We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vanity Diaz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vanity below.

Vanity, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Before I worked in the creative industry, I worked corporate jobs for about five and a half years. Now, growing up I always thought I would be a singer and always excelled when it came to creative activities like drawing, singing, dancing, and piano. As I grew older and began working these corporate jobs I couldn’t really dance or sing so I think I defaulted to the next best thing, drawing.

I would doodle my coworker’s expressions here and there just to help the time go by faster. At the time I didn’t take it seriously until a friend of mine named, Ricardo Ortiz, told me I had some skills and I should take them more seriously. Out of pure curiosity, I began learning tips and techniques to see how much better I could get.

Four years later, I was working at my most recent corporate job and got an amazing opportunity. I ended up being mentored by a Marvel and DC licensed artist named Dominic Glover. Today, I’m blessed to say he is one of my closest friends. While working he helped me tune my skills and really discover myself as an artist. As I progressed in my skills, I began getting requests to draw characters for some co-workers. I remember taking my lunches and saying to myself “Okay, you have to be back in an hour. That means you have thirty minutes to eat lunch and thirty minutes to draw and one minute to run back to your desk so you can clock back in.”

It was at that very moment I realized I was allowing someone to tell me when to take lunch, how long to take lunch for, when to take a break, how long the break should be, and when I should wake up to start another day. All while I was simultaneously making money using my art skills at this corporate job. It was at that very moment I found myself understanding that I no longer wanted to work for anyone else. As a kid, I found a lot of my joy in comic books and all different styles of art. I knew then I wanted to use my skills to inspire and bring a smile to someone’s face. I wanted to create a greater impact on others through my art like previous comic artists have done for me in the past as a child.

Vanity, 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?

Let’s start from the beginning, my name is Vanity Diaz and I’m a full-time freelance illustrator. I am 26 years old and I am currently based out of Orlando, Fl. If I’m not spending my time working on art then I’m probably spending time at my rock climbing gym and/or figuring out what I’m going to draw next.

I became a freelance illustrator two years ago. It all started when I met my friend Dominic. You see about two years ago my friend Dom was licensed by Marvel and DC and looking for people to mentor. I came across his Instagram post asking for people who were wanting to take their artwork to a more serious level. At the time I had fallen back in love with art and illustrations. So of course, I jumped at the opportunity to be mentored by Dominic. Granted, this would be the first time that we talk and the beginning of our friendship. I spent the first year learning how to find my own art style while also practicing the fundamentals. Within that time frame, I went from being absolutely clueless as to what I wanted my art to look like to being eager to showcase my skills. At two and a half years I found myself ready to apply to comic cons and so the adventure begins. The first convention I ever applied to and got accepted to was Tampa Bay Comic Con.

When it comes to products, I currently sell prints, pins, and sticker packs. As a freelance illustrator, I get to draw what I like the most which happen to be Disney, Marvel, and DC characters. I also provide a monthly service where people can sign up to receive exclusive monthly prints and stickers from me. This is one of my favorite services I provide because not only do my fans receive exclusive art but I also provide behind the scenes on my everyday life as an artist.

The problems some of my clients and followers have aren’t really the most common, I guess you could say. The biggest problem some of my clients or followers on Instagram have is not feeling supported or inspired by their art. I can’t say that I solve all of those problems however I do know that I help somewhat. I host live streams on Instagram and Twitch called the “Vanity Lounge” where I do my best to create a community that allows people to be themselves. The biggest focus in my community of followers called the “Vandits”, is to make sure we all congratulate each other on our achievements whether big or small. I have learned in the art community there can be a lot of toxic habits like gatekeeping information from young artists. I do my best to make sure I’m as transparent as possible to young artists, I believe there is always enough room at the table for everyone to eat. Sometimes I even have young artists express how they don’t get support from their family or friends. That’s where the Vanity Lounge comes in to save the day. A lot of the Vandits have found themselves in similar situations so they are eager to support and lift up someone who is down. I think that is what might set me apart from others. It’s not the number of followers but the fact that my community is so eager to help and support anyone in any way they can. Without them I know I wouldn’t be where I am today and I think they know that too.

