Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amy Rexford. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Amy, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I have been drawing since I was a small child. Throughout my school years I would enthusiastically enroll in any creative course I could take alongside my honors classes and other required courses. I remember thinking I should go into a medical or other science-based industry at the time, pushing my love for art to side. Even after enrolling in a university, I made a compromise that if I did study art, it would be with the goal of using it in a medical field, such as textbook illustration.

As I started my university track, I encountered the common internal struggle that many students face as they try to decide what path they truly want to pursue after college. After taking some drawing and biology courses I realized I was using excuses to keep me in the biology half of the campus. I was so worried that I could not have a viable career with a fine arts degree, but after talking with a graphic design professor in my art department, I realized there was a commercial side to the arts that not only allowed for more financial stability than I originally thought possible in the creative field, but also offered an interesting new concept of using art to achieve quantifiable business results. Long story short, I became enamored with the idea that I could enter a field in which I could use both my left and right-side of my brain, a field that would allow me to be creatively and intellectually fulfilled and to live a comfortable lifestyle.

This helped lead me to my current situation where I work full-time as a design at a digital ad agency while creating digital illustration and physical merchandise that I sell in my free time.

Amy, 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 Amy Rexford and I’m a multi-disciplinary designer working full-time at a digital ad agency while creating digital illustrations and physical stationary and other merchandise in my free time. I am also open to freelance work/commissions. In short, I am a 24/7 artist!

Online I go by AmySunHee which is my first name and my Korean birth name that is now legally my middle name. I use this artist name for my online shop which I currently host through Etsy, but I also sell my products at local anime and video game conventions. My products generally revolve around posters, art prints, and stationary featuring some original designs and some designs that pay homage to my favorite video games and shows. I also create content online through various channels that offer art related entertainment, educational tutorials, and content that promotes my personal art business.

In terms of commissions, I offer both design and illustration based options. I have done design work that involves web design, logo and branding design and digital ad work. I have done illustration work that involves editorial illustration, book cover design, and personal illustration commissions. When it comes to commissions I do my best to provide my clients with not only high quality creative work, but with strategic rational behind my design choices that I have learned throughout my professional career.

I am that I am able to provide a wide range of artist skills, and I strive to create with heart, purpose, and originality with clients and brands who share the same values.

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 the creative field has a lot on conflicting opinions that arise from the non-creative community, mostly concerning it’s value in society. Everyone consumes media to the point where it’s expected and eventually devalued. Creative fields are continually regarded as lesser in comparison to medical or legal fields for example, but the power creatives hold is even greater than artists can realize. Every product around us has been influenced by artists, from feature length films to the packaging on our favorite snack food. The reason why these products are so effective and popular is because there have been teams of not only researchers, producers and directors, but also artists and designers who have trained in the process of accounting for human behavior and tailoring visual elements to achieve quantifiable commercial results.

I’ve had so many parents approach me, worried for their children’s future if they pursue art. Yes, it can be a somewhat difficult career to find “success” in, like many other careers, but if a person has enough drive I truly believe they can find a level of success in the creative field, at least financially. There is also a more emotional or spiritual fulfillment about art that often gets overlooked.

I often think of a quote that was published frequently after the passing of Stan Lee. He was quoted, “I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you’re able to entertain people, you’re doing a good thing.” This sentiment left an impression on me as I continued my personal artistic career. At times I still wonder if I should have continued down the path towards a medical field, but then I remember that I chose this path because I believed I would be happier. I believed I had the drive to make it a viable career and I believed it would allow to grow my own skill so that I could share it with the world and hopefully make at least one person happier in seeing my art. And I’m achieving it! Even if my life takes me down differently paths in the future, I am so happy I chose to follow my heart. Life is too important and too short to do something I hate every day at work.

All in all, a creative path can not only be financially viable but it also contributes to our society and can give us personal fulfillment!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Even now, I have a modest online presence. I believe I have around 20K followers on Tiktok and about 10K on Instagram presently which are the main platforms I use to promote my art.

I got my start in the early 2010’s, posting now embarrassing fan art to DeviantArt, Tumblr, and YouTube. I’ve had moments of virality that definitely encouraged me to continue sharing my art online, but the purpose and process and changed over the years.

While more experience in the creative industry, I now understand the importance of consistency across different social media platforms as well as tenacity in content creation. Making sure your branding and style is present and recognizable on each platform increases your overall visibility and audience retention.

From about 2016 to 2018 I posted a new piece of art every single day. I definitely had more energy back then, but it was the time that I saw more growth. The algorithms are not friendly, and in order to get my art in front of more people, posting more was necessary.

Nowadays, since my following is a little higher, I’ve started to balance my personal wellbeing more. Since I don’t have the same energy that I had seven years ago, I now allocate my energy more effectively, using trends to my advantage to put my art in areas that will get more traffic with less effort.

Finally, I think you have to allow your personality to shine. It’s easy to just post a picture and forget about it, but others will forget about it too. Showing your process, sharing the story behind a piece, and even admitting your art struggles by injecting some of your own humor gives your audience a reason to care about you and your work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://amysunhee.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amysunhee/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyrexford/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkOs3FxtGqhGunRTbff3qwQ
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/amysunhee