[MUSIC]

Hi, guys.

[LAUGH] Hi, Creative South.

I'm so excited to be here.

I can't believe this is happening.

I attended Creative South,

as the very first conference that I ever went to last year.

It was awesome, it's like family.

They're not lying when they say you come as friends and leave as family.

Like everyone here is so cool.

So yeah, thank you for having me Creative South.

It's, it's already been a fantastic time.

And I'm really, like I said I'm really nervous.

Like I, I'm kinda shaking a little, so we'll see how this goes.

So for

those who don't know me, my name is Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn, pronounced pan-chez-en.

It's Ukrainian.

It's really hard and it's terrifying when you see it on paper.

>> [LAUGH] >> But

it's a lot easier to say than you think.

But as a joke in high school, I went as Shauna Parmesan, because well,

no one could say it, and over the years there's also been Shawna Prosciutto,

and backstage Shauna what was it, Parmento, or whatever.

People are just turning my last name in to Italian things.

So, we'll see what happens throughout the conference.

I am a hand lettering artist, and illustrator.

I love letters so much.

And I am located in sunny, warm, humid, way too hot, Orlando, Florida,

home of Mickey Mouse.

>> [APPLAUSE] >> [LAUGH] And I know,

I know that we have a lot of Orlando people here today.

Orlando rep, like, yeah!

>> [APPLAUSE] >> So, yay.

And yeah, so I grew up with two awesome parents who still work today.

My dad is a dentist and my mom was the office manager for

many years up until recently, where she's essentially taken on semi-retirement.

So she, she's enjoying it.

I watched my parents build their business for thirty years.

They built it from the ground up.

They started in I think about 1984, and they've just been going, and going, and

going since.

And they're just, they're awesome.

And I was very lucky growing up because they always fueled my love for art.

They always made sure there were art supplies everywhere.

They, they made sure that if there was, there was a camp I wanted to take.

I did a lot of photography, like pinhole cameras, those were fun.

And I, so I always had art supplies available to me.

Because my parents always believed that there, they wanted me to really have fun,

and enjoy what I'm doing.

Even when we'd go up to Chicago to visit my grandma, we have a roll of,

like that 500 foot roll of Xerox paper that's like this big and markers and pens.

And when it was way too cold to go outside and, and play in the snow,

she'd just take the roller, and just go, woosh.

And roll it out, and we'd sit and we'd play.

So, I've been, I've done art from a very young age.

I was a very, very quiet child.

My mom really never worried about me.

But, one day, she was on the phone and she really,

she hadn't really heard a peep from me in quite a while.

And she walks out to find me creating my first mural.

I, I had found a permanent marker, and notice,

notice the the fantastic bottle down here?

She eventually had to paint it.

But she tried to clean it off, but she, she walked out and

apparently I'm in my own world, and I am just drawing away and I had, you know,

I'm just having a great old time.

And she goes, Shauna, and I apparently, this is the story that I've been told.

I turn and I went, and she goes, what, what are you doing?

And she, and I, I must have said that, you know, drawing or whatever, and she goes,

you know what, this is beautiful.

You know what would have been really great and I said, what mommy.

Your three year old really excited like, oh good I'm not getting yelled at.

[LAUGH] She goes if you had the some paper so I could keep it, but tell me about it.

And she doesn't remember the story, but apparently I had this whole elaborate

story that went with this really weird wall drawing and, you know,

and my dad was like, why is there a mark on the wall?

And she was like, Shauna found a sharpie.

[LAUGH] So,

you know, that was, she actually takes full credit for this.

She's like, had I yelled at you,

you probably would not be up on stage right now.

[LAUGH] So, she's, she's like, I could have yelled at you and

I could have broken you for life, but I asked you to tell me about it so, ha.

She, she and my dad are like my biggest supporters.

I love them so much.

But yeah, so tell me about it.

So, throughout the years I continued to do art.

I just continued to take art classes with a minor stint in eighth grade when my,

my friend I grew up really wanted me to take choir with her.

I was gonna take art and business, and she was like, no, no, no, no, no.

