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

Isabela, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?

For many of us, it takes quite a few different activities to be able to earn a full living wage that is sustainable. For me specifically it’s a combination of selling art pieces, social media income, taking commissions, making merchandise, having online stores, doing markets and comic conventions and participating in open calls for public art, contests or project proposals.

After almost eight years of nonstop work in this MO, I now I gain royalties from designs I’ve sold to brands which earn me a monthly income. Most recently I was offered a deal for a graphic novel after doing a comission for a publisher- which is what I’m focusing on right now.

But basically, you have to be able to merchandise and market your art and yourself, and not be afraid to try out multiple avenues of revenue. Ultimately the work you do starts building up, and soon enough you dont have to do as much to earn well! You’ll see. It pays off.

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

I’m an artist. Plain and simple. For I have been multidisciplinary in many forms of art, and I’m skilled in everything from oil paints to ceramics, my expertise shines through in Illustration. My preferred mediums have to be Alcohol Based Markers, Gouache and Digital (procreate), but I often pick up different mediums to play around. In my spare time I even do Collage.

I don’t feel like I ever “got into” the industry until very, very recently. I just did my own thing, marketed myself and created my own products and brand. I had to be DIY girl for everything, from website to customer service.

My website is my main store, supported by several social media channels, where i sell my finished art pieces, as well as prints, merch and my own clothing line. Although recently everything is on pause as I work on my first full graphic novel.

My job is to create visual solutions for my clients concepts, wether they be brands, writers, or individuals- and nowadays they seek me out for my particular aesthetic. At the beginning clients would request commissions in some other “style” of art, but eventually, after building up my portfolio and aesthetic, they started coming to me for my specific style. This takes years, but it is so gratifying.

These days, I happened to break into the comic book industry, and somehow go myself neck deep into the process of creating my first graphic novel. That leaves me little time to focus on anything else- but this is a the largest long term project I’ve worked on so far, and so far, it seems promising. I cant wait to be able to share more about it!

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

I understand that currently supporting art is a luxury a lot of people can’t afford, and that art isn’t necessarily the most “essential work” but a lot of artists like myself offer much more affordable pieces of what could be called mini art in the form of products, that cost much less and you can still enjoy. From a sticker, to a notebook, to a poster print.

I think people should stray away from shopping for their artwork from big corporations and fast online fashion and try to buy from independent creators! That is the single most helpful and nourishing thing society can do to support creatives and artists.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I created consistently every single day and put almost all my efforts into building my audience. That meant spending a LOT of time of social media platforms, being up to date with the latest algorithm changes and trends, and creating every single day. It’s a full time job, honestly.

For some it’s easier than others, for me it took years to get to 10k, but once I hit that number, I kind of stopped caring about creating FOR social media and started creating what gave me personal fulfillment. In the beginning doing a lot of challenges and trends is extremely helpful to grow. Grow you page to at least 10k and then you’ll be good. That’s the unofficial “official” professional number.

These days social media doesn’t offer much incentive for creatives, in my opinion. I stopped putting my efforts into creating content and started focusing on creating art. Now social media is an afterthought, and thank god, because I dislike the concept as a whole.

Soon jobs will come through your profiles though, inquiries at first, and slowly, projects. Most recently I finished a commission for a publisher, and they loved my work so much that they asked my if I did any writing- to which I responded with a pitch for my own original graphic novel idea. They signed me on, and now I get to focus 100% on doing the work i love instead of investing so much time and effort on socials! It’s a blessing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.isabelaescobar.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabelaescobart/
• Twitter: @isabelaescobart
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QVU5cGjYH3RY7qksbzgAw

Image Credits
all images are copyright Isabela Escobar