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

Jules, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I think it was in elementary school, actually! Growing up, I had always loved art, drawing, painting, and whatever other creative endeavors I could think of. My friends always knew me as one of “the art kids” and my mom would frequently scold me for coming home covered in marker tattoos. I knew people could do art professionally at the time, but I wasn’t really aware of any other art-related job other than “painter”.

The way I discovered that I, a regular person, could make digital art was actually through Club Penguin. I was obsessed with the game as a kid, and they would have some kind of fan-art section on their blog every week. I forget what it was called, but I do remember some very pretty digital art getting submitted one week. I had been exposed to digital art beforehand, but I don’t think I realized it was something that a normal person could get into.

After that, I was completely entranced with digital art. I would spend DAYS on YouTube binging speed-paints, aspiring to be like the artists that I saw bring the drawings that I loved to life. I begged my parents to get me a drawing tablet and a drawing program (I was 9 or 10). I remember my dad bringing home a Wacom Intuos 3 from his work one day, hooking it up to our family computer, and saying “Have at it, kid.” From the second that pen hit the tablet on MS Paint, I knew it was never going to be something I’d be able to put down.

And I never did! It’s been 10 years since I started my journey as a digital artist. I’ve gone through countless tablets and drawing programs, and I love it now more than ever.

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?

Hi! I’m Jules Stein, I’m a digital illustrator, game developer, and aspiring visual effects artist.

My illustrations are what I’m most known for, as I’ve been making them for over 10 years. I love playing with interesting lighting and color setups! My goal is to make all of my work look like it’s “glowing”. I love using brushes and blending to make my digital work look like it was painted by hand. I also love creating fantasy characters and worlds, which usually end up as the focus for my illustrations. If you have a character brewing in your mind that you’ve been dying to get an illustration for, I’m your guy!

Besides my digital illustration, I’ve been lovingly called a “jack-of-all-trades” in my creative endeavors. I’ve dabbled in pretty much everything, from 3D modeling, to writing, to voice direction. I frequently tell my project directors that I’m happy to help however I can, and I’m always open to learning more skills.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I just really want to make people happy!

A lot of my childhood was spent playing/watching my favorite series (games, TV, etc.) and getting a lot of comfort and joy out of it. I would sit down for hours, drawing fan-art and talking to my friends about my latest “favs” (characters I was fond of). Many sad or hard days for me were always helped a little bit by throwing myself into series I liked. As I’ve grown up, I want nothing more than to be able to give that same happiness to someone else with my work. If someone can come back from a hard day, look at my work or play my games, and forget about some of the difficulties of life for a moment, that’s all I could ever hope for.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I would really encourage people to try out something creative as a hobby. I think sometimes, non-creative people see creativity and art as some otherworldly thing that they could not possibly accomplish, that it’s some sort of talent that you are born with and can never learn. I hear people say this all the time, “I can’t even draw a stick figure!”

I’m always grateful for my intrinsic creativity, but I think everyone has an artist in them, no matter how small. I know it’s really daunting to start something new and not immediately be good at it, but that’s part of the fun! I didn’t start my creative journey as Picasso, and I’m not even close to there today. If you try and take up a hobby that’s creative and stick with it for a while, I think it can really open your eyes that art is something everyone can do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://julesmstein.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steinonthemind/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jules-stein-8360a230b
• Other: https://steinonthemind.itch.io/