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

Alright, Joy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I’m incredibly happy and content as a full time illustrator. I love what I do and I had the privilege of knowing what it was like to work in a full time job before this – and I would never go back. There are really wonderful things about having a full time corporate job, but my work now gives me such fulfillment that I don’t think I could personally ever get from anything else.

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

I started illustrating as a hobby to escape the 9-5 I was working at the time. My first job post-graduate degree was in software, and I was creating icons and other supporting graphics for it. It was a great first job and I was so lucky to have it. But I was definitely looking for something more creative to do in the evenings and on the weekends. I started taking online classes and pursuing selling my illustrations for fun, learning about different kinds of surface illustration mostly. I learned about textiles, housewares, and stationery, and how to create art for those formats. When I moved to Philly, I ended up in a new corporate job and illustrating turned out to be a lifeline for me, my new job was difficult for a number of reasons and my evenings and weekends of creativity gave me a lot of joy that I just didn’t have in my day-to-day work. During that time I developed enough of a portfolio that I was able to take a leap into full time creative work. I was really leaping without a net, but I thought I had nothing to lose. My first big jobs were illustrating patterns for a textile house, and artwork for a puzzle company – that’s still for sale today.

It’s been about 9 years since then and its been a lot of peaks and valleys to make full time illustration be a financially stable career. I think the practice of working to make the business work is just as much of a practice as the actual illustrating and developing your skillset and style. Some people might tell you not to compromise the art for the sake of work, and some might tell you to just take any job you can – I think there’s a balance somewhere in the middle and a newer artist might find themselves on either side of that coin at any given time, going back and forth between taking jobs they may not like and then refusing certain types of work because its not a good fit for where they want to go.

I still make most of my full time income through artwork created for puzzles. The fact that they are sold around the world still shocks me a bit when I think about it! I’m most proud of that work and sort of carving a niche out for myself with my work in this way. Puzzles are such a fun way to enjoy art with friends and family and I love being a part of that for the people who buy them.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think in the same way we are valuing a slower pace with certain aspects of retail, valuing art in the same way. Art takes time and behind great art is a person – who needs rest just like anyone else. Behind every package, paper, or product you’ll ever see there’s an artist who made the art that was put on it – whether a freelancer or a corporate hired artist – and I think cultivating good art that tells a story is something should be nurtured, and not with an expectation that the person constantly produce something new every day.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

One of my favorite things to hear someone say about my work is that it reminds them of a memory or a place, and I love that nostalgia can give us comfort and remind us of things we’ve learned or the things that are truly important. I love that my artwork is a part of that in someone’s life – that they can look at something I’ve created hanging on their wall or as they piece together a puzzle and they can instantly be transported somewhere that gives them comfort in that moment. Being able to provide that for people is the most rewarding for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: joylaforme.com
• Instagram: @joylaforme
• Other: Pinterest @joylaforme

Image Credits
Laurel Creative