Please tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do. I'm a graphic designer and illustrator. My background is in toy package design, so for 15 years I've worked with various toy package design companies like Hasbro and Disney. Then in 2020 I was laid off and so, during the pandemic, I picked up digital illustration. I picked up the iPad and now I run a full-fledged illustration business focusing on surface pattern design, character portraits and hand lettering.

How did you start out in the toy industry? I am from Los Angeles originally and I actually went to college at Boston University. After four years, I decided to move back home, and it was in 2008 – at the height of the economic recession – so it was hard to find any kind of job, let alone an entry level position. I was tenacious and I put my artwork out on Creative Hotlist, and a creative director from Disney found me. That was my first internship. That was kind of my introduction to licensing and packaging and a commercial arena. Once you fall into that niche, it's hard to get out of.

It's funny that in 2020, at the time, it was devastating to lose my job, because I thought that would be my job for the rest of my life. But really it allowed me to focus on other things. And I was like, “Oh, digital illustration. This is much more creative. This is what I'm meant to be doing.”

 

 

 

 

 

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How did you actually get into digital illustration? I was stuck at home, so I had a lot of time on my hands. I had no job. I was also a new mum. My sister's an illustrator and she had an old iPad and for a year she was like, “I think you'd really enjoy drawing on the iPad. Here's my old iPad, try it out.” And so for a year I'd been holding off on doing it. I don't know why. And then finally, I was like, “I have no excuse. I should really pick it up.” So I did, and I was kind of struggling with it, so I went on Skillshare, which was the easiest thing to do. I could watch a lesson for an hour and make a project. Then I was just so enthusiastic to share, so I created @jessmillerdraws, my social media account, and that started getting traction. I started getting lots of followers and started engaging with other artists and really building a community. In just three years, I have over 100,000 followers. That started out from just sharing my Skillshare projects.

Only a few short months later, American Greetings emailed me and they were like “We found your work on Instagram. We think it would be perfect for a Halloween card. Do you want to make this card?” And I was like, “Sure,” but in my head, I thought, do they know that I haven't been drawing for that long? So yeah, I totally faked it. I now have a long-lasting relationship with them and we create lots of greeting cards. They're a great client.

Do you feel like there's a misconception that digital illustration isn't real because it's digital? I haven't come across that. But I know that there's a lot of mixed feelings about AI. And I know it's the way of the future and it's a little controversial, too. I think it's a great tool in aiding brainstorming and creating mood boards and helping us generate ideas. But I'm also a little worried about how you can just throw your own artwork into it and then it creates a pattern. As an artist, I love that problem solving. I like to figure that out.

 

 

 

 

 

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How do you get in the mood to start creating? I think I get inspired by other artists. It is such a huge community and we support each other. I first started out participating in drawing challenges. It was around the time of Inktober in 2020 when I started my account, and there was a drawing prompt every day. It kind of took away that blank canvas syndrome. And then after Inktober, there weren't any more challenges and I really missed it. So then I started posting my own, and people loved it. It was just a great way to engage with the community and also spark your creativity.

It's amazing how having a boundary actually gives you more freedom. Yes, exactly, like working with a limited colour palette. It’s actually very daunting when you have all the colours of the rainbow to work with. When I first started out, I did a limited colour palette class on Skillshare, and it was so helpful because paring down those colours so you have limited colours to work with actually made my art stronger.

That's really good advice. Have you got any other advice for overcoming creative block? Just do the things you love. I love being out in nature and going into a garden. I'll spend time outside and then I'll draw inspiration from the things I love. It's also good, especially if you're feeling burnt out, to take those breaks so that you can become recharged and re-energised and have a creative spark again.

To the business side of your work now. How did you go about getting your business off the ground so quickly? In 2021 I juggled a lot of things. I was rehired by Hasbro as a contract designer. I was working from home – it was still during the pandemic – but I was full-time. And then I was moonlighting at night. I was freelancing and doing all the fun illustration side-projects at night. I was also a mum and I was kind of going crazy because I was juggling too much. Then they laid me off again. They lost their Disney Princess license to Mattel and so they had to cut the entire Princess team. But it was actually the best news I've ever heard because it kind of gave me permission to go all into my illustration business.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Jess Miller (@jessmillerdraws)

It was a little rough in the beginning. I was relying solely on client work – any freelancer can relate that. You have very busy months and then you have some very quiet months, and I definitely experienced that. And so that's when I started diversifying my income streams. I started building a large collection of artwork so that I can have it ready to go and license, and so then I started licensing on tech accessories for Casetify, and that really took off. I started licensing my art on greeting cards and with other companies. I realised that patterns are really versatile, so I started getting into surface pattern design.

Then leaned into partnerships. I partnered with Adobe Express and became an ambassador for them, and that has been such a great experience. I get to collaborate with all sorts of creatives and then I get to show off the app and how it works for me and my creative business. It's user-generated content, so I'll share a reel of my process and I also share any new features of the app and then my community benefits from that. I have partnerships and then education. This has been my first time as a speaker here at Adobe MAX, which was a little daunting, but it's been fun. I have two Skillshare classes and it's kind of fun to come back full circle, because I learnt so much from Skillshare and now I'm l teaching it to my community. I do want to put more classes out there, and I just started live streaming with Adobe. I would say the greatest success of my business is just diversifying and networking with as many people as possible.

See more rad stuff from Jess on her website and Instagram, and head this-a-way for more info about Adobe MAX.