We were lucky to catch up with Travis A. Thompson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Travis, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
When I went to college, I didn’t know what I wanted to study. I knew I was good at Art but what exactly was meant for me, I was unsure of. So I decided on Art Education. When I began teaching I knew that it was my “Plan B”. I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life but because I didn’t know what “Plan A” was I continued teaching because I knew there would always be a need for the profession. And once I had a decent cushion and possibly tenure maybe then I could make the leap.
It wasn’t until 2019-2020 when things began to get uncomfortable in that profession and I knew my exit time was coming and I gave myself another 3 years to continue teaching. In November of 2022 I became fed up and put in my resignation in the middle of the school year because I knew that at that point it was either them or me. And I’ve been a full time Artist since January of 2023.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I specialize in Digital Art as a Freelance Illustrator. The majority of the clients that I serve are authors of children’s books. I aim to create eye catching illustrations for children to help transport them to different worlds based on the book they’re reading.
What sets me a part from many other artists is that my designs are original. AI is taking over and many people would rather plug a prompt into a computer and have it create the art but I take pride in the fact that everything you see me post or on my website was drawn by hand, by me.
I also am the creator of a line of Christmas products featuring Melanin characters. I’ve draw and designed my own Christmas wrapping paper and gift bags featuring my original Black Santa, named Clint Claus. In addition to my own website my Christmas products are now being sold online at Amazon, Belk and Walmart. My hope is that one day soon you’ll be able to find products I designed in local retailers.
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.
I think a lot of times people don’t consider the time it takes to create art. For visual artists our time and talent go hand in hand. We spend many hours creating works of art that only get viewed for a couple seconds. But we take great pride in our outcomes.
As an illustrator of children’s books, I sometimes get people who believe my prices are too high. This is because some don’t value the time it took me to get to this level of creativity and skill. I once was approached about being the illustrator for a children’s book that was 32 pages. They offered me $500 to illustrate the whole thing plus the cover. I honestly was offended because the 32 pages alone divided by $500 equaled to a little over $15 dollars per page. Most pages of illustration that I create can take between 3-4 total hours to complete. This means I would have been compensated less than minimum wage to bring someone else’s vision to life.
So if I can implore non-creatives with anything it’s to be more considerate when seeking work from a creative.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
As a society we can do better at uplifting creatives while they’re still here. The old adage “starving artist” while not 100% true does have some reality to it. The cost alone to create art is high, so when an artist tries to sell their work some people don’t see the value in it. Therefore many artists aren’t appreciated until after they pass away, and understandably so because they’re now unable to create more. But I’d love for us to get to a place where we can value the contributions of creatives and compensate them as such.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thesivartgallery.com
- Instagram: @travisathompson
- Facebook: Travis A. Thompson
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/travis-thompson-2a55b1296
- Youtube: @ScatteredBrilliancy
Image Credits
Photo of Travis A. Thompson provided by P. Lens Photography