Do choir with me.

It'll be fun!

And up until that moment, I, I, had been tone deaf, like, I, I couldn't sing.

I used to, I used to belt out in the shower,

I used to belt out My Heart Will Go On and I sounded like Celine Dion.

So, I don't know what my mom heard.

>> [LAUGH] >> But apparently, I was tone-deaf and

so, eighth grade rolls around and she's like don't do a solo.

You, you know, you're not ready for a solo yet.

It was like Christmas time and I was like, alright, fine, whatever.

And then at the end of the year, our class of four people did a quartet and

went out there, I belted out this very operatic part of the song and

my mom is just like, what is that?

So ultimately, choir ended up being a part of my life for quite a few years, but

I went into, into high school.

I did the IB program.

Do any of you know what that is, anyone?

Are a few of you IB kids?

Yeah, I feel for you, that extended essay, never again.

I did mine on, on music during the Bolshevik Revolution and I don't know why.

And it was terrible.

I got a C. It was awful.

I shouldn't have passed.

So I, I ended up going in, into ninth grade and

I did choir, but I also did IB art.

And I did it was a computer, it was called computer graphics.

So, it was my first introduction to, like, Photoshop and the Adobe programs and

really kind of, really working on a computer because prior to that,

it was like me playing Muppet Treasure Island on the computer.

So, I had a love of Comic Sans.

>> [LAUGH] >> I just loved it.

I, I loved Comic Sans.

I loved gradients.

Like, all the things that we frown upon, I loved.

And this is the only time I've ever been able to use a rainbow gradient and

Comic Sans in a professional work.

So, yeah.

And, and I actually I went and

I found my old hard drive with all my high school stuff on it.

I unfortunately could not find the one file where I abused comic sans,

it was a little like about me brochure.

And I think it's on a CD-ROM at my parents house,

and I just didn't have time to locate it.

So, what I found though is my first lettering peace.

[LAUGH] so rainbow

lightning anyone figure out how to make lightning in Photoshop because it was fun.

And then we have the piece I created with a mouse.

I won't lie I'm still impressed.

But this was, like, when I was in ninth grade.

It was about the time that that soup-at-hand commercial was out with the,

with the girl sitting and

drinking her soup while she's drawing on a Wacom tablet.

And it was my first introduction to what a Wacom tablet was.

And it was, my mom was like, what is that?

You need that. That's awesome.

And so, I was like, okay, this is kind of neat.

I could do this.

So, ultimately, I end up continuing and, of course, another Photoshop piece.

This one was very special.

[LAUGH] Yeah, there are, there are five Ear, or six Earths.

[LAUGH] The, the star brush, a fake galaxy,

and lens flare, and I even took the, this, this fairy face that I drew and

I threw it in here cuz I thought it was being really awesome and conceptual.

I wasn't.

So, ultimately like I did graph, I did computer graphics just in ninth grade and

I switched to IB art.

And I did choir all through school, and by the time I graduated,

I was like, I wanna be an opera singer.

So I, I applied and auditioned and got into the University of North Florida.

For those of you that know Florida school like UF has the gator chomp.

I think USF has the, the Seminole thing.

We swoop.

We swoop.

That is our, It's so unintimidating, like.

Like you see, you know, you see all the gators they're like, yeah, yeah.

And we're like woo, swoop.

[LAUGH] But we're the ospreys, so, eh,

so I, I did, you know I went into initially for opera and

I was sick my entire first semester and was like.

you know what this just isn't for me.

I don't like practicing.

I really don't like doing a lot of this stuff, like I'm just not happy.

And I found myself getting increasingly jealous of all the kids out there doing

drawing around the lake.

I was like, I'd really like to do that.

I think I'm gonna just try and get into the graphic design program.

So I did the prereqs, I got in, and I ultimately ended up graduating with a,

a bachelor of fine arts with a concentration in graphic design and

digital media.

So, I'm not even a graphic design major.

I'm a fine arts major.

And around the time I was about to graduate,

I realized I have no job prospects and I have no experience to get me into a job.

