Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Freddie Crocheron. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Freddie, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

I am an illustrator with 8 years of professional experience under my belt. I started my career doing children’s books while in college at the Columbus College of Art & Design. At the time that I started finding clients, social media was at an early version of what modern social media is today. Instagram and Twitter could be major career makers for anyone making creative content. I utilized this to my advantage and would market myself through my profile. From there I went on to work with many black independent businesses local to Columbus, Ohio. I would also design covers for underground/up and coming music artists that would find me through social media.

For a little over a year, I have begun to branch out and search for opportunities in non profit and community spaces. What I have learned, and wish that I knew earlier is the value in working with others. In my mind as a young professional, I saw myself as this creative super power that could handle business, money, marketing, and designing all at the same time. Admittedly, this mindset was problematic for me. I cannot speak for others, but for myself I work at my best when some of those other layers to managing creative work are completed by another party. There is value in working for a company or an organization that gives you work directly instead of trying to manage clients independently. There is also value in having things like a 401k, health insurance, and paid vacations. There are two sides to every coin, but I am at a point in my career where I am interested in what it looks like to not have to rely on myself for satisfying so many needs.

Over the past year I have grown immensely, and it’s all thanks to the institutes and organizations that have been patient enough to teach me how to work with others within my industry. Not every opportunity has been specifically making. I have had the pleasure of teaching, doing workshops, and gallery directing. These are opportunities that when I first started, I would definitely have turned down because illustrating was my world. It will never not be my world, but there should be room to have a multi faceted career that isn’t reliant on a single skill set. I am proud of how far I have gotten myself alone, but I truly feel that if I had the hindsight to search for the people who could maximize my creative practice, I would potentially be farther ahead as someone who illustrates and designs for a living.

Freddie, 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?

A little about what I make specifically, I am a digital illustrator that specializes in cartoons and comics. I also have a background in motion design/animation, and creative graphic design. I started my professional career with a children’s book for a local writer in Columbus, Ohio. I illustrated the cover, handled all of the text, and illustrated 23 pages of a book dedicated to the author’s youngest daughter. From there, I started to illustrate music covers for local rappers and up and coming alternative artists in the city.

After 3 years of working, I had the opportunity to learn animation and motion graphics from a company started by two friends of mine. The Sunshine Mall is a digital media company that specializes in animated projects. For a year, I worked as a storyboard artist and animation assistant.

From there my career actually took a bit of a hiatus during the pandemic. I worked with a handful of clients here and there, but my work flow slowed down dramatically. Since the world has opened up, in 2022 I began again doing art shows and selling prints, shirts, and stickers at local fleas and markets. Currently, I have moved from Ohio and now live in Austin, Texas where I have a day job as a graphic designer. I work for the Carver Museum, a black community center that curates art exhibitions, public programming, and hosts a genealogy center for African Americans interested in tracing their ancestry.

I am at the moment most excited for my online comic, Jefferson. I release new strips weekly and have been enjoying the process of getting back to making work for myself.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think that being creative currently is very interesting. It is a blessing to make money as an artist, but it can be a double edged sword. Currently the relationship between people and technology in my opinion is suffocating the necessity of human imagination. This argument is not pointed, I contribute to this issue as well as a doom scrolling, social media consumed 20 year old. To me it feels like where are in a very new and unpredictable point in time where art is no longer art, it is content. My teachers and the artists that I aspire to be like are all battling with preserving their careers in the age of social media and constant online entertainment, I believe that the function of art is becoming undervalued, amongst many other things.

Being a creative professional is tough to navigate. I can speak from experience and from my relationships with other artists and designers, that creatives usually think different. We live different, we handle the stresses of life different, our view of the world is different. The process of making work is undeniably one of the greatest feelings to experience, however sharing your finished product can be unfulfilling. Uncertainty and insecurity are constants, it is a vulnerable line of work to get into.

I don’t want to sound too pessimistic about my experiences haha. I say all of this to say that the work that I do, and others like me do is not easy. It can be fun, especially if the work is serving ones self. But making for corporations, businesses, and clients is a challenge. It can be a daunting task to take the dreams and desires of someone else into your care, and to nurture their vision to reality. However, I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything else in the world, I was made for this life.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I believe that in order for art to stay authentic, our governments must see the value in creating sustainable infrastructures for creative workers. I would argue and say that there is a constant push and pull relationship with art and society. What could be helpful now, is if our cities had an infrastructure for creative communities. Columbus, Ohio for example has the GCAC (Greater Columbus & Arts Council), which provides millions of dollars to artists through grants and community programming. It is not the end all be all, but as a creative I have always appreciated that Columbus had the ability to support its arts community in that way. Organizations like GCAC benefits both the community and the artist, the artist is able to make work that is financially supported by the city which then creates opportunities for communities and neighborhoods to interact with art form a variety of disciplines.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freddie.crocheron/