike and WNBA where I designed over 30+ illustrations for the first WNBA game in Canadian history, and designed the illustrations to celebrate the growth of the women’s game. Or projects such as my last two Pride Month and Indigenous History Month commissions with SpinCO Toronto where I hand-painted a basketball planter that would be donated in order to have proceeds go to inclusive mental health resources for marginalized communities – most especially those belonging to BIPOC and LGTBQ+ communities.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

1. How you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc I have always been naturally inclined towards creativity and expressing that through various forms of art, especially writing, illustration, and painting. As well, growing up with immigrant parents who are engineers starting off in Canada, my family was always looking for ways to do or make things in a cost-efficient way. And this usually meant a lot of DIY.

So naturally, as someone who was raised in a DIY environment and always had a natural inclination towards creativity, when my friend asked me to do the calligraphy for her wedding, I was happy to take on the challenge learn how to do it (without any prior experience).

While doing my research and learning the craft through this experience, I realized that there was a whole industry and community out there for calligraphers. So I began an instagram page, originally to document my progress with calligraphy, but it eventually grew into something more as I shared my other creative expressions (such as illustrations, my paintings, etc) and eventually people began to ask to pay me for my creative services. INKSCRPT was then born into a creative business service!

2. What type of products/services/creative works you provide?
I provide illustration and calligraphy services to brands and small businesses, and as well as individuals for personal use. I also own and run an Etsy shop (@INKSCRPT). My most popular service is digital illustration (that I have been commissioned by brands such as Nike and WNBA, as well as CBC Toronto) and my most popular Etsy product is the custom acrylic glass line art portrait (which was featured on Buzzfeed and CityTV’s the Social).

3. What problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others?
For all my clients, especially for brands and small business, my approach to illustration and design is beyond aesthetics but rather incorporates creative storytelling through a personalized touch. With brands especially, my illustrations and live artist event offers such as live engraving and live calligraphy has become a solution for businesses to launch a brand activation for their event or a new product. Or a way for businesses to include artwork on their products (e.g. labels, menus, art prints that come with purchased products) in a way that tells their brand story and values.

My work engages and attracts new and repeating customers at events or through products, and creates a fun and exciting way for everyone to participate and engage with the brand through art!

For example, I was the live engraving artist for the Verrelune and Monday Girl TO collaboration launch held at the Soho House Toronto location, where I live hand-engraved personalized names or short messages on over 40+ candles from people who purchased.

I also designed the illustrations for the BRWN Collective candle labels, which attracted Indigo to ask my client (BRWN Collective) if they would like to sell her candles at Indigo stores all over Canada til this day!

4. What are you most proud of?
I am most proud of working with brands and clients that have shared values as me, and also seeing the impact my work has on people and the community. I have always viewed my creative work as a storytelling tool that goes beyond the visual aesthetics of art and is something that I hope resonates with the audience and makes a positive impact.

Whether it be working with SpinCO Toronto, where I hand-painted a basketball planter that would be donated in order to have proceeds go to inclusive mental health resources for marginalized communities, for Pride Month / Indigenous History Month. Or designing inclusive and diverse women figures for the BRWN Collective candle labels (now sold in Indigeo stores), so that many women of different cultures and backgrounds could hopefully see themselves in these illustrations. I am just really proud and grateful to have the opportunity to create representation and share the stories of many communities through my artwork!

5. What are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.?
The main things I want people to know about my work is that I have always viewed my creative work as a storytelling tool that goes beyond the visual aesthetics of art and is something that I hope resonates with the audience and makes a positive impact.

I only hope that when people see my work, they feel a sense of warmth and peace that comes with resonating with a story that helps them feel seen and heard.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the connections I’ve been able to make with others, whether it be past and present friends / loved ones, or the community, and seeing how diverse audiences resonate with my work and the impact it has on so many different communities.

For instance, I worked on a commission for Nike and WNBA where I designed and created over 30+ illustrations that were to be heat-pressed onto Nike apparel as part of a brand activation at Footlocker in celebration of the first ever WNBA game in Canadian history. I was approached by multiple people thanking me for adding an illustration of a woman baller with a hijab, as well as adding an illustration of a Nike swoosh with the Philippines flag sun (the country I am from). The gratitude and genuine joy I saw on people’s faces when I saw what my illustrations meant to them truly humbled me. It was my biggest honour and privilege to do be able to be a part of something that I felt goes beyond art, and that to me is one of the most rewarding experiences of being a creative.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was the misconception that being passionate should be your main and primary drive for pursuing a creative endeavour (or any endeavour) as your livelihood/career. There is a common misconception that being an artist requires only passion as your drive, and that if you’re passionate about your work then “your work doesn’t feel like work”. Although I was fully aware of the hard work and effort that would have to come with pursuing an artistic career, I still had to let go of the expectation that I had to always feel passionate and inspired about my creative work. This is because I had low moments where I’d experience creative block (similar to writer’s block) where I could not find inspiration or a drive to being to articulate my ideas and thoughts into creative action. This drove me to feelings of guilt and loss of worth as creative, because if I am not creating, if I am not passionate about what I am doing, then do I lose my worth as an artist?

I learned to unlearned this mentality as I began to realize that when you pursue creative work as a career – meaning, to make profits and a livelihood out of it – it is still WORK. Meaning, that it will not always be a joyful and passionate experience. There will be moments where the work feels dull and difficult to do, while other moments when it feels beautiful. It’s the reality that comes with owning a business and working for yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.inkscrpt.com
• Instagram: @inkscrpt
• Youtube: INKSCRPT
• Other: Also on pinterest and TikTok: @inkscrpt

Image Credits
Image credits: Muad Issa (Canada Basketball), Alishah Photography, Eric Black