Hello 2024, nice to meet you!

Let's start the new year with an introduction :)

Can you believe it? Just like that… it’s 2024.

Since it’s a new year and there’s been lots of new sign ups, I’ll start it with a proper introduction! I’m not sure I ever posted one here on Substack. I just jumped right in! I’ve written a lot about my creative journey, like when I became an illustrator, how I found my community, and what my creative process looks like, but I have never introduced myself. Whether you’ve been here from the beginning or just joined – I’m glad you’re here and I’m happy to share more about myself! Feel free to read ahead or listen while you work :)

Illustrations from 2023 @creativebrenda

Hi. I’m Brenda. I am a children’s book illustrator, graphic designer, and I make art for a living. I’m chatty and I love making people laugh. I think laughter might be the best thing ever invented. So, I really try to not to take life too seriously. I like collecting things – art books, nutcrackers, squished pennies… and good friends. My favorite number is 11 and while I don’t make wishes at 11:11…I do consider it a good omen if I see 11:11 on the clock or just the number 11 somewhere.

So, here are 11 facts about me:

1. My family moved to Colorado when I was three and I was lucky enough to be raised next to the Rocky Mountains. I NEVER take the views of Pikes Peak for granted. It’s always breath taking to me. Especially when there is a fresh blanket of snow everywhere.

2. I was raised in a Spanish speaking home and I am thankful I speak Spanish too. I am half Guatemalan and half Puerto Rican. One day soon I’ll chat more about my parents, our culture, and how their story has inspired me and motivated me. :)

3. I have one brother and one sister. I’m “the baby”. All though, at 41, I don’t feel so baby anymore. lol.

4. I knew I was an artist since I can remember! My preschool teacher told my mom I was an artist. Not just a child that liked art, but a serious ARTIST. Of course my mom had already noticed, but she loves telling that story.

Little Brenda showing off her art. :)

5. I wanted to be an actress when I was a little girl. I liked the idea of stepping into someone else’s shoes and telling their story. I also wanted to work for Disney and make animated movies. I specifically wanted to work on the backgrounds. I learned that they traveled to draw, paint, and study each environment on location. Then they came home and designed the world the characters would live in. How cool is that? No wonder I very quickly wanted to be a children’s book illustrator. Storytelling was naturally what I wanted to do ALL along. I still love movies in general and I love watching all the behind the scenes too! Movie magic is the best.

6. I was never comfortable with the idea of being “a starving artist” when I grew up or having the “art kid” label, but I did enjoy hearing, “wow, you’re a real artist!” every time someone saw my work. And that encouraged me to make more.

7. I am a “people” person and I love making friends, but I’m also a home body and I need my creative time alone to process life. The best thing that happened to me, was finding my community of illustrators online. I never thought I’d make such good friends this way, but it has been a game changer!

8. I received my Bachelor’s of Fine Art from Colorado State University with a concentration in Graphic Design. I have been a working graphic designer for 20 years now! Wow. Weird saying that. Some of my favorite jobs were working for the Fort Collins Symphony and Elva Resa Publishing. About six years ago, I started transitioning into illustration. I am happy to say my current focus is 100% illustration. :)

9. I officially met my husband in college. We were instant best friends and I love that part… We ate lunch together and hung out all around campus together never knowing or suspecting we’d eventually be married. Silly us. Of course life is more complicated than “we met, got married, and lived happily ever after”. Life was confusing after college. We started dating and getting a good job wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be. We also lost a few people very close to us. It was just after the 2008 recession when Steve and I decided he should join the Air Force. We traveled, started a family…found our way back to Colorado. Now we are happily settled and have two beautiful kids.

   

   My family in front of my favorite place to teach painting, Garden of the Gods.

