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

Naylissah, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My most meaningful project is the first mural I ever did. I was always interested in art but I never got into mural work. I never thought i’d be able to create a mural let alone being paid to do one. So when my friend sent me this mural application for the Ottawa Health to create something representing Covid back in 2020 i didnt think too much of it at all. We drew our draft, looked over our letter of intent and then submitted an application, thinking there’s no way that they would pick these two random little black girls from Ottawa and Gatineau. Low and behold a week passes and I get the call. I was so shocked that they called me back letting us know that our little application was accepted over many influential and great artists, some even from France.

So we got to work and completed our first mural. I was so proud of us because it only took us a week and a half. Once it was placed on Sparks Street it felt unreal, the fact that something that I created was just there, for all the public to see. It’s what kick started my love for murals and it was the most meaningful to me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Naylissah Joy Aristide, I am a digital and traditional artist. I got into the industry of freelance and business because of my wonderful entrepreneur parents who always pushed me to reach new heights that I never knew I could reach. Drawing started as nothing but a hobby for me. I never knew it was something I could use to make money or just have a full time career with, it’s only natural because it was normalized that you must find a more conventional job to live, and that art jobs are just not sustainable. At the time I was also scared that I would lose all my inspiration in art by linking a business to it. Till this day I am so glad that that fear did not stop me from launching my business because I know for sure that nothing else has made me happy than doing what I absolutely love to do, and finding creative ways to keep my inspiration up!

What started off as just little drawing requests for 5 dollars or less ended up offering a range of artistic services including book illustrations, murals, business visual art services, on the spot live caricature drawings, educational art services and basic commissions.

I believe what sets me apart from others is my number 1 mission along ​with offering my illustration services, to teach and educate all upcoming and ​ongoing artists on how i draw BIPOC, so that ​there will never be a moment where a kid will ​look at a screen or book and wonder why they ​aren’t there i hold a very high value in diversity within art which is something that unfortunately till this day we are missing in the art-business world. If you’re an author, you want to be sure that the artist you hire can actually draw people of color, or if you’re a client of color wanting a portrait done, you want to be assured that it actually looks like you, i believe that with my extensive knowledge in digital and traditional illustration, i can be sure that each client i receive leaves happy.

i most proud of the affect i see on people when they see a mural i did, or receive their finished drawing, and most of all the kind messages i receive in DM about different things i have added full diversity to. Nothing makes me happier than to see the genuinely positive responses i get from clients, always glad to make people smile!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This story is actually pretty funny, it’s how i built my Tiktok following (at writing this it’s sitting at 114k followers)

So a few years back I just started posting and no matter what I did, none of the posts were doing numbers, either way I was making posts regularly. Then one day i made a post making fun about the way many artists on titkok we’re drawing black people one type of way with only one type of art style (the post is still up) it went viral, and i got absolutely flamed by the people, over 100 comments of people insulting me and sending me de*th threats. It was so bad I had to turn off the comments. At that point I could have made another post doubling down on my point, but I decided to pivot and make a post teaching people how to draw black people in different ways. From there most of my posts have boosted up in views and the response was positive, i gained many followers from there and now have about 114k people on tiktok! I thought i was pretty crazy that i could have been “canceled” on my first viral post, but i was able to change the situation to increase my following!

my number 1 advice for building a social media following is to be consistent with your posts and to actually interact with your audience, also to never insult your audience like i did, but instead to teach and educate the audience based off of the subject that you are proficient in.

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 think one of the main things that non-creatives may not fully understand is the process of creating, and how long it takes to make a creation. Many of my clients (which i dont necessarily think is there fault) think that making grand changes only takes a few minutes when it could take many hours and even days. Or when they need illustrations for a project but they need it in a rush because its either a last minute project or they forgot to think about how long it takes to create a single illustration let alone many illustrations. So my advice for non-creatives is to think about the timeline in which their project needs to be done and to accommodate that with the creative they are working with, because art takes a long time especially if you want it to be of great quality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shedidit.my.canva.site/naylissah
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naylissah
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naylissah/
• Twitter: https://x.com/naylissah
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@naylissah
• Other: tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@naylissah
  mural instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afroblastmurals/
  mural portfolio: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFk-ZrjC58/z01n3bpebutlL6krfGsalA/view

Image Credits

Personal Photo – @nazaireshutter on Instagram
Additional Photo (4) – Invest Ottawa
Additional Photo (1-2) – Hersi Osman Films