We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Francesca Damkar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Francesca below.
Francesca, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I would say that my book, ‘Retro Rhythms’ is one of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever worked on.
It started out at first as a series of musical doodles featuring international instruments, inspired by two pieces of media: the 1990s film, “That Thing You Do!” and the animated series, “The Jetsons”. I was watching the aforementioned pieces of media when I was hit with what I call, the spark – the urge to create something. So I created two little musical doodles – one of a drum, and one of a guitar. From there, I was hooked! The more doodles I created, the more inspired I became to do something with them. I’ve had five people tell me that the collection I was building up would be terrific subjects for a book and thus, ‘Retro Rhythms’ was born!
It was the first book I ever wrote/illustrated/published in my career as a freelancer, and in my goal to write and illustrate my own books, that was a large step for me. But I think what is more meaningful than that is the fact that others enjoyed what I do and how they use the book to connect to the younger generation.
In one example, there was this mother who outright found and told me on Instagram (where they first found me) that she and her daughter read my book every evening, and consider me a hero. Honestly, I don’t know if I can call myself that, but just knowing that my book inspired someone that much is one of the most meaningful things that’s ever happened to me. Another example included a former teacher of mine using the book to encourage a student of hers who wanted to go into the arts like me about what can be accomplished in the industry. Wherever these kids and adults are, I want to say thank you for bringing joy into my life and reminding me of why I do what I do.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I first started working in the industry as a freelancer around 2017, after I officially graduated from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I’ve always been interested in art, but I wasn’t serious about the craft until I entered high school. From there, I drew however and whenever I could in my notebooks and sketchbooks, but I entered the university to polish, improve and gain skills there. I also learned about writing there as well, but I’ve always been writing ever since I entered high school. I enjoyed it so much that I was even part of my school’s first literary/art journal staff and yearbook staff. To this day I’m still learning on how to perfect both of my crafts and make them the best I can make them be.
And I also love reading, which is a reason why I’m also part of my hometown’s library board.
I provide many products/services/creative works to others, from literature to logo design to book covers to short stories to countless other products. I’m a believer in exploring as many outlets for my skills as I can, as they can offer so much potential for growth and attainment of knowledge in how certain fields work, and also because I may hold an interest in designing or writing whatever the subject matter may be. I even sell some of my designs onto products on my online shops at Redbubble and TeePublic.
When solving problems, I look from as many different angles as possible to deliver the most creative and resonant product. I think that this is what sets me apart because I possess an ability to see things others can’t see. I can connect the dots between the least likely of subjects and somehow put them together in a way that makes sense, or at least I aim to make them make sense. It’s a reason why I believe in making my art accessible, respectful and connective to young and old generations, as I think they can find commonalities between them even if it’s in the least unlikely place because I can see even one trait that can somehow bring them together.
It’s why I delve into so many subjects and directions with my craft – from the midcentury lifestyle to animals/nature/wildlife conservation to my own faith to international/cultural aspects (whether it’s art styles or the cultures themselves) to holidays (I even worked for a brief time for the toy company/seasonal goods company, Joyin, as a result) to so much more! I want to be prolific with my work, and so, this is one of the things I want potential clients/followers/fans to know about my work.
In fact, that’s one of the things I’m most proud and happy with my work – bringing together people of different backgrounds and generations together and making the world a little better. I’m pleased with what I have accomplished thus far – writing/illustrating/publishing my first book, winning a poster contest for my county, creating promotional materials for my local library and the board, collaborating with clients and art models, exhibited in my first overseas virtual gallery and most importantly – exploring new frontiers and aiming to conquer them.
If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?
I aim to have multiple/supplementary revenue streams beyond art and literature, yes. At the moment those are still in the planning stages (although I can say that they are looking to be rooted in the worlds of finance, my faith and possibly blogging) but as of the moment, it’s through my online shops, sales of my book and commission work.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I’m still working on building my audiences across forms of social media, but the main tip I want to give? Don’t give up. It can be hard building your audience, but not giving up and continuing to post and post and post with more content will eventually lead to results.
It helps to befriend and talk to others in your field. Networking is naturally a key factor in building your business, as not only will you have friends and allies in said field who can help you by spreading the word on what you do, you can also help them and thus create mutually beneficial relationships and everyone gains more business and viewership from potential clients. This is what I do myself: I try my best to support other small businesses by buying their products and giving shoutouts to them whenever I can so that they can building up their audiences and make new connections.
It can be daunting to talk to them, but sometimes even communicating a simple ‘I like what you do’ on their posts might be enough for them to see and like your products. It may also be enough for other fans/followers/clients of their works to see you and support you as well.
Doing research on what social media platform works and trying out anything that’s out there is another tip I recommend as well. Some platforms may work better for some than others. I would even recommend posting work on more than just one social media platform to further build up the business and just in case the worst happens on one social media platform (hacker, outages, etc). It can be a hassle sometimes seeing what works and what doesn’t, but it’s doable.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fad-artwork.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fadartworkpage/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FADArtwork/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-damkar-4a66602b/
- Other: My online shops: https://www.redbubble.com/people/FAD-Artwork/shop https://www.teepublic.com/user/fad-artwork Links to purchase my book: https://olympiapublishers.com/authors/francesca-damkar/ https://www.amazon.com/Retro-Rhythms-Francesca-Damkar-ebook/dp/B096T6XW1P
Image Credits
Francesca Damkar