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

Hi Eva , thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been able to make a full time living out of my work through many years of odd-jobs and wearing multiple hats. In the past, I’d been part-time freelance part time barista, waitress, graphic designer, and others. You have probably heard this story before.

It’s a slow grind, think that the most useful thing I could share is that you have to really love whatever the career you are attempting to make full-time. In my case, that was art. The reasoning behind it is that the work won’t feel as hard if you love doing it. There’s obviously still annoying parts that come along with the job (invoicing, updating website, etc.) but the main part of it, you should love. That will motivate the rest.

The second advice that may be helpful is to either make good connections in the industry (this can be done via going to school, go to networking events, putting yourself in the right place at the right time, etc.) – or not being afraid to send your work to as many people as possible! I was actually embarrassingly shameless about promoting myself early on. Now I look at my early work and I don’t like it as much, but I was shameless about promoting it from day 1. That is eventually how people will remember your name.

The third thing I’d like to say is that being a full time artist isn’t about drawing all day: I also teach, I give workshops, I sell art at fairs, galleries, I get commissions – if you break it down like a pie chart, it’s a lot of different things. I think if you’re starting out you have to be comfortable doing that.

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

I got started making art through viewing it as a hobby to pass the time. I went to music school in my undergraduate at Berklee College of Music, and through friends asking me to draw them album covers or band posters, I realized I could make a buck out of drawing. When I graduated, I was super depressed – no one wanted to listen to my music, and I had no motivation to make them do so. I went to my comfort zone instead, which was drawing. That’s kind of how things took off from there. I then moved to New York in 2019.

Drawing for me is a positive place in my mind which is deeply personal and connected to my well-being. I create freelance illustration for magazine, book, advertising, and other forms of digital or print media. I also dabble in fine arts with my traditional work, using ink, gouache, paint, and other mediums. Animation is a fun outlet for me as well. I’ve worked with clients such as Adobe, CNN, the New York Times, Medium, WIRED, Domestika, The New Scientist, LinkNYC, Chilango, and more. I think what sets my work from others is a very specific style I’ve developed, and my ability to adapt that to the story or brand I’m working with. I enjoy that as a challenge, but I also enjoy creating work that is vague in nature.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I enjoy having my free time in the day. I like being able to give myself breaks, fun projects, or time to “Play”. I also enjoy that sometimes my work requires me to research a new topic I need to illustrate, so I can learn some new things along the way.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I started my freelance journey, I was a massive over-worker. I would obsess over a drawing for 9 hours on end, then the next day, I’d do the same thing all over again. At some point, I realized not only was I neglecting my body – also I wasn’t doing it for the right reasons (passion) – I was doing it to prove something to myself, or to others. That I was good enough.

Then In 2019 I injured my hand working on a 24 ft. mural commissioned by a restaurant in the Lower East Side. I was eager to finish it quickly, the restaurant owners were pressuring me to finish it as soon as possible, and I didn’t have much assistance or experience. Long story short – I ended up not being able to use my hand for an entire year and a half. I wasn’t accepting that it was injured, so I kept drawing through the pain. This led to massive depression and anxiety, on top of a global pandemic, that I couldn’t handle.

I ended up having to accept the fact I may never be able to draw again – and decided to face the person who I’d be if I wasn’t an artist. I didn’t know her. I think there is an ego that comes with being an artist that can end up getting very toxic if it’s fed long enough. “I work so hard, I deserve this. If I don’t work hard, I don’t deserve anything”. I ended up getting my hand back, thank goodness – but now I have other aspects of myself that I nurture, which I didn’t before. I am learning new languages, making more friends, showing up for others more often, watching movies…. I never used to do that stuff. Artists are more than just artists! Take a break sometimes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.evaredamonti.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evaredamonti_art/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/redamonti