We were lucky to catch up with Lydia Spears recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lydia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I have a pretty classic answer. I knew I wanted to work creatively as a little kid. I was super ambitious as a child, and I had a passion for drawing. I started with little characters. Girls with triangle dresses and triangular noses. I would tape
together pieces of paper and make drawings “life-sized”. As a kid, I went to afterschool which meant I spent a lot of time at school hanging out before I went home. In fact, my most vivid memories are from after-school care, playing family between my fingers, turning them into people, and walking them across the desk.
I began bringing a sketchbook everywhere. I was everything in my sketchbook. I was a writer, inventor, artist, in my mind. I remember the after-school teacher’s awe at my work. They made me feel invincible. My favorite afterschool teacher taught me how to draw bubble letters, I thought she was the best person ever, she held the moon. I remember my 3rd grade art teacher telling my dad that she’d have to kill me if I didn’t pursue art. The adults around me made me feel incredibly special as a kid. Something I’m insurmountably grateful for. I loved pretend games as well, I’d make little paper dolls and play with them as if they were customizable Barbies. I could make them whoever I wanted. I remember making a spaceship full of fairies, taping the doors on the spaceship, and cutting out the dolls to put behind the windows. Come to think of it, I don’t there was any way I was going to not do something creative one day for work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Lydia! I am currently a student at North Carolina State University College of Design in Raleigh, NC, in school for Media Design. I hope to be part of creative production for games/ animated feature films one day. I love so many parts of the design process and have fallen in love with so many different crafts in my years at State. I am working on my senior capstone which will be an animated short, I hope to have completed by the end of spring. I will work by myself to create this short, designing the story, characters, environment, modeling, rigging, and animating the whole thing. This is the first time I get to test what all I learned in my last 3 years at the College of Design. I am also co-directing the student organization Art2Wear’s annual wearable art show in the spring. This is a huge experience for me to learn, leading a large group of individuals to organize work done by many people for one night at the Gregg. This show is a huge part of the College of Design’s history, and one of the reasons I chose to come to this school. I am honored to be on the other side now, doing my best to lead a good show for the year.
I am most proud of my breadth. I feel as though I took every opportunity given to me at this school and pushed it to it’s limit. I feel like I have a wide range of experience and am excited to see where I can take this knowledge and grow it.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the idea that my work may one day inspire another young artist like myself. This is the most rewarding goal for my work one day. As a kid I was so inspired by stories, movies, shows. I’d love to do that for someone else. I love watching my loved ones play my games and watch my animations. I always wonder what it may spark up in their minds, what it feels like for them to see what came out of my imagination.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn in design school was the idea that everything I produce should be perfection. One of the first things you learn in design school is to abandon all high ego about your work and be ready to accept criticism. In design school you have to unlearn the connection of self-worth to work produced. If we are able to disconnect ourselves from the question “is this work good or bad?” we can answer the question with less bias. I unlearned the idea that “bad work” means “bad artist”. I’ve seen many creatives fall victim to perfectionism, it is hard to feel the difference between high standards and perfectionism, but it is so worth finding that as an artist so that you have the space to fail.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lcspears.myportfolio.com/
• Instagram: lydes1gn
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydia-spears-mediadesigner?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BkXC%2FoKwIRAOH3n4auYuRgw%3D%3D

Image Credits

Rachel Laminack (first image)