We were lucky to catch up with Cecilia Schmitt recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cecilia, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes! Currently, I am working as a full-time Illustrator/Surface designer at ALDI Corporate – which is definitely one of my dream jobs and I feel so fortunate to have this position.

I have been working at ALDI for a few months now and have really loved every minute of it. Before this position, I worked as a graphic designer for a few months at a library (Loved that as well!) and have a somewhat extensive history of freelance and odd jobs and really any creative opportunity I could take prior.

I definitely attribute this success to a lot of hard work as well as luck and putting myself out there. I’m not sure if my entire creative life story is warranted but I do think it gives context so I’ll try to summarize some crucial aspects.

Like most artist individuals I have had an innate curiosity for anything artistic since I could hold a pencil, and as cliche as it sounds it’s the truth. I used art as an escape from a lot of tricky experiences I had as a child and also just as a way to gain attention and recognition, which I think is pretty commonly desired as a young child.

My middle school art teacher Mr. Donovan and my uncle Nels were some of the biggest role models and inspirations I had growing up. They both opened my eyes to the expansive world of art and lit this flame underneath me to create and create in different ways. Without them, their influence, and support I think I’d be an entirely different person/creative.

I graduated high school in 2018 and all throughout high school I sharpened my skills, learned realism, experimented a lot, and again really tried to take any opportunity I could – which unfortunately has led to burnout many times. I was fascinated and somewhat obsessed (and still am) with anything artistic, I tried jewelry, clay, block printing, wire sculpture, oil paint, and really anything I could get my hands on. Not just from a material perspective but an opportunity aspect as well. I heard of an art league in a nearby town and joined that, which was a lot of older traditional artists (classic landscape watercolorists, still life oil painters, etc.) it was a fun way to connect and learn of new opportunities, and just get me out of my room.

I also worked at a studio for a little while in High School, assisting in painting workshops and teaching a few of my own, mostly to children. That was one of my first very legit jobs that thankfully was in the creative world. Among that, I scoped out opportunities like chalk competitions, hanging artwork in my sister’s friend’s parents’ restaurant, and really just living in the art room at my high school. I gained some awards and recognition which just fed more into this love for art. I was fortunate enough to start getting commissions as early as a high schooler where I would draw people’s grandparents or animals, etc. I started to really get excited by the idea of making a living through my creations and tried to invest in that idea early on- when other kids were wanting their first car, I wanted nothing more than an artist-grade printer. (Although obviously, I wanted a car too, but knew there was no way I would be getting one).

I was also always interested in math and the various sciences I learned about, so there was an internal conflict about whether going the creative route was the best option, but with the thought in mind that I only have one shot at this life, I wanted to pursue what I felt the most passionate about. There’s a lot more that I’m happy to elaborate on but that was a quick run-through of some of my creative experiences in high school.

I have always had an interest in alternative styles, so naturally, I was drawn to tattooing. I actually started an apprenticeship my senior year of high school (which was pretty badass – not going to lie) I enjoyed that for quite a while, but honestly, my antsy nature combined with permanent art was not the best combination so with that and a few other aspects of tattooing I wasn’t a fan of I ultimately knew I wanted to continue my education. I continued working there a few months after graduation but felt anxious to get back to school in the fall and knew I’d be upset with myself if I didn’t.

I had always had college on my mind, and the idea of not going made me personally feel really scared, which was a pretty naive mindset looking back because I know so many talented successful individuals who didn’t attend college, but ultimately I’m happy I did.

I had applied for a pretty prestigious art school in California, and had gotten accepted. I received the presidential scholarship among a few others and still realized there was absolutely no way I could attend without being in debt for the rest of my life. My father, as supportive as he is, refused to cosign on any loans. This broke my heart and we had a difficult relationship during that time of my life but looking back it was definitely a blessing in disguise. The amount for tuition even after all of the scholarships and financial help from the government was insane. I was naive and didn’t really have much concept of debt (Who cares if I was $100,000 in debt? – I do now!) I mistakenly had put all of my eggs in one basket, even after many highschool advisors told me not to, and was heart broken, confused, angry and burnt out.

I then ended up attending a community college, which was something I did not want to do, again it felt like a failure in mind, which again – was such a naive ignorant mindset. I had a lot of time to work on my art, learn to love my life again after taking 5 AP classes my senior year and dealing with the stresses of tattooing and just generally find myself more. I also not only didn’t go into debt, but got extra money from the government because my parents don’t make much money. So truly community college was again a blessing in disguise. From those two experiences alone I like to think things happen for a reason and situations usually end up working out for the better even though it might not seem like it at the time.

