We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shelley Hanmo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shelley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Creating paper collage art was a side hobby of mine for many years. I remember that my childhood was filled with museum trips, art magazine readings, and weekly watercolor classes. Though I eventually decided to focus on my music studies, my interest in artistic things never left me. Over the years, I kept practicing art whenever I had free time. Making a hand-made paper collage greeting card, designing a fun bookmark, or painting some Christmas ornaments became my go-to hobby. However, I never really thought that one day I would pursue an artistic path professionally. It all happened by chance during the Covid pandemic. At the start of 2020, I was freshly out of school. Instead of landing a dream job, I was stuck at home, uncertain of what I could do. Everything shut down indefinitely during the spring of 2020, and the only option at the time for me was to make art and share them on my social media platform. As a person who loves taking on new challenges, I saw it as an opportunity to learn new skills. So I decided to get better at making collage art. During the following months after my decision, I took some online art courses and learned how to use Photoshop and other creative tools to enhance my artistic technique. It was a period of learning and exploring new possibilities. The exploration of techniques and learning led to a turning point because I realized that I stumbled upon something special to me. Though I didn’t quite pinpoint exactly what type of art I wanted to pursue just yet, I knew I had to keep on going in order to discover my artistic calling.

In the following year, I was contacted by an author to illustrate a self-published children’s picture book. I had never illustrated a children’s book before then, but I immediately said yes to this challenge. During the months I illustrated the book, I started to uncover the magic of children’s book illustration, and quickly fell in love with this storytelling art form. I was learning on the job and felt very thankful to learn from numerous online resources provided by seasoned professionals such as Make Art That Sells and Storyteller Academy. This very first book project of mine not only gave me a fun challenge, it also opened a new world in front of my eyes. And I knew instantly that I wanted to pursue my creative endeavors as a children’s book illustrator.

Shelley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a Doctor of Music and a MA in Arts Administration from SPEA in 2019. While working as a professional pianist and arts leader, my hobby in hand-cut paper illustration blossomed into a full-time career. During the Covid lockdown, I launched my art studio Junonia Arts to spread the joy of making paper art from repurposed paper materials. I am fascinated by the textures, shapes, colors, and depths in the paper art medium. Besides using paper collage techniques, I also incorporate watercolor, colored pencils, and digital mediums into the final illustrations. My artistic inspirations often come from my life experience as an Asian immigrant, a professional musician, as well as my love for traveling, food, nature, and conservation. Therefore, you will find lots of diverse characters and quirky stories in my illustrations. I have previously worked with clients throughout the US, creating kids puzzles, seed packets, editorial illustrations, promotional designs, and children’s books. As a passionate art teacher, I enjoy teaching paper art workshops to kids and adults around the country. So far, I have taught workshops at Brooklyn Art Library, Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, Indianapolis Garfield Park Arts Center, Indiana Monroe County Public Library, and more. This coming spring season, I am also teaching a series of paper art workshops at all branches of Indianapolis Public Library. I am a member of The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and currently serving as the co-Assistant Regional Advisor for my Indiana-SCBWI chapter. I am represented by Marietta Zacker at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency for children’s book projects. My paper art was recently featured in Creative Boom, Midwest Living Magazine, and UK’s Association Of Illustrators.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

At the core of my artistic journey, I want to highlight the importance of upcycling and repurposing through the art pieces I create. One of my artist missions from the very beginning is to use paper creatively. Instead of sourcing materials from sheets of new paper with existing colors, I am drawn towards older paper that have seemingly run out of its primary purposes. Paper bags, mailing catalogs, paper magazines, greeting cards, and used calendars became my best friends. During the earlier phase of my artistic journey, I used mostly paper bits with existing colors printed on them. Then I quickly pivoted towards creating my own color palette and brush textures using watercolor and coloring pencils. Today, my artist style has matured quite a bit comparing to my early days as a paper artist. But my goal of using repurposed materials in my artworks never changed. And I hope to carry this mission with me while I continue to explore new possibilities and challenges in my creative journey.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building your audience on social media today is no small feat. It takes years of planning, organizing, and practice in order to build a strong audience that genuinely supports what you do as an artist. In the ever-changing world of social media, it is so easy to get sucked into the whirlwind of trends and competitions. And it is also a place where negativity could accumulate and fester if you are not careful. As someone who has gone through the ups and downs while navigating the social media presence, I wish someone had told me what I know today. So I want to share my insight with those who are starting to build their social media presence.

1). Instead of following trends, you should focus on sharing your UNIQUE STORY on social media. In my field, there are numerous amazing illustrators with strong portfolios and social media presence. I remember that I would often scroll through their Instagram feed during my early days as an illustrator. Instead of getting inspired by great artworks, I sometimes felt defeated that I was not good enough to ever reach their level of artistry. One day, I decided to stop looking at everyone else’s Instagram feed, and instead to focus on honing my hand-cut paper art style. Slowly, I began to share snippets of my quirky paper art on my Instagram account and people loved them! In some of my posts, I would share a little story or some behind-the-scenes bits. Those were the posts that my audience resonated with the most.

2). In order to have a sustainable growth for your art/brand, it is essential to have a healthy relationship with social media. When I first started posting regularly on my Instagram account, I would put pressure on myself to post something new every day. I had the impression that by posting daily, the Instagram algorithm would somehow favor my account and give my art more visibility. This strategy seemed to be a good idea for a while, until the algorithm changed. By pressuring myself to post daily, I always felt stressed and burnt-out. I soon realized this unhealthy relationship between me and the social media could jeopardize my artistic growth. So I decided to cut back from posting daily and instead follow the pace of my art practice. Now, I only post when I have something to share. It could be twice a week, or once every five days. I also started to dedicate a small chunk of my day (around one hour or so) to connect with my followers and friends on social media. It is important to carve out a specific time for socializing online, so you don’t end up spending the majority of your day browsing through Instagram.

3). Make sure everything you share is top quality. This is an important notion that will help you build a strong audience on social media. What do I mean by top quality? Top quality can include many aspects of your creative content. It may be the actual products you create, the aesthetics of your photos, the color palette of your feed, the designs and features of your website or domains, or the consistency of your stories and narratives. When people browse through your social media accounts, they are looking for a coherent brand, image, or feeling. If you devote some effort to building a consistent voice, your audience will show up and stay.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.junoniaarts.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/junoniaarts
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/junoniaarts
• Twitter: www.x.com/junoniaarts
• Other: https://www.threads.net/@junoniaarts

Image Credits
Katy Lengacher | Icarus Photography (for ShelleyHanmo_JunoniaArts_colored, studio standing, studio photos)