We were lucky to catch up with Monet Kifner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Monet, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’ve always pursued visual art since I was a child. I was able to monetize that on occasion in my teens and then started to take clients as a student studying illustration in college. Once I actually experienced what it felt like to earn enough money to pay my bills and even save for the future was a huge moment for me. Not only was it validating to myself as an illustrator/artist but I felt happy and immense gratitude that i could make my family proud by being able to have ‘success’ in my field. They supported me through it all and still do now.

I’ve now been steadily earning an income that provides me with a nice life for a year. Thankfully, not only has it been steady, I’ve been busy and have had to turn down opportunities because my illustration schedule exploded. I realize this can be short lived, that’s the nature of freelance but I am hopeful that with hard work and appreciation of the process, I can continue to grow and thrive in illustration.

Monet, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Monet Alyssa, I’m a freelance illustrator living in Buffalo, NY. I have my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration from The Fashion Institute of Technology. I graduated in 2019 and have been working as a professional illustrator since 2020.

I’ve been drawn to the visual arts since I was a kid making weird crafty things at my grandmas house. I come from a family that embraces the arts. I have three grandmothers on my mothers side that were artists themselves. This laid the foundation in which I could thrive as an artist throughout my childhood and now as an adult.

Being a child who was interested in art and showed skill at a young age, my family put me on the path to pursue such endeavors.
From 5th grade onwards I went to ‘art school’. The first step on this path was testing to get in to The Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts. I had to submit a portfolio and draw a still life in a room surrounded by others; It was awesome and nerve wrecking.

After attending B.A.V.P.A.(Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts), I attended The Fashion Institute of Technology for Illustration.

Studying illustration was a turning point in my life creatively. It helped by focusing me on one area of study within visual arts. What drew me to it was the emphasis on draftsmen-ship skills and the necessity for cultivating skills in story telling and communication. Not to say fine arts, or other fields do not deal in this, I personally, gravitated towards the illustrator approach to these ideas of image making.

After graduating, I moved back to Buffalo and worked on my portfolio with the intent on making it presentable to potential clients and agents. Not only that, but to be particular in what I wanted in my portfolio in order to get the jobs I want(duh). I didn’t want to get stuck drawing things I didn’t want to draw.
However, personal projects was the perfect answer to that. After posting my illustrations online after a year and a half or so yielded me a project with Adult Swim. They wanted me to make a phone screen saver for their show ‘Dream Corp, LLC.’ That was my first big professional job where I received, what I like to call, a ‘big girl pay check’.

Following the Adult Swim illustration, things kind of fell in to place in terms of getting projects. One project lead to another and I’m now thankfully represented by the Jacky Winter Group whom I’ve been with for nearly a year.
The internet is a crazy place and it was the exposure via my website and instagram that lead me to being able to break in to my field by being able to share my work with swaths of people.

Pursuing illustration has given me the perfect answer to incorporating my interests. Being able to overlap drawing, story telling, poster design, music, fashion, and typography (to name a few).
Much of my work is inspired by music, pop culture, women, fashion and design movements such as Art Nouveua and Art Deco.

Furthermore, I think like most artists, I draw what I like, haha. In my free time, I draw and study what I chose. but when I’m approached by a client to make something, that’s a collaboration of sorts; that’s what I dig about the collaboration between the illustrator and an art director (or whoever the client is) in creating something cool. Not only that, but the subject matter presented is often pretty awesome and challenging creatively. Most times, I wouldn’t have thought to draw what an A.D. had in mind. In that way, It helps me grow as an artist working with others who also are creative and have a different perspective.
(Not to say the projects where an A.D. lets you run wild aren’t fun!)

I’m thankful to have worked with, The New Yorker, Wired, Khruangbin, Vanity Fair, Barney’s NY, Where Are The Black Designers, Headline Publishing and The Burchfield Penney Art Center to name some.

I’ve been thinking about what sets me apart from others lately as I move forward in my career because I have only been doing this full-time for about a year now. I figure, one can always study and get better with practice as it applies to the fundamentals of drawing with hard work. With that being said, I’ve noticed I really enjoy working with detail in drawing but also detail as it pertains to the story around the subject. I like to incorporate symbolism, and read in to the story in order to extract details to create motifs within the piece. To put it plainly, the more story, the better. I like to extract details from the subject to add to the illustration. I feel that this could be beneficial for me for the work I want to pursue and what could result in a unique approach coupled with my style as I refine myself. Just a thought, I try to stay humble so it’s hard to say right now what I can offer that truly sets me apart right now. Thankfully, there is enough work out here at the moment and I’m starting to think if you put yourself out there, you’ll find your niche or they’ll find you.

I’m most proud of getting work in my home city of Buffalo, NY. One in particular is a poster of John Coltrane I did for The Burchfield Penney’s Annual Commemorative Jazz Festival for John Coltrane. The Burchfield is a gallery here in Buffalo. This is where I had my first art related internship when I was 15 years old. Also, they’re an awesome creative hub of the community here, so I was honored in being approached to illustrate the poster. It’s ones of my favorite pieces to date.

If I were to leave readers with one thing, I love to draw and I’m having fun. That’s really it, haha. I really have nothing to expound of as of yet other then to say I have gratitude for the current moment. I’m very thankful for being able to make my passion into a career. It’s also helped me meet awesome people and collaborate with some really talented individuals. It’s lead me to having to be disciplined and hard working. I strive to always challenge myself and am excited for future endeavors.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I returned from college, I almost immediately got an apprenticeship at a tattoo parlor. I wanted to be a tattoo artist in my teens but kind of lost hope in realizing how tough it can be to get a mentorship. Well, I finally got one, the shop was cool and the owner and I got along great. Unfortunately, we ended up having a falling out and I left. After that, I didn’t have money anymore because I depleted my savings working in the shop full time as an apprentice. So, I started illustrating more and more (I was illustrating a little bit on the side) and eventually it led to bigger jobs that could support me financially. I also worked part-time catering at Panera Bread for some of that time to get myself back on track.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I get to draw and study the world around me. Once tasked with illustrating something, it’s fun. I really enjoy the process. Since working this past year, I’ve noticed I do enjoy the process more then the finished product itself. Even if it’s a project I’m not so enthusiastic about, there’s still something positive and enjoyable to be taken away, for me personally.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://monetalyssa.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monet_alyssa/
• Other: https://www.jackywinter.com/artists/monet-alyssa