We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jazmin Anita a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jazmin, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Someone recently asked me if I was happy where I was and my first instinct was to jump up and say “Yes of course I am! I’m doing my dream job!” And while that’s true, I long for the days where I could create freely without career/financial pressure. My art came to me more authentically when it was a hobby, so now I’m re-wiring my interests and attempting to create the way I did when I was younger; that means sketching for fun, coloring in coloring books, and treating unfinished pieces with the same amount of pride I would a finished one. It’s a struggle being an adult creative with responsibilities to take an ‘unserious’ approach at art, but I think romanticizing it will get me back to a place where I fully appreciate myself as a full-time artist.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m Jazmin Anita and my moniker is JVZMINA (a play on my name). I’m a multi-disciplinary artist but digital art is my medium of choice. I’ve been a creator since birth so there isn’t a set ‘beginning’ to this art journey of mine, but I began to take it seriously in 2017. At the time I was living overseas and deploying with the military, so most of my time was spent on my iPad learning what I could about digital art.

Going into it, I knew I wanted to create the art I didn’t see growing up, which was ethereal portraits of Black people. I wanted to see us in fantasy worlds and dreamscapes and anime, and every other world we weren’t able to take space in. When I opened my store in 2018 and saw the response to the art I shared, it was confirmation that I was on the right path. Having someone tell you that not only did they see themselves in your art, but it inspired them to create worlds of their own is an unprecedented feeling. To this day it’s what motivates me the most. I want to continue to create art that opens doors for others and heal my inner child and I’m proud of myself for being able to work with companies like Marvel, Amazon, and Adult Swim since going full time in 2021. It feels like I’m on my way.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The story of my Netflix collaboration is one of my favorites to share because it was so chaotic, but the end result was immaculate and just perfect. I was on deployment at the time and we had restricted bandwidth/internet, so we only had about a week of service before another month of radio silence, and designated areas all 5000 of us had to fight to use.

It was three days after I got the commission request that I was able to respond to the email and I was worried I missed the opportunity but the next day I received a response and the work began. I had 10 days to create 3 graphics in a style I’d never done before, the ability to send 1 email a day to the correspondent from Strong Black Lead, on top of the 16 hour work days and flight operations on the ship. It was a wild ride and to this day I can’t believe I pulled it off, but the desire to create something at that level trumped my circumstances. I tried to remind myself that that grit still exists within me whenever I feel stressed or unsure about a commission or piece of work.

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

In becoming a full time artist, I’ve realized that creatives are completely undervalued, even in their own field of work. I really want society to view us as more than machines who push out work after work, piece after piece and respect us as human beings who embody everything we create. From sleepless nights to years of creating a discipline, sometimes all of this comes without even a thank you. And we’d still choose this life over anything else.

From fan artists to gallery artists, we deserve to be credited; not in subtext, but out loud. Support upcoming and local artists unconditionally, and without waiting for someone popular/famous to cosign them. Don’t ask for family/friend discounts and if you think the creative is underselling themselves, pay full price and TIP. Remember that you’re not just paying for the art, but the time it took for it to come into fruition. And lastly, if you have the platform–and even if you don’t–give someone a chance. As creatives, sometimes the only things that separate us from success or our next project is OPPORTUNITY, so your support can literally change the trajectory of someones life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jvzmina.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jvzmina/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jvzmina?lang=en