During my time in community college I again tried to take every opportunity that came my way, I started my online shop, continued trying to do Youtube, taught a few workshops at a coffee shop, entered art competitions, participated in art markets/conventions, and really just anything I could find in my small town – again just trying to get experience and make a name for myself.

I also worked with an extremely talented sculptor for a while while attending community college. He taught me how to create molds for bronze sculptures, gave me the opportunity to work on murals that were hung around my hometown, and paid me to assist him with his various sculptures. I am really grateful for my experiences with him.

After community college I ended up going to Columbia College Chicago and got my degree in Illustration which is essentially a commercial arts degree- the love child of fine arts and design. I started there in the fall of 2020, so obviously a weird time with the pandemic and all. My classes were all virtual for a while, which was tricky because I definitely believe that one of the most beneficial aspects of college is the connections, which can be harder to make virtually of course.

My first semester of four I met one of my professors and best friends Cheri Charlton, who actually referred me for this interview. I began getting close with her after starting to work as her assistant on murals with her. We have a lot in common as far as our upbringing and our families and just click really well. Cheri gave me so many opportunities within mural work as well as being an assistant to children’s summer art camps, gallery work and much more.

While at Columbia I also just continued to do all the various jobs I had been doing, I made a living and paid my part of rent from mostly pet portraits but also a lot of conventions. I had and have work in a few consignment shops and maintained a Patreon for a while. So throughout my time at Columbia and until fairly recently I sustained myself entirely through freelance, which was stressful to say the least, but also very fulfilling. In college I branched into a lot of different commission work – logos, children’s books, wedding signs, and even an indie film poster (which was so fun to work on!) I still continue to do a lot of these types of commissions.

My final semester (Spring 2022) I had the opportunity through my school to work with a design agency that was working with a larger company creating designs that would go on gift bags/wrapping in large chain stores such as Walmart and Dollar Stores. This and a material and techniques class where we had to create a few repeating patterns really sparked my interest in surface design.

Around the time I graduated I had a big internal conflict of whether or not I wanted to try to get an in house position. One of my good friends had gotten an amazing job offer and I was feeling really incomplete saying I was just doing freelance. Ultimately though, I decided I wanted to try my shot at it without being in school. I think the structure and socialization of school kept me going, and without it I started to just feel really overwhelmed and lonely. I was also extremely burnt out (and honestly am still working through it, mostly getting back to normal now!) from everything I was pushing myself to do. I missed socializing and I feel like I thrive with at least a little creative collaboration, which I did still facilitate for myself. For example, one of my best friends Katelyn McManis, who designed packaging for Fannie Mae, and I started Paper Cat Co. which is a stationery and paper goods company. Unfortunately a lot of our production and selling point was this past fall (Fall 2022) when the economy started going downward, and we felt that in our sales. Paper Cat Co. is still a company that we want to continue with, we just may move in a slightly different direction such as licensing works to larger companies. We also hope to start a design/marketing agency together someday.

After a few months of freelance and the ‘slow-cession’ I started to get really panicky about money and the economy. Throughout highschool and college I self taught myself a lot of graphic design and took a few classes, so I started applying to really any graphic design and/or social media manager position in my area I could find. I got a job at a library as mentioned doing their graphic design work. I really loved it and everyone I worked with, it was very fulfilling and generally fun work, but no matter where I am I always have a longing for more, a bigger goal, a bigger dream, which is actually kind of toxic sometimes, I should learn to be more content, and I am sometimes, I just have a lot I want to do. After a few months of working at the library a great professor of mine recommended a job listing to me – the job I have now (spoiler!) and let me know an alumni worked there so I would have a connection to reach out to. I had only worked at the library for a few months so I had a large internal conflict about leaving, and I also loved the library so much, but ultimately after learning more about the position from the alumni, I knew I had to go for it- it again, was (and is) a dream job for me. I design patterns and illustrations that will be on all types of ALDI products! (A lot of the stuff I have worked on won’t be out for quite a while though unfortunately.)

It was luck (in a way) that an alumni worked there so I had the connection, but It was also the reputation I had with my professor that prompted him to reach out to me. So I think with most things, success can be in part from luck but most of it is hard work.

So that is where I am now, working full time at ALDI and really loving my job. I feel some confliction because I am not doing as much personal art as I would like, but I try to remind myself I am drawing and creating every day for work – 40 hours a week, so I try to be forgiving with myself, but there is still so much I want to do. I plan to publish at least a few books in my life, novels, graphic novels, children’s books etc. I also want to open a design agency like I mentioned (probably not for a while.) A big dream of mine is to write my own cartoon show, Adventure Time is my all time favorite show and I am always so inspired by it. Going into concept art in general for animation is something I am really interested in. So I have a lot of goals, and I guess I get anxious when time is passing and I haven’t been pursuing those as much in my personal time, but again I need to exercise more forgiveness and give myself breaks, especially to avoid burnout, which I am all too familiar with.

When asking the question ‘do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?’ I would say yes. Be fearless, approach people, take most opportunities you can (but still be somewhat selective so you don’t burn out), don’t monetize every creative hobby you love, among a lot of other advice, but no matter the amount of knowledge, it ultimately takes a lot of time and dedication and really just an honest innate love for creating.

I still have a lot I want to accomplish, but I want to acknowledge all of the amazing individuals I’ve had in my life, family, friends, mentors, etc. that helped me with various opportunities or have even just been an amazing support system to me, because truly I couldn’t have done a lot of the things I’ve done without them. I can’t even begin to name everyone and fear I would leave someone important out, but I just want to acknowledge that a lot of people have helped me along the way.

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?

I’m Cecilia Schmitt, I go by the artist name for most of my creative endeavors as ‘Cecilia Jane’ and I’m 23 years old. I love any and all things art – traditional art, digital art, sculpture, ‘crafting’ etc. etc. I think my last winded answer went over a lot of how I got into my industry, but as far as being a surface designer, I think two of the critical aspects I mentioned that got me into surface design was a class that had a project to create repeating patterns, and working with an agency to design gift bags through my school. I also started to do a lot of my own research into surface design and found out about websites like Spoonflower which host weekly(?) competitions for wallpaper, blanket patterns etc., which inspired and motivated me more to create repeating patterns which supplemented my portfolio.

I have always loved turning my artworks into a finished product whether it be an art print, a sticker, a keychain, etc. so when I learned more about the world of surface design and licensing I became so enamored with the idea of creating a design that would be on products all over the country. I think the concept of getting to have your designs all over the country was like my ‘aha’ moment of how to feel somewhat accomplished? I’ve always had big goals, even when I was younger my consistent answer of what I wanted to be when I grew up was a ‘rockstar’ I just loved the idea of having the spotlight and making people happy through it. After taking choir for 6 years, I realized perhaps being a rockstar may be a bit unachievable, especially with my vocal cords. (Also the idea of being an accomplished artist popped into my mind as soon as I could think about the world a little more consciously) Surface Designing is obviously a lot more subtle, but it still has somewhat the same effect. And again, I have a lot of other goals beyond surface designing that I am trying to work toward.

Within those goals is just evolving my own personal brand of ‘Cecilia Jane Art.’ As mentioned I do a lot of commissions that span into an array of subjects/needs. As I continue to grow and learn about myself as an artist and what I want in life I have narrowed it down slowly. For example, after painting probably around 100 realistic pet portraits, I kind of never want to paint a realistic dog again. Before taking the job at ALDI I had an Etsy shop, Patreon, and did conventions and markets almost every week. I sold original works, prints, stickers (sticker packs, sticker sheets, individual stickers, etc.), keychains, bookmarks and so much more. I plan to eventually continue doing a lot of those endeavors just potentially at a smaller scale. Going from freelance to working 40 hours a week at a company has been an adjustment like I mentioned, but overall I am so happy with the route I took. I think going fully freelance is definitely in my future again, I just would want it structured a little differently. I still have products in a few consignment shops, so it’s cool when people tag me on Instagram to show they have bought something I created! (And an extra check here and there never hurts!)

As mentioned Katelyn and I want to take Paper Cat Co. in the direction of licensing designs and are working on that, I also am somewhat actively looking for representation within graphics novels, children’s books and surface design.

Obviously a lot of what I am creating and evolving is for ALDI. I’m not too sure of how much I can disclose of what I am working on, so to err on the side of caution I’m going to try to be somewhat vague. The team I work with is rather small but rapidly growing, which is so extremely exciting. We work very far in advance and work to research what will be trending in the world of surface design in the future. Surface design is generally works created for interior products (pillows, blankets, etc.) and apparel. So again, to be somewhat vague – that is what we create for. My day to day is a lot of illustrating and designing, again a dream job, so I get to exercise my creative skills as well as my creativity.

