We were lucky to catch up with Claudia Garcia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Claudia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

I think it was way back when I was a young kid in just middle school, I was always sketching and creating art from an early age and I found myself on Deviantart.com. I was working hard on learning to upload my art onto the site and I remember I had posted a journal that announced “Commissions Open”

I’m sure you wouldn’t be very surprised to know that as I was still learning my craft, my art wasn’t very good yet and I didn’t exactly have 200 potential customers knocking at my door. It felt bad not having anyone bite on my announcement, but Instead of giving up I went on peoples pages that I knew or admired and introduced myself and asked for a sketch commission at literally a dollar,

I got back 3 yes’! Let me tell you that those first $3 meant the world to me, $3 is a lot of money for a young kid.

I ended up saving up all my commission money bit by bit and a little while later to buy my first “big” investment in my art arsenal, I asked my older brother for his amazon account (I wasn’t allowed to have one yet) and I bought myself my first light table to be able to transfer sketches onto a better quality paper. I still have that same tool in my artistic arsenal to this day!

I felt like those first few bucks meant that there was a way I could make a living from something that made me so passionate. Now I just needed to figure out how!

Claudia, 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?

Well I’m a fine art illustrator/Painter I always say. I’ve dabbled and worked on various projects for customers or for friends and I try to expand my skills and knowledge as much as I can. I’ve done everything from character design and comics to ceramics, to pastry to graphic design and writing.

I am currently focusing on selling more personal explorative works that reach into the human psyche and a lot of playful work in general. I think at this point in time, I’m finding what really makes my heart soar in terms of subject matter and medium.

I’m currently brainstorming a Lovely Bones series (name still in the workshop phase) and I think’ I’m going to use acrylic and ink – God I love working in ink! I enjoy the stark contrast of vibrant colors defined by stark black lines and finding a way to make them both “work” in a unique way

I’m currently most proud of this big 33 x 36 inch piece I created for a friend’s charity Gallery Auction about a year or so ago. It was a lovely Day of the Dead themed piece depicting a sugar skull woman and a bunch of monarch butterflies. It was the highest bidding piece in the auction that ended up being sold for $200 to none other than my mom! Cheesy, I know, but she’s one of my biggest supporters and I was so happy to have her there with me.

It’s hard to identify what it is we are good at or what we can bring to the world that is unique and new. All I seek is to make unique pieces that will sing to others, as they sing to me. I want to touch the deepest parts of people’s emotional souls and delve into thoughts of the unconscious mind. I strive to have others see a versatile artist that can bring forth beautiful custom work that they can connect with. To make someone feel something, that is what matters most to me

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Growing up as an artistic kid in a low income immigrant family, I never received many resources in terms of mentoring and tutoring when it came to artistic development. School is the only place I received any sort of artistic education, and I always felt that I needed more, maybe I wanted more than the other kids in my art classes but I feel that even at the high school and University level, students aren’t really given a decent education when it comes to art.

I was an accidental theater kid. My public high school had a magnet program, so I applied for the visual arts section. When I receive my schedule and walk in on the first day of school I see I was misplaced into the theatre program. The teacher at the time, Ms. Mir convinced me to stay for a little while and I am grateful she did. I ended up falling in love with the program and her teaching style. I’ve gotta say I wouldn’t be the person I am today without my 4 years of theater training. I found that theatre teaches not just how to act on a stage, but everything from philosophy, to history, to resume writing and professionalism. In short – it changed my life!

I was lucky, I had an amazing professor who helped me cheat the system a bit by going into both the theatre and visual arts magnet at the same time. I was able to see the duality of what went on in the theatre world versus the visual arts world and I found that the school was heavily biased towards theatre, like by a lot. The students in the art magnet were mixed in with jocks and other students who were only in the magnet program to be able to go to a farther school than what corresponded to them. The fine arts teacher was a quiet and very soft spoken woman who I cared about very much, she was a good teacher full of knowledge and experience but the students were so mixed and disrespectful that she was not able to teach the program properly. There was a lot of disrespect and lack of structure in the courses throughout the years and I feel that is very similar to what happens in the art world today.

I wish that all artistically driven kids/adults were given speech coaching and professionalism tips and everything in between. I find myself wanting to bring that business sense into visual arts just as it is in place in music, dance, and all other arts. I feel fine art programs are either on two extremes; either you create work for you, and you could give a hell about the money, or you create work that is only going to find you money.

I want to find a good middle ground where the financial/business aspect meets the creative/artistic side of things and create a way to show other artists how both can work together to help us make a living creating work that fills us.

I’m still finding a way to do that, but I get closer every day!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

God, there are so many!

I used to listen to a lot of Sycra Livestreams on YouTube as a kid, that series really helped me understand a lot of the thought processes of other artists and helped me figure out how I wanted to improve later in my career.
I read a lot! I love fiction and fantasy novels and watching anime and reading manga, that fueled the creative side of my heart. It made me want to explore a lot of concepts and ideas. I also wrote a lot. Keeping a journal or poetry notebook is just as helpful as keeping a sketchbook. It’s a good way to brain dump when sometimes our hands can’t draw or paint fast enough

Atomic Habits, The Wealthy Barber, and Late Bloomers are great books I always recommend not just for creatives but for everyone.

Millennial Money is a very good financial podcast that I listen to every once in a while, and Slewniverse’s podcast on Youtube are create for listening to other creatives

I suggest picking up podcasts or audiobooks on topics that intrigue you, because we all are attracted to different things. Also listen to a variety of topics and point of views so your mind becomes more open and becomes able to understand opposing sides and viewpoints. As we get older life gets busier and audio format is really good for multitasking

Contact Info:

• Website: Yusmila.com
• Instagram: @Yusmila.arts
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdBuq1f53Q0Jo7d_u9FWoFQ

Image Credits
Photographs Taken by me for my company Yusmila LLC