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

Lilibeth, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

As a kid, I loved all things art. I have fond memories of watching a show on Disney Channel called Out of the Box hosted by the lovely Vivian Bayubay and Tony James. My favorite part of the show was their segment on arts and crafts. A lot of the time ,I didn’t have all the right materials to follow along, but there was a halloween episode where they made ghost with tissue paper, cotton and a black marker. I remember the joy of being able to follow along in one of their crafts. That really ignited my love for the arts (and halloween) . The next time an adult asked me what I wanted to be as a grownup, I proudly exclaimed “artist!… or a vet!”

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?

Knowing that I wanted to be an artist from a young age, I really tried to take advantage of the learning opportunities that were accessible to me. In high school, I made sure that I took as many art classes that I could. I took art all four years, including the 2 years of AP art (at one point I had a regular art class in the morning and then AP art class in the afternoon). I also took art adjacent courses like graphic design and video graphics. During the summer before my senior year of high school, I was a accepted into the animation course for CSSSA (California state summer school for the arts). It was a month long program where we were taught about animation and experimented with different animation mediums. This program was such a valuable and fun time for me. When I graduated from high school, I applied to a small college in the Silicone Valley and I studied computer animation, until I realized that I was not very good at the technical aspect of animation. So I switched my major and instead focused on entertainment design. At this point in my college journey I really had no idea what kind of jobs were a part of the animation industry, I just knew that I wanted to work in animation. It wasn’t until my last year of college that I realized my strengths lied in painting and color. Although my school didn’t have a background painting course, I did manage to build a background painting portfolio before I graduated. However, after graduating I realized that my portfolio was not industry ready yet. I was getting rejected from every job that I applied for. I also had not managed to land an art internship during college, so it felt as if I didn’t have much going for me. To motivate myself to keep creating art I applied to a couple of small comic conventions. I really enjoyed having full control of the art that I was creating and having the chance to create fan-art for shows that I was a huge fan of. This was really my first dabble into the world of illustration. I had thought about being a children’s book illustrator before, but I had no idea where to start so it was always more of an afterthought. I started posting more actively on my instagram and joined art challenges like #childhoodweek to practice drawing in a more children’s book friendly manner. Simultaneously, I hadn’t given up on my ambitions to be a background painter and with the help of my lovely partner, I was able to take a color and light course taught by the insanely talented Kat Tsai. It was during this course that I felt like my skills finally leveled up. I had a portfolio that people were reacting positively to. Around this time I also landed a couple of mentorships. The first was a visual development mentorship with the wonderful Tara Nicole at Women in Animation, and the second one was part of a mentorship program at Scholastic for underrepresented illustrators with the fantastic Elizabeth Parisi. Their support and guidance really helped me transition from a student to a professional artist. However, it wasn’t until a year later that I finally landed my first background painting gig. It was a short term role at Studio Smokescreen, where I got to paint all the backgrounds and also do color design for their debut short film ‘Tent Sale’. I am incredibly thankful for Studio Smokescreen for giving me the opportunity to prove myself as a professional artist. Their mission as a bridge studio is to provide a pathway for underrepresented and marginalized talent. I’ve been lucky enough to work with Studio Smokescreen on 3 projects and would work with them any day! And although my background painting career hasn’t really taken off, I appreciate and value my experience there. On the side, I continued to work on my illustration skills and took as many illustration courses online that I could find. During one of these courses I actually created a first draft of a dummy book that landed me my agent and my first publishing deal (My debut book comes out in summer 2025)! All this to say, I am always looking for ways that I could continue to learn. I feel like there is still a lot left for me to learn and i’m open to where my skills will take me. My work has been primarily freelance and self employment, but I hope to one day find stability in my career as an artist.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

One of my biggest goals as a creative is to be worthy representation. As a Mexican-American artist from an immigrant family, it is not often where I get to see myself in media. It is important to me to maintain my identity and culture and include it into my art. I hope to one day be a guiding light to people who come from a similar background and who may have the same goals. I also just want to make my family proud at the end of the day.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I believe that going to an art school isn’t a requirement to be successful as an artist. Taking courses at your local community college is such a valid approach to education that people sometimes dismiss. There is also an incredible amount of resources online that can provide a more focused and affordable art education. I highly recommend looking up courses on websites like Domestika, Skillshare, Schoolism, Youtube, and even from artist that you follow on social media. This is really a good way to learn directly from professionals who have the insight to teach you what the job really entails. Information is there, you just have to seek it out and apply it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lilistrations.weebly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilistrations/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilibeth-jimenez-5a5794157/