On a personal note as an illustrator and surface designer, I think what sets me apart is my attention to detail, if you have ever worked with me you know I am pretty meticulous and a bit of a perfectionist. I plan most of my works extremely thoroughly, do a lot of research, and create a lot of concept art and thumbnails. This process I use has a lot to do with the fact that I have been doing commissions for quite a while, and obviously when you work with a client you need to communicate your ideas visually especially in the early stage of development.

As far as what I most proud of, it would be a lot of the projects that I have worked on that have reached a larger audience, so the indie film poster, the bags I have designed in large chain stores, an American Dental poster and worksheets I designed that were distributed all of the United States, selling Christmas cards wholesale to shops in various states, and now obviously designing so many surfaces for products that will be available in ALDI’s all over the country, and even some products internationally. I also have created a few children’s books and zines that are available in various locations. Again, just the idea of works I’ve made being available in shops for consumers to purchase is just so extremely exciting. The idea of having a pillow I designed in someone’s home, even if they don’t know (and probably never will), makes me so giddy.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think the story I mentioned within the first question is a good example of a time I had to pivot in my goals. (Hope this is okay to reference! And I can elaborate on it more if needed!) –

“I had always had college on my mind, and the idea of not going made me personally feel really scared, which was a pretty naive mindset looking back because I know so many talented successful individuals who didn’t attend college, but ultimately I’m happy I did.

I had applied for a pretty prestigious art school in California, and had gotten accepted. I received the presidential scholarship among a few others and still realized there was absolutely no way I could attend without being in debt for the rest of my life. My father, as supportive as he is, refused to cosign on any loans. This broke my heart and we had a difficult relationship during that time of my life but looking back it was definitely a blessing in disguise. The amount for tuition even after all of the scholarships and financial help from the government was insane. I was naive and didn’t really have much concept of debt (Who cares if I was $100,000 in debt? – I do now!) I mistakenly had put all of my eggs in one basket, even after many highschool advisors told me not to, and was heart broken, confused, angry and burnt out.

I then ended up attending a community college, which was something I did not want to do, again it felt like a failure in mind, which again – was such a naive ignorant mindset. I had a lot of time to work on my art, learn to love my life again after taking 5 AP classes my senior year and dealing with the stresses of tattooing and just generally find myself more. I also not only didn’t go into debt, but got extra money from the government because my parents don’t make much money. So truly community college was again a blessing in disguise. From those two experiences alone I like to think things happen for a reason and situations usually end up working out for the better even though it might not seem like it at the time.”

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

This question in particular caught my attention because I believe it can touch on a topic I have seen a lot of creatives discuss lately, and that’s just the idea of creativity and making art being exhausting. I say exhausting in the most neutral way, because I think anything in abundance can be somewhat exhausting, and exhaustion is not always a bad thing (sometimes it’s needed to go to bed at night!)

This is something too, I myself struggle with accepting and understanding, so I’m sure a non-creative individual (although I really don’t think a fully not creative individual exists? Even math is creative in its own way? – I’ve seen beautiful/creative mathematical formulas and spreadsheets for businesses.) would not grasp how draining creating art can be. I work 40 hours a week, and almost every hour I am drawing and designing and loving it, and even though I am loving it I am still tired afterward. (Most of the time.) I know energy levels differ from individual to individual and I would like to think overall mine is relatively high (Especially when I am treating my body right.) I get imposter syndrome because I am feeling inadequate in making my own personal art, and find myself feeling as tired as my partner that does manual labor. I am again slowly trying to accept that exercising my creativity and illustrating (or whatever you do that is creative – writing, making recipes, sculpture work, et.c) can be tiring in its own right. I think a lot of our society (including me) correlates only exhaustion to movement, which is entirely true, but mental work also takes a toll on the body, so in the same right, doing mathematics all day can be tiring as well. Trying to balance that work as well as trying to get movement in is still something I am constantly working on.

I also think in the same note it’s worth mentioning how a lot of the creatives I have talked to feel as though they have a sort of ‘creative battery’ that needs refueling, which can materialize itself in going to museums, reading, talking to other creatives, and even just taking naps. I think a lot of burnout comes from us (creatives) pulling from our creative tank constantly and not taking the time to put inspiration back in. I wish I knew all of the causes of burnout, but I think not taking the time to do that contributes a lot to it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ceciliajaneart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ceciliajaneart
• Facebook: https://b-m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063506259151&_rdr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilia-schmitt-2b44a1225/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CeciliaJaneArt
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPHXkg1chjIVlatIdPD4J7A?app=desktop