We recently connected with Monika Szczerbińska and have shared our conversation below.

Monika, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

I remember it perfectly! I started my Instagram art account at the very beginning of January 2020. Although I didn’t have high expectations and didn’t expect art to be my source of income one day, I wanted to try to be professional from the beginning. So I set up my new email address in case anyone wanted to contact me. I remember my friend joking (in a nice way!) about my new email and asking if anyone had contacted me yet. And no, no one had at that point in February. But that didn’t bother me at all. I was posting a couple of times a week and was excited about every like and comment I got. But how excited I was a few days later when I actually got my first email! I was asked to create a design for a birthday card for toddlers. There were a few rounds of tweaking involved, but in the end, I did it: I got my first payment for something I created. It was an amazing feeling and very encouraging. And even though when I look back on that commission, the money wasn’t good at all, I still consider the experience priceless. Because it helped me see the potential of turning my hobby into a career. It helped me see the potential in myself.

Monika, 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?

My name is Monika and I am an illustrator from Poland. On a daily basis I run my shop on Etsy, share my art on social media and work as a freelancer. I work with all kinds of brands from all over the world, helping them to create illustrations for magazines, patterns for children’s clothes or collections of children’s party accessories. This is the wonderful thing about my job. Every day I can wake up to a new exciting opportunity to work on a project that is completely new to me. It’s impossible to get bored here!

How did my adventure into the world of illustration begin? Very, very coincidentally. In fact, it all started around the year 2019, with the purchase of my first iPad for my psychology studies. I bought it 100% with the idea of studying, taking notes, reading literature for class. However, looking at iPad reviews on the Internet, it was impossible not to come across videos showing people drawing on it. Curious about the process, I downloaded free drawing apps and gave it a try. I had so much fun that I was surprised myself. I could hide with my iPad and draw for hours. Naturally, my first drawings were not very good. After all, I had only ever scribbled in notebooks or occasionally done some work for classes at university.

At the beginning of 2020, I decided to create an account on Instagram as a New Year’s resolution. At the time, I decided that I wanted to “somehow develop my drawing” – I didn’t know exactly what that meant or in what direction I wanted to develop it. But I knew it was a path I wanted to take.

And so my adventure began. I often and regularly added my drawings to Instagram. And although the number of my followers grew very slowly in the first months, I managed to reach more and more people. I received positive feedback, which motivated me even more. Also, the first offers to collaborate started coming in! I also received more and more questions about where to buy my illustrations, so after a few months I set up my shop on Etsy. And after that? After that, everything continued to develop gradually – sometimes faster, sometimes slower. And I try to never stop growing and evolving.

It’s always hard for me to define and explain what my style is or what my drawings are about. But based on all the comments and messages, I think I can say that my illustrations bring people joy and a feeling of warmth. My drawings are usually simple. But I like to honor things that are important to me with them. I like to emphasize the importance of the little things, enjoying the smallest moments, taking the time to enjoy life. I also often like to put cute smiling faces on different things – mushrooms, kettles or cups! And although my style changes a little bit over time, and I try different things sometimes, I feel like my core is still the same: it’s that feeling of coziness and comfort. And I would never want to give that up.

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?

I think it depends on the person and how understanding and empathetic they are. However, I feel that a lot of people may not understand that being a creator is also really hard emotional work. Every time we show our work to the world, we expose ourselves to criticism. And that’s not necessarily easy. For me, publishing my work is always stressful. I often feel like I’m waving my hand in front of millions of people, trying to get their attention, trying to show them something great. But to be honest, I often don’t feel that what I’m creating is that great. Very often I have a million doubts and fears about whether what I have created is good enough. But despite these fears, I decide to show my art to the world anyway. I show them a part from me, very often a valuable one. How will people react? That is beyond my control.

Also, in the age of social media and TikTok, the pace is getting faster and faster. You can often get the impression that it is not enough to create one work a month. This can lead to a constant fear of being left behind. Personally, I often have a problem with creating new things. I think it’s because of all the pressure I feel and the fear that I’m going to create something that my audience won’t like. And it might seem trivial – after all, the world isn’t going to fall apart if my post gets a few hearts on Instagram. But you have to remember that creating is my way of life and my source of income. Whether my post reaches 10,000 or 200,000 people makes a real difference in my life.

I am self-employed, so I have no one to tell me what to do. Of course, that has a lot of advantages. But on the other hand, I have to make all the decisions – from the smallest to the really big ones. I am responsible for everything – for my successes and failures. And while creating is a wonderful thing and gives me so many wonderful opportunities, it can also be very emotionally draining.

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

I often get asked how I grew my audience. And I wish I could give you an easy answer with a 10-step guide to success. But unfortunately, as we all know, it’s not that simple. The one piece of advice I always give is to stay true to yourself. Don’t try to be somebody else. Draw things that excite you and make you happy. Not necessarily things you think others might like. People love authenticity and the feeling that there’s a real person with a real story and quirks behind the art. I strongly believe that it is easier to make a real connection with people when you show things that are important to you. For example, I love mushrooms! Fall and mushroom season is the best time of the year for me. And I’ve been drawing and sharing mushrooms since day one! (I even had them in my first profile picture). Now I often get messages from people showing me a cool mushroom mug or a mushroom t-shirt! Or even mushrooms they found themselves! I think it’s the cutest thing that when they see mushrooms they think of me.

If you draw the way your heart tells you to, only good things will come your way. At least that is what I believe!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/och_monika/
• Other: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ochmonika