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

Hi Chaz, thanks for 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?
The last three jobs I had as a graphic designer (working for other companies) were incredibly frustrating. I was underpaid, woefully undervalued and, being a person of color, I experienced racism. Systemic racism is something I was used to dealing with, but I came to the realization that there was very little I could do to change it. I struck out on my own because it gave me more control over my fate, my career, my salary and my life. Furthermore, I immediately gained the one thing that I longed for – respect. This path was not easy and I struggled quite a bit for the first five years. But during that time, I learned how to market myself, learned branding, learned how to run my own business, how to gain new clients, learned about how to write and read contracts, how to meet deadlines and how to work WITH clients to create their vision. None of these lessons were being taught at Art Institute – I had to learn them on my own. I also worked very very hard to improve my art, learn new techniques, new programs and tools and how to work smarter, not harder.

Chaz, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was working in the medical industry for a German company called Comeg. My boss was a graphic artist and when he found out that I was an artist, he taught me how to do art on computer. After learning from him, he encouraged me to study at the Art Institute of Colorado. When I finished, he further encouraged me to get a job as a graphic artist and the rest, as they say, is history. I am now a professional illustrator. I focus on fantasy, sci-fi, horror, steampunk and cyberpunk. I do posters, book & magazine covers, personal commissions and images for role-playing game industry. Because I worked very hard to develop my own artistic style, my illustrations are pretty unique. I provide custom illustrations for clients that really want their products to stand out from the crowd. As my name becomes bigger, having my art on their covers brings them more attention as well because my fans will want to buy their products, just because it features my art. In 2018, I completed a 3-year project – the SteamPunk-focused “Ashelon Oracle Deck”, The deck features several diverse characters and reflect my passion for inclusivity within my beloved geek community. I’ll be starting another project soon, within the CyberPunk genre. This will grant me another opportunity to feature a diverse cast of characters as well as flash-fiction stories from some of my favorite authors.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
That you cannot let another person define what success is for you. We see these “success” stories all the time. People who had a rough time of it and then suddenly fame and fortune fell into their laps and now life is roses and money as far as the eye can see. The reality is that that kind of success only happens to a tiny percentage of artists. So many of us try to pursue this dream of “making it big” – but doing that made me sad, unfulfilled and unsatisfied. I was so consumed with this idea that I had to be rich and have my face on magazines that I totally missed the real important thing: Being able to paint for a living as a professional illustrator working for myself. So now my definition of success is having a lot of happy clients that continue to want to hire me and who respect me. I also love having fans that actually want to buy my work and put my art on their walls. How cool is that? Being an illustrator makes me very happy – and that’s what I consider to be the most important thing in the world.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I had paid more attention to YouTube before I attended Art Institute. You can learn whatever you want from YouTube and from various blog posts by professional artists. I’ve learned so much more on my own utilizing the free resources from the internet than I ever did from University. A.I. was a complete waste of time and money. My degree didn’t guarantee me a job or a particularly good salary. If you’re really good at your job, you can write your own ticket as a freelance artist. There is no need to waste thousands of dollars to get a worthless degree all so that you can go work for someone else who won’t appreciate you. Especially if you’re a woman or a person of color. As a freelancer, people judge your work and your reputation – which is ultimately what you want and where you want to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chazkemp.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chaz.kemp
• Other: My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChazKemp My Oracle Deck: https://www.etsy.com/listing/635841721/ashelon-oracle-deck