The work experience I had was I worked at the ice rink,

which isn't gonna translate to getting a design job anywhere.

So I, I'd asked my teacher just kinda like, hey,

you know, if you hear of any internships would you mind kinda throwing them my way.

And my, my web teacher forwarded me this e-mail, and he says, Contact these guys.

I think you'd be a really good fit here.

So I email them, and I get it,

I get an interview at Brunet-Garcia Advertising in Jacksonville, Florida.

They are probably some of the best people you'll ever meet.

I'm still in touch with them today.

They're wonderful.

And they've actually had a consistent presence in my career for

the last four years.

So, I, I go to the interview, they hire me on the spot, and

I interned there for six months Monday through Thursday nine to five.

I loved it, I had so much fun and

they knew I'd be an illustrator before I knew I would be an illustrator.

So I had the opportunity to create this poster for the World of Foote, and

the creative director came up to me and

he said hey, I want you to hand letter all this stuff.

I said done, now I'd done a little bit of lettering in college but

I didn't really realize it was a thing you could so I just kinda, I went with it and

I looked up on like My Fonts to get, you know, reference material.

This was like pre Pinterest.

And came out with this and ultimately found out a few months later,

after I'd finished my internship, it was accepted into the ComArts typography

annual, and, I sort of freaked out at work.

I had been working at Body Central, exscuse me, at the time.

And it was just, it was really kind of mind blowing and then I spent,

like, the next two months running to Barnes & Noble every week to try and

see if it was out yet.

>> [LAUGH] >> And when I opened it,

it actually ended up being like a full-page spread, and it was awesome.

But this is, this poster, it launched my career.

Like, I, it was just, it was incredible to see in print.

It was really awesome to have this sort of accolade.

They spelled my name right.

>> [LAUGH] >> And so, as, as a few months went on,

someone had contacted Brunet-Garcia and they said, who did the lettering on this?

We'd love to get in touch with her.

And they gave her my information.

They could have easily kept it to themselves and said, oh,

we'll do this in-house.

But they, they sent it my way because they are wonderful, awesome people.

And I got to do this OC Weekly cover.

And this was my first, like, true, big, freelance client project.

I had two days to turn it around, and

I was working full time at the rink on the weekends.

So I got it on a Friday night, and by Sunday morning,

I had managed to send her something to print.

And this is, like, this is before I kinda figured out how to do this on

the computer, so this was all hand-drawn, scanned, inverted, like, crazy.

I've since found a simpler way to do it.

So while I was working there, like, I continued to do a little bit of freelance

here and there on the side, I had another little gig with OC Weekly.

And I wanted to get into more freelance, and, just wasn't happening,

but I was coming up on my one year at my job.

And, I didn't see myself staying there much longer.

And as luck would have it, I got an e-mail from an agency down in Orlando, who said,

we would really like to to interview you for an art director position.

I said cool, sure.

So I went down the day after Labor Day, interviewed, and

then went straight up to work.

So, drove I s, I had stayed at my parents, it was like an hour and a half, or

like 40 minutes one way and then two hours another way, so it was a very long day.

And ended up finding out about three weeks later, I got a call at work, so I couldn't

even call until after I got out of, out of work that day, but I was offered the job.

However when they said we had, they said we'd like to offer you the job.

We had to do a little convincing, but we'd like to offer you the job.

Red flag if someone says we had to do a little convincing,

ask who you had to convince.

I was so eager to get out of where I was, that I, I was like, sure, fine let's go.

So three weeks later, I left Jacksonville, and I moved down to Orlando.

And I started this job.

And, you know, I was getting, getting acclimated,

kinda getting comfortable with it.

There were, there were a few little weird signs here and there where I just,

I was very naive and I chose to ignore them,

and I was like, well maybe this is just how things are.

And so around Christmas time, so I started in October so, in Chris,

around Christmas time, we had the Christmas party and all the,

all the higher ups they came up to me, they gave me hugs.

They're like we're so happy to have you on the team,

you're such a great asset yadda yadda yadda.

