We were lucky to catch up with Montana Shannon-Young recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Montana, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Learning how to design and craft stationery goods originated from a previous decision to sell my illustrations online. Over the years as a self-taught artist, people have asked me to draw things from logos, fanart, and original illustrations for gifts or personal use. As time went on, I decided to put a price to my labor and sell my art online. Eventually, one of my sisters gave me the idea to make and sell stickers. I did a bit of research and learned about cutting machines, sticker paper, printer quality, and laminating. The whole deal. YouTube university and sticker making tutorials were my best friends. I’m grateful for the internet and its wealth of knowledge!

Despite learning how to make stationery items online, nothing beats learning by getting your hands dirty. If I knew each mistake was an integral part of the learning process, I wouldn’t have been so timid to try. At first, I saw each mistake as a “waste” of ink, paper, laminate, time, energy, and money. That way of thinking negatively affected my self-esteem and slowed my learning process down. I kept pushing through and after seeing the progress I made from learning from those mistakes, I began to gain confidence in my abilities.

For me, confidence was one of the most essential skills that influenced my process. I continue to learn by allowing myself to make mistakes and strive to find out how I can learn from them. Patience is another skill that positively affected my learning process. Being patient with myself while learning and improving made the process more enjoyable, which in turn, was motivational.

Since we live in an age where some are privileged enough to learn “hard” skills at home through the internet, like drawing or sticker making, “soft” skills like confidence and patience are the ones that can really make all the difference. I’m still improving my skills everyday and each day I do, it helps build new learning experiences along the way.

Montana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Drawing has been my oldest and most favorite hobby. It started out as my way to connect with my older sister, who’s also been known to be a very talented artist in our family. When we were kids, we would design and draw paper figures that we would play with. We simply called them “paper people”; very creative, I know. I would spend a lot of time drawing with my siblings and our cousins. However, when everyone moved onto something else, I’d continue to draw.

As I got older, I learned about different styles and techniques and started to sell commissioned illustrations. Eventually, I got the idea to make stickers from my oldest sister and began to learn more about it. I figured I could design, illustrate, and make stickers to sell online. I opened up Montana’s Stationery on Etsy at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Like many others during that year, I had a fair amount of free time on my hands. I took that opportunity to lay the foundation for a small business and make some money on the side.

My biggest inspiration is customization. I love drawing personalized pieces for others – it’s extremely heartfelt and meaningful. I really enjoy trying to nail people’s likeness, too. Anytime someone can accurately point out who their friend or family member is in one of my illustrations, I get a huge kick out of it; it’s a great compliment. Along with custom pieces, I also offer original designs and stickers. Quality is very important to me, so I wanted to make sure I could offer high quality, waterproof vinyl stickers and quality memo pads, too. I really enjoy making my products from home. While it can be a bit crowded with machines, devices, materials, and inventory, I’m proud to know I can make quality products and sentimental illustrations from my home.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having the opportunity to visually analyze the beauty in the details, even when it doesn’t seem like there are any. When I draw personalized portraits, I am analyzing their facial structures, their body types, their colors, their differences and similarities. Analyzing certain aspects of life and drawing it in my own art style has deepened the appreciation I have for the way the word looks.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

It might be hard for non-creatives to understand that, for me, despite really loving the creative process and making illustrations, there have been times when I don’t feel like drawing or creating art at all. I’ll run into stints of time where I don’t feel like making anything. In those moments, it’s really hard to just do it and draw. I’ve done it in the past, but it’s really hard to keep the motivation going when the feeling just isn’t there. Even if I just draw, by the time I’m done with the piece, it doesn’t look all that good to me.

I’ve been able to cut myself some slack and allow the motivation to grow naturally. I’ve reached out to my artist friends for inspiration or to have drawing sessions to incorporate more of a social aspect to finding motivation.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/montanas.stationery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/montanastationery/