We recently connected with Corinn Marriott and have shared our conversation below.

Corinn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

After graduating with my BFA in Illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology, I worked as an Illustrative Designer for a small candle company. I learned a lot of design skills and what a corporate design job was like. I hated it! The pay was very low, the hours were long, and more than half of the designs were never used. I quickly got burnt out and needed to quit. I decided to pursue a freelance illustration career. However, at the time I did this, I was so uninspired and fell out of love with creating. I had no motivation to find work and no confidence in my work. I always knew I wanted to get an MFA in Illustration, so this felt like a perfect time to pursue that. I was accepted into the University of Hartford’s MFA in Illustration program and within the first day of classes, felt my motivation and excitement to draw return. All of the faculty, students, and speakers were so inspiring and helped me reignite my passion for creating. Through my MFA journey, I worked on my portfolio and built a body of work that I was proud of and confident that I could market. This confidence allowed me to take on my first mural job for a brewery in my town. The combination of this mural project and the portfolio I built set my career in a good direction, but I still was not able to fully support myself on my work for another year. I took bartending jobs, taught high school art, and worked in marketing while doing freelance on the side. It wasn’t until this past spring that I was able to finally fully support myself on my creative work. The confidence in my work and willingness to put myself out there and show my stuff to art directors and companies I was interested in working with allowed me to be successful. Now, I have my schedule booked full of freelance work for the next calendar year with exciting projects in a variety of markets and outputs. If I had the confidence in my work that I do now the first time I tried my freelance career, I probably would have been successful then. However, I am so thankful for each step in my journey and what I have learned from each job I had to take to get here. I currently teach Illustration as an Adjunct Professor at RIT, and think it is very important to tell my story to my students honestly. I hope they can learn from my mistakes and lessons and have more success than I did early on.

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?

I’m a freelance illustrator and muralist from the Finger Lakes region of NY. I started my career as an Illustrative Designer for a small candle company, and then took various odd jobs until I was able to fully support myself as a freelancer. My work is varied and diverse, but focused on nature subject matters and realistic renderings. I enjoy a varied schedule full of murals, licensing design, editorial illustration, and teaching. I love making beautiful murals for my clients that draw attention and brighten their spaces.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I love seeing the happy reactions my clients have when I turn in a final product. I work really hard and often spend long hours on my projects-especially murals-so seeing the final reaction and how my work makes my clients happy is extremely rewarding.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

It took a while for my non-creative family members to understand my journey as a creative. They wanted what was best for me-a stable job and career. I had that in my first job as an Illustrative Designer, and it was technically related to my degree, so they thought I should be happy. I think it was a shock to them when the realized how much that job drained my happiness. I truly can’t be happy and fulfilled working in a job that is not creative and not working on a variety of projects. My family now sees how much value my work provides not only me but my clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://corinnmarriott.com
• Instagram: @corinnmarriottstudio
• Facebook: @corinnmarriottstudio
• Linkedin: /corinnmarriott

Image Credits

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