We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Vargas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my debut picture book, Our Roof is Blue. When entering my final semesters of college, I started to recognize my passion for story-telling and children’s media; however, I was unsure how to break into the children’s book industry. Luckily the pandemic pushed me to become more active on social media and I found an open call looking for Puerto Rican illustrators on Twitter. About a month after graduating I was offered to illustrate a beautiful story.

When reading the manuscript by Sara E. Echenique, it felt like a perfect first step in being a professional illustrator. The story explores the impact of hurricanes on children in Puerto Rico. As someone who has family who still lives on the island and grew up visiting its beautiful beaches, this story holds a close place in my heart. Though the book is about a specific place, I know it can relate to kids everywhere who have to deal with climate crises.

My goal with the art was to create colorful and warm illustrations to make the hard subject matter more approachable.

Ashley, 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?

Growing up I always was a big fan of cartoons, children’s books, and animated movies. I felt most confident in my English and Art classes and always gravitated toward creative extracurriculars. This pushed me to want to pursue going to art school. Luckily, growing up in New York gave me access to portfolio preparation and figure drawing courses in high school. Also, the best museums in the world were just a train ride away.

I was accepted into the Fashion Institute of Technology’s illustration BFA program and only grew my passion for storytelling. Within my fifth semester, students are required to make a mock children’s book, and I immediately fell in love with the process. This pushed me to focus my portfolio on children’s media and more stylized editorial illustrations. I received a lot of guidance from professors, faculty, and mentors on my work before graduating. Not only did this give me a head start on networking, but I gained great relationships for when I need advice and support. These relationships soon turned into commissions from designing food packaging to family portrait paintings.

After graduating, my polished portfolio got me accepted as an art fellow for Mashable. There I was able to learn more about design and creating illustrations for narratives. During my fellowship, a professor shared an application for Scholastic’s BIPOC mentorship program. I was accepted and worked closely with a designer for Scholastic and created more work for my children’s book portfolio. During this time I also started working on my first freelance children’s book project, Our Roof is Blue.

As my fellowship was coming to an end, I received an email from Scholastic stating that my work with the BIPOC program earned me a recommendation for a Junior Designer position. My younger self fangirled as I remembered the Scholastic book fairs I grew up with. Thankfully, I was able to pass their design test and began working for Scholastic in January 2022.

On the Scholastic Children’s Licensing, Brands & Media Trade Art Department, I am now designing books for brands like Nickelodeon, Marvel, and Disney which feels like a dream! I am still figuring out the balance between designing children’s books as my day job and illustrating them as a freelancer, but I am proud that I was able to achieve both quickly after graduating.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I chose to study illustration in college, I always had in mind that I will be a freelance artist. I had hoped by the time I graduated that I would already have a strong client list and projects lined up after graduating. However, after speaking to professors and undergoing a pandemic during the second half of my college career that felt less feasible.

As I started to scroll through job listings, I noticed that the majority of full-time creative positions were more graphic design based. This motivated me to start seeking out more design opportunities in college, despite not knowing the basics and never taking a graphic design course. This was my pivot. I was already a part of a creative collective, so I started taking over our social media posts, created a logo, and put together a 32-page digital zine. I was very lucky to have friends taking design courses who guided me!

From there, I took on small food packaging projects for fellow students and family members. Though graphic designing wasn’t my main passion, I really enjoyed these commissions! They created a small design portfolio that allowed me to apply for more fellowships and full-time job positions. Without this pivot, I would have not been able to work at Scholastic today.

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

I find it most rewarding when I receive comments on my personal comic work that are some variation of “I relate to this” or “me too”. During the pandemic, it was hard to connect to classmates and other artists during my final moments in college. This spurred me to create small comics to try to reflect on my feelings. Though these comics were personal and specific to me, I felt warm when they were shared by fellow students or students I’d never even met before!

I hope to keep creating work people can see themselves in and continue creating connections with viewers of my art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artley.myportfolio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/art.ley/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyvargasillustration
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ashlaayejane