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

Itzel, appreciate you joining us today. Are you 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?

I’ve been earning a living from my creative work for about 13 years now. Soon after I graduated from art school, I got a full-time design job specializing in t-shirt design. A couple of years later, I started working for a bigger company where I spent 8 years of my career designing apparel. It was mainly licensed apparel (Disney, Star Wars, and Marvel) for major retailers (e.g., Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, etc.) Towards the end of my time working for that company, I started designing things for fun. Little by little I created work for my Instagram account, and designed smaller merchandise, such as stickers and keychains. It was around late 2019 that I knew I wanted to leave my full-time job and attempt to earn a living as a freelance graphic designer. However, I wasn’t sure of when to do it, and didn’t feel fully confident to do so (aka I felt scared!) Once the pandemic hit in March 2020, things changed drastically at the company I worked at and my mental health was being affected severely. I stayed a few months until I decided I had to quit. Losing my stable paycheck during a pandemic definitely fueled how seriously I approached my business. I’ve been working as a full-time freelance graphic designer & illustrator since.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Itzel Islas (she/her) and I’m a freelance graphic designer and illustrator based out of San Diego, California. I grew up in Tijuana, México, which inspires a lot of my work and my brand, YAY Itzel. Other sources of inspiration are my Mexican culture, vibrant color palettes, and playful elements of everyday life. Ever since 2016, my mission has been to provide a positive bi-cultural impact through design and empower folks to pursue their creative career.

My main focus as a graphic designer is on branding and identity (I design lots of logos, packaging design, and lately, murals!) I truly enjoy helping businesses find their voice and create a brand that truly tells their story and resonates with their core audience.

Besides being a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, I also have my own brand, called YAY Itzel. Having this brand has allowed me to turn my designs into tangible products. I mainly focus on stationery (looots of stickers and greeting cards) and accessories (berets, keychains, etc.) which can all be found on my online store.

YAY Itzel is my umbrella for all the things I create and the projects I dream up. Such as my Patreon, where I create a monthly sticker and ship it out to my subscribers. As well as providing behind-the-scenes photos and videos. Another example is the workshops, meetups, and creative events I organize. I love working with my community and creating fun events where like-minded people can meet and connections can be made.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are two immediate things that come to mind when I think of the most rewarding aspect of being an artist. The first one is being able to collaborate with my community (whether it’s other artists or local businesses.) The second one is being able to bring my designs to life, as products, and have people want to buy them.

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

Hire us! Hiring an artist/creative is the best way to show support. However, I know that’s not always possible, so sharing our work is the next most helpful thing you can do. Exposing our work to other people might help us grow our following (which can help with partnerships and brand deals), get our work in front of art directors and people that can hire us for projects, and also help put our products in front of new potential customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yaylandia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yayitzel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YayItzelStudio
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yay.itzel Threads: https://www.threads.net/@yayitzel?hl=en

Image Credits
All photographs taken by me.