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

Fernando, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I have always been interested in drawing. I think I owe that to my mother, she is a doctor but she always loved drawing especially anatomy sketches.

But the first time I knew that I wanted to pursue a creative path was when I was a child and I saw The Lord of the Rings behind-the-scenes documentary, in that picture they showed drawings and designs of how they created the world, creatures, heroes, and much more for the movie and I immediately fell in love with that, although I did not know what that was at the moment.

Fernando, 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?

My name is Fernando Silva I am 34 years old and I am originally from Mexico but I have been living and working in The Netherlands for about 7 years now.

How I got into the industry was a bit of a bumpy road since like I said, when I was young I knew what I wanted to do but I did not know how to get them what could be a “job” so by the time needed to go to university I really did not know which path to choose.

So in the beginning, I went to study computer science since I thought I could work in videogames, and it was sort of a safe path. but after a few semesters, I knew this wasn’t for me and ended up changing my career to Architecture. The reason why I chose architecture instead of something more related to art or concept art was that nothing similar existed back then in my country it only existed in countries like the USA or Singapore which for me were a bit out of the scope since I could never afford the tuitions the universities asked in those countries.

During my Architecture career, I fell in love with conceptual design and the illustration part of it so when I finished my degree I started working as an Illustrator for companies, creating realistic images of their designs. after a few years working in Mexico, I got the opportunity to move to The Netherlands and work at Mecanoo Arkitekten doing illustration for them. after a few years there I decided to move and work in other companies that did illustration for big architect companies, which gave me the opportunity to work in some of the biggest projects that are being developed right now.

After working in the architecture industry for 7 or 8 years I decided that I wanted to change and really follow what I have always wanted to do, which was to do concept art for videogames or movies. so over the period of 2 years, I decided to study in the evenings, taking classes and courses. I also started being more visible on social networks like Instagram or Artstation which in the end ended up getting me my first job in concept art.

I think if I need to say something would be if you really are passionate about something you should try to achieve it even if you don’t do it to the extent you want you will always be happier if you try.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding thing about being able to work as an artist is, even though it sounds like a cliche, I feel like I am not working, It feels like working on a personal project or a hobby most of the time. There will always be projects that you would prefer not to work on but that is part of it and usually difficult or uncomfortable projects are the ones that help you grow the most.

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

One of the biggest pivots or changes in my career/life was when I got offered a job abroad, it is always something I dreamed about but I was never really ready for it until it happened. I would not be where I am without taking it but also taking it had a lot of implications.

For instance, I needed to leave all the things I knew like my family, friends, and the city where I grew up. But if I hadn’t done it believe I would have never grown like I did, getting out of your comfort zone is one of the best things you can do, you will always learn more from a difficult situation than from an easy one.

I think this experience taught me a lot not only in my personal life but also in my career. For every project or challenge I get I try to do my best and learn as much I can from it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artstation.com/fnandos
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernando_silvag/

Image Credits
Fernando Silva