Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristen Diaz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kristen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
I was actually in my last year of college. I was focusing mostly on Motion Graphics at the time and practicing my craft and figuring things out with After Effects. I had done this scrapbook-style animation that was inspired by the Haunted Mansion because it was and still is one of my favorite attractions at Disneyland. I think I had posted it online and someone actually saw it and really liked it. They were doing a little project about the ride and they wanted to use it. I was still green and had no idea how to respond to it or what to even charge. So I brought it up in my thesis class because I was curious about what my peers thought along with my teacher who had experience in the field.
After that meeting of the minds, I let them use my animation in their project and it turned out to be the start of a lovely working relationship. I continued to work with them by creating several other projects.
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 am born and raised in Los Angeles, where I have been working as a graphic designer for several years in industries ranging from hospitality to entertainment. I originally wanted to be an animator, but as time went on my passions changed during college and I discovered my interest in graphic design. So once I was out of college I hit the ground running looking for a job. I was quickly hired at a restaurant consulting company where I was part of a team that created a variety of different venues around the world from India to Dubai to a popular Cruise Line.
As much as I enjoyed graphic design, I still loved animation and illustration. During the pandemic, I was able to draw a lot more than I had before for myself. From that, I was posting more on social media which started to garner more attention. Soon enough I had people reaching out to me asking if I could create Pinup-inspired logos and artwork for them.
Several of my clients loved that I was able to capture a fun and sassy attitude in my work. They appreciated that I was easy to talk to and took the time to listen to them, unlike other artists they had reached out to.
I am proud that I have had the opportunity to be a part of so many people’s journey to transform their ideas into something tangible. Especially for their small businesses. I want my followers and potential clients to know that I am always excited to chat with them and share my knowledge. But also to live in the moment as well and enjoy where you are in your life. I am looking forward to working with my up-and-coming brands that are ready to shake things up.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Supporting artists is extremely important today because we help reflect what is occurring in society, as well as help preserve traditions of the past. In companies where creativity is a major asset, I believe they need to be open to mentoring young creatives. Mentorships are few and far between, the skills that we can learn from senior creatives are intuitive to the improvement of the next generation. I think artists supporting other artists on social media is extremely helpful. By doing this it creates a stronger community and it expands networking opportunities as well.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I was posting sporadically on my artist account with a couple of pieces that I had created on my own. However, I was working full time and for the majority of the projects I had been working on I wasn’t allowed to show. Because of this, I was pushing myself to create more personal work that used different mediums like traditional skills, photoshop and Illustrator.
Once the pandemic hit, like many I didn’t have much going on, so I turned my focus back on illustrating and posting on my Instagram again. I was being consistent with my posting which helped me gain more followers. However I started to get out of my comfort zone by reaching out to more artists on the platform. I wanted to introduce myself and really establish that I was a fellow artist in this space who appreciated what they were creating. By doing this I was able to make new relationships as well as enter new art circles. Attending events where I was a vendor also helped me gain more of an audience and expose my work to more people. I would advise those who are just starting out to be patient with themselves because it is a marathon instead of a sprint. You need to start somewhere and that is from square one. Being consistent with posting is important, but don’t beat yourself over it. I feel doing that will lead to burnout, you need to create art that is meaningful to yourself and not based on outside influences. I still feel the pressure to constantly post every day, but I try to not let that overwhelm me and control when I post.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kristenywatkins.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedesignerkristen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KristenWatkinsGraphicDesign
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenywatkins/