We recently connected with Bonnie Elgueta and have shared our conversation below.

Bonnie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I wish I had started my graphic illustration career sooner! Right out of high school, as a matter of fact! But at the time I was not clear about my life goals, or maybe I was, but I was too scared to admit to myself, and the world, that I wanted to be an artist. Like many before me, I didn’t dare call myself an artist.

However, the rebel inside me kind of muscled her way out and I made the decision to go to fashion school. It wasn’t art school. It was fashion school. It would provide me with at least some classes in drawing and painting and various styles of fashion illustration, and it was more affordable than art school. At the time, my favorite thing to draw was the human figure, portraits and beautiful clothes that I saw in fashion magazines. I adored fashion photography; the styling, the lighting, the makeup, the magic in the color composition of all those gorgeous photos. I was obsessed with recreating those lovely textures, lines and contours and capturing the drama of the light and shade by way of paints and brushes and pencils. I loved challenging myself to recreate the beauty of the human faces and bodies revealed in those photographs, showing authentic emotion and dramatic poses, using pencil or anything on hand.

Art was always a way to escape and forget that I was lonely, sometimes bored, and often monumentally frustrated. I took refuge in fashion magazines, fantasizing about having a different life. With a fashion degree, however, I thought I’d have the safe option of working for other people, on the production side, carefully avoiding the potential risks and criticism that may come with being an independent artist or freelance designer. That was my unfortunate reasoning at the time.

I really wish I’d gone straight to art school and began a more creatively focused, entrepreneurial life trajectory, because you don’t find happiness or develop creative confidence by taking detours and putting your talent on a shelf.

Around 2016, I finally went back to school to refresh and add to my skills so I could incorporate new software programs and techniques, and play with new trends in design. Since then, I’ve gradually evolved my freelancing career, doing my best to find my place as the independent artist and illustrator I always wanted to be.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into the world of theater and the entertainment industry via fashion school. I got a degree in fashion design and later certified in computer aided design using Lectra and Gerber fashion CAD systems, (before the companies merged). For a couple years, I worked for free in both theater and independent short film productions, just to get experience and build my resume while I still lived with family. Eventually, I got full-time employment working with costumes made for the Walt Disney Company. Though my focus was in production, my favorite part of the job was making the flat sketches of the garments. Inevitably, I had to admit to myself that my sole enjoyment was drawing and illustrating. Soon I began to entertain the idea of changing careers, steering towards graphic illustration and abandoning technical design work.

A career change is no joke, and it’s not easy. But, not doing what you love is also not easy. I eventually put myself through school again, hoping to explore new opportunities. I have since then focused on doing commercial artwork for a variety of industries. I enjoy doing everything from music event posters and album covers to surface print design for packaging, fabrics and other surfaces.

I am especially proud to have collaborated with artwork for an e-book of poems called “Imaginario”, currently on sale in Amazon. Soon the print version will be published as well.

What I would like to say to other artists is that, in our world, art is all-encompassing, influential and drives powerful communication. So stop procrastinating, doubting, and playing footsie with imposter syndrome, your work is too important! Art doesn’t just hang on gallery walls. It can adorn the wrapper of a chocolate bar, or be printed on a t-shirt and along the way, define an entire era, or a social movement. Most importantly, it can open minds. So get to work, unapologetically!

To potential clients I’d like to say, thank you for taking more creative chances and embracing more expressive artistic designs for everyday products, company branding, and commercial advertising than you did in the past. It makes life so much more interesting and joyful, and it is precisely what has encouraged me to make more art today.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Well, when I was working on my fashion design degree, I did get some unfortunate nay-sayers in my path that discouraged me from pursuing an illustration career. They said that nobody needed artists. And that established designers could draw their own stuff so they didn’t need to hire a separate illustrator. It took me a long time to see that’s not always true. But, I was very green and very insecure in my talent, so I believed them.

That made me delay my art career for many years. Thinking I had to focus on having a “real job”, I limited my creative pursuits and steered more towards having stable work. It was also a perfect excuse to let my fears drive my decisions. I was insecure anyways.

Now I see that art is all around us. Every single thing we use in our daily lives was designed and created by someone. And it all starts with a drawing. The world absolutely needs artists and all types of creative people! They are the ones that propel the world forward. So making art can never be useless or unprofitable. You just have to find the best place for your type of art, your niche! And stay flexible.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The best aspect of being an artist is that it allows you to flow and be in the zone, the creative zone where nothing else matters and life is perfect as is. It is a pleasure to do art and not worry about where it’s going. That’s liberating. There’s no room for stress when you’re making art. Just make sure you have a couple different income streams to cover you when times are lean. Even millionaires and billionaires have multiple income streams. That’s how they stay affluent!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bonnieelgueta.myportfolio.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-elgueta/