I’m most proud of my following and my community. They outshine me in a heartbeat and I truly am thankful for their continuous support. I’m proud of their willingness to celebrate others, to be humble, to be welcoming, and to be there to lift me up when I need it the most. Through their support, I have been able to do what I love full time and I don’t think I will ever stop being so proud of my Vandits. I hope future and potential Vandits reading this know that I’m here to inspire. I’m just another nerdy Puerto Rican kid who fell in love with comics and wants to make a difference. I want people to know that the Vanity Lounge is a home for every artist of every age of every background of every story. I thrive knowing I can help another artist get one step closer to their goal. Whether that goal is simply learning the fundamentals or as big as showcasing at a con, I am here to give what I learned to someone else and pay it forward.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

When I started to build my audience I hyperfocused on Instagram as my main platform. To work with Instagram’s algorithm I made sure I posted three times a day. This provided Instagram with more than enough content to recognize what kind of account I had. Instagram just released its feature to carousel photos so I took advantage of that feature as much as I could. I would use the carousel feature to post a breakdown of how I draw an image. The first image would be the final piece and as you swipe you could see the stages of how I came to the final. While I was posting I would go out of my way to live stream on Instagram 3 days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I would go live at 7:30pmEST or 8pm EST, and Instagram would push my live stream to other viewers. Granted, this was two years ago so their platform has changed a lot since then.

My biggest piece of advice for Instagram now would be to utilize any new feature they release. When Instagram comes out with a new feature they want to showcase it more than the usual tools. So if they just introduced Reels then anyone who uses Reels is going to get more exposure from Instagram.

Now, starting out I didn’t realize how different audiences were on different platforms. For example, I realized there were a lot of original art collectors on Facebook. The age range on Facebook consisted of an older audience who looked for more traditional work (drawings done with pencil and paper rather than digital). While Tik Tok, had people my age or younger but eager to try new things and support small businesses.

Overall, when it comes to social media figure out who your audience is going to be and what age range that looks like. That will give you a better idea of which platform to push heavily on and which one to cut yourself some slack on. Don’t get frustrated when you don’t see results overnight, it will take time. I promise.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think as artists we sometimes think resilience comes from not being able to learn fast enough. Or sometimes it comes from having a bad drawing turn out good but you were resilient enough to keep going. I recently learned that it doesn’t always look as pretty as those examples.

In April of this year, I injured my ankle while I was rock climbing. During the first two weeks of my injury, I thought I might have sprained my ankle. As time went on the swelling didn’t stop and the pain stayed consistent. While I was showcasing at Orlando’s Megacon I couldn’t handle the pain anymore and decided to go to the hospital on Saturday morning.

When I arrived at the hospital they confirmed I had a sprain but informed me of a possible fracture. I was instructed to go see a podiatrist so they could confirm the initial diagnosis. After a total of 4 weeks, I was seen by the podiatrist and was told that I had torn my tendon and bruised my ankle bone. In addition to the injuries, there was a cyst in between my ankle joint that could possibly have needed surgery. I was put on crutches and a boot to help stabilize my ankle for a total of 3 months.

Fast forward, to July 21st, the Dr. told me I had 2 weeks to show signs of improvement. If I didn’t I would be taken in for surgery to remove the cyst and have two screws put in my ankle. This would mean I would be off of my feet for another 3 months and most importantly I would be missing the biggest opportunity in my career, attending C2E2 for the first time.

Present day, the Dr. has cleared me for no surgery and I am able to go to C2E2 for the first time this year with two of my closest friends. However, a week before the trip to Chicago when I had to pay for my spot at the show all of my medical bills were deducted from my account, leaving me in the negative. I was distraught and panicking, thinking I would never be able to attend this show that I had worked so hard for. I remember feeling as if all of the hard work I put in leading up to this moment was for nothing.

I wasn’t ready to give up just yet, so instead, I started looking around for local weekend shows. For any small events I could attend to make any money I would need for the trip. I’m beyond blessed because as I was searching endlessly for any small shows I finally got an email back from Tampa Bay Comic Con telling me their show was in 3 days and they had a cancellation at the last minute. They offered me a spot at their show and before I knew it I was selling enough products to make rent and pay for my spot at C2E2.

I learned that you have to push through all of the scariest moments in this industry to go far. Is it a perfect job or career? No. Is it always traveling and signing prints for fans? No. Does it get scary especially when finances are involved? Yes. Is it worth every hour and minute of hard work? Absolutely.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.vanitydiaz.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/vanitydiaz
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thevanitydiaz
• Other: www.patreon.com/vanitydiaz