We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shelby Bertram a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shelby, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
At eighteen, I decided to go to art school. If I knew then what I knew now, when I first got to art school I would have started on learning value and composition. Those fundamentals are crucial to the creative process that I only started researching recently. Without those creative tools, it slows the rate in which you improve. Learning from life is also a valuable tool that requires no money or effort besides simply going outside, which I did not utilize much in my time at art school and as a younger creative. My fear of stepping out of my comfort zone hindered my creative process, and once I learned to take advantage of the world and my experiences within it, I also found my artistic expression.
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?
For those unfamiliar with my work, hello! My name is Shelby Bertram, otherwise known as HeyoPeachu on all social media platforms, and on my website HeyoPeachu.com. Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with animated shows, coloring books, comic pages, illustrations… anything art related, I’m probably into it! I’ve found my creative home in making various comics and illustrations, while also working for clients on commission. I love making art that has a feel of nostalgia and whimsy, which I feel is less present in mainstream art media. Making art that feels like a comforting hug at the end of long day is what I strive for. Creating art in different styles and mediums to keep my creative brain stimulated and improve as an artist is also a fun challenge I embrace.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
The best thing society can do for artists is to support them! That can also mean many things, such as buying a product or recommending them to someone for work, liking and/or sharing social media posts and just getting involved in the creative community. I think people do underestimate their in power in uplifting others and contributing to a thriving creative community. Even lending space for an artist to showcase their talent and voice is a very powerful thing that most are capable of doing, even if it feels insignificant. Also, society’s normalization of underpaying creatives is something to not be tolerated. The creative ecosystem cannot exist if artists can’t make a living wage off of their work and time.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I knew about how many amazing free resources there are online. We live in a digital age where most information is readily at our fingertips, but often goes overlooked. There are also specific sites modeled to cater to artists various needs, such as models and textures, posing guides, color studies and more. These have only increased in recent years as creatives continue to experiment with different programs. I also wish I knew about the different applications you can use to house reference data as well for easy access. These allow you to more accurately depict the details of what you are referencing easily and makes the creative process way more enjoyable!
Contact Info:
- Website: Heyopeachu.com
- Instagram: Heyopeachu
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-bertram-792912116
- Twitter: Heyopeachu
- Other: Email : heyopeachu@gmail.com
Image Credits
Heyopeachu