We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ann Alonso a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Ann thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I’ve been drawing since as far back as I can remember. My dad used to have these artbooks that he’d leave out on his desk and I’d try to draw along with them because I just loved to doodle. This followed me into my elementary years and in the seventh grade, I was voted “Most Likely to be an Artist” by my peers. Wildly enough, I didn’t end up pursuing art. I started to pursue graphic design to avoid the stigma of ‘starving artist’ instead. Graphic design, as I had learned, was a more financially stable career that was also creative.

I was accepted into a competitive graphic design program and it was during these prime college years that I really started to doubt my artistic capabilities. When it came to designing for someone else, I could pick it up and do what needed to be done. When it came to illustrations class, I didn’t know what my voice was, what my style was, and I kept comparing my terribly rendered artwork to my amazing peers. It was then I decided, “I’m just not an artist. I never will be and that’s okay.” Hindsight’s pretty funny sometimes.

The thing about creativity is that it never really leaves you, it just takes different forms. For a while, it was graphic design for me, and I still work in the design field today, almost a decade later after starting. But whilst I was working as a graphic designer professionally, I was hit with a life changing event. I lost my mother to cancer. The grief was painful and I needed a way to cope. Slowly, but surely, I returned to art, and when I did, I stopped trying to figure out what my style was and just drew what felt fun to draw. I was drawing to try to capture the joy my mother gave to me for as long as I was lucky to have her in my life. It was almost addictive, drawing characters and scenes and then using my design skills to bring them to life in the form of stickers and art prints. I started to connect with a community of other artists online, sharing their own stories through their art, and it was here that I truly felt the desire to pursue a career as an artist. Wildly enough, it has been my passion ever since.

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?

My name is Ann Alonso, an Asian-Canadian artist based out of Southern Ontario with a penchant for drawing whimsical characters and writing silly stories.

I began to document my art journey online, which led me to connect with a whole community of other artists who had their own stories to share. I started small with art prints and stickers, and eventually invested in a small business venture with the gumption to pay myself back in the future. I started to expand into enamel pins, plushies, keychains, stationery, and so much more to satisfy my creative itch whenever I could. From stickers to notebooks and pillowcases to sticker books, I aim to add a little bit to joy to someone’s daily life. To this day, I’m still so honoured to know that my art is able to connect with and inspire others, and that alone motivates me to keep pursuing what I love and to keep sharing my stories with the world.

I have found a passion in storytelling through my art, and with these colourful and dreamlike piece, hope to nurture everyone’s inner child. I have so much pride in the community that’s come together through this journey and am so excited to see where the future of it all will go.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Truthfully, I think the goalpost is always changing, but maybe this is also what keeps the drive alive when running the business. The biggest driver for me, is the fulfillment of my ‘why’. Why did I start this art journey in the first place? Why do I continue to pursue it? How does my ‘why’ evolve with me as the world evolves around me? These are all the questions I find myself coming back to, especially when I’m in a rut and drowning in doubt.

For me, I started this adventure through art because I needed a way to express myself and the stories I wanted to tell. At first, my ‘why’ was just for me and my desire to capture parts of my life through drawing.

Over time, as a community built around my stories and my characters, my ‘why’ began to expand. I still needed to express myself and tell stories, but now I also loved connecting with others. I found so much fulfillment through knowing that my stories could lift someone else. It could be as small as making someone smile, or as deep as helping someone grieve. My drive now evolved into something bigger than just for me.

I imagine it will continue to grow, change, and evolve as I do and as my community does too. It will be because of this constant desire to learn and create that will continue to drive me along this creative journey.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

At first, I was using social media primarily to document the timeline of my art journey for just me, personally. I wasn’t really aware of what the algorithm was or how to grow my reach. I had the support of a few friends and family members and I eventually started following a lot of other artists to fill my own feed with inspiration. Truly, in the beginning, I wasn’t really sure of what I was doing but I just knew I wanted to be surrounded by supportive people.

I have found, without a doubt in my mind, that building an audience is synonymous with building a community. I am connecting with peers in the art space as well as non-creatives who just also love to consume art like I do. The more genuine I am whenever I connect with someone else, the more enabled I feel to share my content in a way that best represents me. It becomes this cycle of connecting with people who resonate what I want to share.

My advice for anyone just starting to build their social media presence is to be present in the communities you want to be a part of. Participate with your peers and be genuine in your approach. Engage because it feels right to you, not because you’re expecting some sort of exchange in return. It’s all about finding the people in these spaces that you can really connect and build healthy relationships with. When it comes to your audience, be real with them. Let them know who you are and what you’re about. Bring them on the journey with you. Share the wins but also the failures, because those are just as important, if not moreso.

And also, be realistic about the kinds of goals you want to achieve. You want your goals to be attainable with real tangible steps to accomplish them. For example, let’s say you want to grow your audience by 300 followers by the end of the month. What do you need to do to try to achieve that goal? What kind of posting schedule is realistic? What stories do you want to share? Is your goal realistic to your current growth trajectory? Do you need to reevaluate your goal? It’s important to be able to measure your own capabilities to better understand your own goal setting habits. It’ll take practice, time, and making mistakes, but the experience you gain from it all is well worth it. Didn’t hit your goal? That’s okay! Take what you learned from what wasn’t working and apply it to your next goal. I know nobody likes to hear it, but building an audience really is just a matter of patience and persistence.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://arcasian.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/arcasian__
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/arcasian
• Other: https://twitch.tv/arcasian https://tiktok.com/@arcasian

Image Credits
Lisa Emiljanowicz