We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cymone Wilder a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cymone, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you signed with an agent or manager? Why or why not?

I’m not kidding when I say that working with my agent has been game changing. Before working with him, the full-time freelance consideration wasn’t even remotely on the table for me, and now it’s the next step.

For several years I was going it alone. I was disorganized, slow to communicate, and signed most contracts without batting an eye. The upside to this approach was holding on to all money earned. The downsides however were plentiful.

A few years ago, a friend of mine and fellow artist suggested I trial a project or two with his agent just to see if I’d find it useful. In my head I thought, “why would I pay some guy to do things I’m already doing for myself”. It just seemed silly, despite all my struggles dealing with clients, contracts, schedules, and budgets.

Then I got an inquiry from Nickelodeon, and the contract was…lengthy, and had a lot of language I didn’t feel comfortable navigating myself. So, I trialed working with this agent.

It was just so refreshing working with someone who handles all the things I hated, so that I could just do the art. And he proposed budgets well beyond what I ever requested myself. The value spoke for itself, and I haven’t looked back.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

By day, I am a senior art director working at one of the world’s largest tech companies (you can probably guess which one). By night (or really any other hour outside of the 9-5) I am a lettering artist working under the pseudonym Simon and Moose. My lettering style is often defined as rough, gritty, vibrant, and hopefully authentic. While much of my work is digital, I like for the viewer to feel as though they can touch and feel the textures.

Growing up I always gravitated towards doodling letters in the margins of my school notebooks. By the time I got into college to study art, that little interest in letters grew alongside my general understanding of the subject. Plus, this was around the time Instagram was just beginning, so I jumped into the viral 365-project format, and shared a lettering piece each day for a year. Again, getting the chance to grow my skill, understanding, and now, a bit of an audience.

From there I dove into the my first job post-grad creating lettering based social posts, and laying out coffee table style magazines. All while picking up the occasional side project, typically focused on lettering-forward branding.

Now, 10 years later I find myself more or less using the same set of skills as I navigate creating components for brand systems that better serve our team members and customers, and creating lettering that feels as true and authentic as the clients I create it for. While the two sides of my job, at times, look very different, I still anchor all my work on a couple of core beliefs. I try to create the best work that I can with exactly what I have at my fingertips (a skill picked up early on in my college days). And, I try to make the environment that I work in feel like a safe place for all who cross my path. Whether, that means being the colleague whom you can shoot the shit with, or if it’s sharing my knowledge of the craft so that younger designers/artists have an easier time entering into this industry.This work has many peaks and valleys, but I’ve found that sticking to those truths, balances out the journey for me.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I try to create the best work that I can with exactly what I have at my fingertips. When I was in college, like for many, money was scarce, and the need for cash to buy art supplies was abundant. My way through that was to pick up small freelance gigs for extra cash, and by getting art projects done with cheap materials that I already had access to. The skill to make great work with very little, is easily the most valuable thing that I picked up in college. It has allowed me to get creative in ways that I wouldn’t if I had all the flashy tools, and it has also allowed me to keep budgets lean and clients happy.

More recently, I’ve tried to make the environments that I work in feel like a safe place for all who cross my path. I know that I can’t change the whole world, but I can at least make the little spaces that I occupy a little less bad for the people around me. At my day job, this usually looks like being the person my coworkers can talk shit with, decompress with, or have fun while navigating the daily ambiguity and frustrations of the job. On the freelance side, this means sharing knowledge that’s been shared with me, rather than holding it close to my chest. This can also look like being transparent with others when things are hard or confusing.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Creating art and being creative feels like the most authentic way to connect with other people. And as a Quality Time person, that is an incredibly valuable currency to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://simonandmoose.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/simonandmoose