10. I love traveling, going to concerts, and watching sports events. For some reason I really like watching the Olympics (winter or summer). It’s funny because I am not an athlete in ANY sense, but I have a high respect for them. I just have a high respect for anyone who is working on mastering their craft - whether it’s a musician, athlete, magician, actor…etc. I can only imagine the hours that go in to making “it” look so easy. It reminds me of my own art practice and all the hours it’s taken to get to where I am now…and how there’s always more to learn and artistic muscle to grow. I love even more when someone I know shares their love of something with me. So, one of my favorite things is watching college football games with my husband. He’s really taught me a lot about sports and I love him for that. And my sister loves reading (so do I). She recently shared Colleen Hoover with me. I’m enjoying her books so far. :) So, if you have any book, movie, or podcast suggestions. I’m all ears!

Here are 11 facts about my illustration practice:

1. It was 6 years ago when I decided to follow my dream of being a children’s book illustrator. I took my first illustration class, started building a portfolio, and it took off from there. I used to think it wasn’t possible to pivot and do something different with your life and now I know it IS possible. It’s kinda different for everyone, but my main hurdle was allowing myself to even entertain the idea. Once I let my dream do the driving…things started happening!

2. So far, I have one illustrated book published called Proud Deaf Girl by Karen Wellman. You can purchase a book www.KarenWellman.com.

3. I have three more illustrated books coming out this year - Fly with Mytai, Toad the Tanker, and Moose on a Mission. All written by Teri Weber and published by Elva Resa Publishing. Hopefully, more books to come!

   

4. I drink 2 large cups of coffee every day to start my day. My husband brews the coffee for me because he’s sweet like that. I look forward to this ritual and I get a little grumpy when I realize I’ve already drank it all. lol.

5. I mainly work at my dining room table. It’s bright and sunny there. It has really good energy to pull from. I do have a nice space in the basement where I have an antique desk, store most of my art supplies, work on craft projects, and print/produce my illustrations. It just doesn’t feel as happy down there for drawing.

6. I’m a night owl. Despite enjoying my sunny little art space during the day, I tend to get ideas and a boost of creative energy right before bed.

7. I can work traditionally, but I mainly illustrate digitally. I found it to be faster and easier to edit/change - with less mess! However, I’m working on combining the two more. I mainly work on my iPad Pro with the Procreate app.

   

8. I love to acrylic paint (especially landscapes) and I enjoy teaching others how to paint too. I teach local art/craft classes to kids and adults. I currently have paintings displayed at in the Red Rocks room at Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center. If you’re local, check it out on the 2nd floor. I use my painting practice and teaching as a way of keeping my creativity fresh. It’s a great balance with illustration work. So I never feel locked in to just one project. I hope to start selling my paintings and prints online soon.

9. I don’t keep a dedicated sketchbook. While I love the idea of it and plan on keeping one “some day”…it never sticks! I do sketch often, but it tends to either be random loose sheets or on my iPad.

10. I help host Friday Doodle Club. We have become really good friends these past 3 years! The four of us will be meeting for the first time in April! Yay! Every week (for the past 3 years) we decide on an illustration prompt - a verb, adjective, and noun. Sometimes the prompt is really silly and gets the creative juices flowing. We post every Friday and share as many responses (that use the hashtag #fridaydoodleclub) as we can throughout the week. Anyone can participate! We’ve grown a lovely community on Instgram, so if you haven’t yet…check it out! This is our first prompt of the year: PLANNING NEW GOALS

    

11. I am also a member of the Illoguild. We are a global collective all pursuing careers as illustrators. Every month we decide on a topic and collectively answer it. This month the topic is INTRODUCE YOURSELF. It is always really interesting hearing from the different members of the collective. So, I encourage you to have a browse through the Illoguild page to “meet everyone” and to learn more about what we do. One of the coolest things we do is host live events every month to chat about illustration topics. The next illoguild Live is on Monday, January 8. We’ll be discussing Creative Goal Setting for the new year. Join us!

    

    Art by the amazing Jen Gubicza

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One of my new years goals is to post and share more! This Substack/Newsletter is another way of connecting with others, documenting my journey, and processing the magic of it all. I’m fascinated by the creative journey and all the ups and downs that come with it. So…let’s chat about it!

So, now that you know a little more about me…I’d love to know two things about you!

Where are you from? and what illustration topic do you want to learn or know more about?