So here I am thinking like everything's awesome.

I'm good, I'm safe, you know, I, I was, I'm, I'm, I'm safe here like,

things will work out things will kind of pick up, I'm sure, after the new year.

But I had it, there was a little bit of a nagging feeling.

Something didn't quite feel right, but again, naive, chose to ignore it.

So I ended up going home for Christmas, spending time with my family,

it was really wonderful and nice.

And then I came back in January and the vibe was a little different.

Something was a little weird.

But again chose to ignore it, cuz naivety.

That's no longer an issue.

So, come February 1st, 2013, it was a,

it was kind of a weird day, because my, my job rack was very empty.

We had little file folders and I had like maybe two files.

And then they had hired another guy who was also sharing my position.

They had ultimately hired me as a junior art director,

with, telling me they'd help me move up to an art director position.

So they hired another guy and so we were both junior art directors, and

his job rack was literally overflowing.

Like, he had extra files, like, off to the side.

And I'm like, I'm not sure what's going on here, but like, if you need help,

I can, I can help you a bit.

And around four o'clock in the afternoon, the, the big guy pulls me into the office,

into, into an office and he says, we're letting you go.

And this was three and a half months, so it was past the 90 days.

And to this day, like, I still don't know why, and I don't need to know why because

the time to have told me was that day when I was sitting there staring at the man,

flabbergasted why I am suddenly out of a job with no warning.

Sorry, I'm like, actually getting a little choked up, because it's still very hard.

But it, as of February 1st this year, it's been two years.

So, I, I, I, sit there and he's like, you know, you,

you know, so-and-so is gonna go collect your things from your desk.

I said no, no, no I need to collect my things I need to make sure that

I'm not going to forget anything, because I had my own books there,

I had a hair straightener in the drawer because y, if it rains.

If it, it's a legitimate thing.

If it rains, this goes poof, and I gotta tame it.

So, I was, you know, I said I need to make sure that I collect all my things.

And, you know, and, and, just fyi,

if you don't give them permission to touch your purse it's illegal.

Keep that in mind.

So, ultimately he relented as long as the accountant went with me to collect

my things.

And I stood up.

And this man is like, my recollection is he's like seven feet tall.

He was probably more like six two.

But I stood up, and I, I put my hand out, and I said I want to thank you for

this opportunity.

I shook his hand, and I walked out, and I collected my things.

I went to my car, put things in my car, sat down, got ready to call my mom,

saw I had an email in my, in my thing.

So, just out of habit I go check my email and

the email says it's from the entire company.

It's from him to the entire company and

it says Shawna is no longer a an employee of the company effective immediately.

And to this day I sort of wish that I had replied all and said yes I'm aware.

>> [LAUGH] >> But I wasn't thinking on my feet.

I was kinda, kinda distracted, and, but it hurt, you know.

It was all of a sudden I was like, wow, they,

he couldn't even wait until I was out of the parking lot.

Like, did he really want me gone that badly?

And I didn't really know how to handle that, and, you know, I mean,

the least he could have done was shut my email off first, like, come on.

Little courtesy here.

So I call my parents and I'm like, I, and I, my mom's like,

I never want to hear you wail like that again, cuz I was just, I was a mess.

And what tipped me, what takes me about, took me about 15 minutes to

get to in the morning took me 45 to get home because of traffic.

Because, of course, they let me go right in the middle of I-4 traffic.

So, I call my parents.

They live 40 minutes from me.

And they arrived at my apartment about ten minutes after I did.

And you know, we're sitting there,

and my moms like, why don't, you know, I was like, I'm going to try and find a job,

you know, but in the mean time I might freelance.

And she's like, why don't you just try freelancing now?

She goes, you've done the job thing, you didn't come here to go job hunt.

Why don't you just try, try freelancing?

And she goes, you can, you can work from home, you can set your own schedule,

you can work in this cute little studio you've put together.

You can go skate when you want.

I lived across the street from an ice, from the ice rink.

My parents did a good job finding that apartment.

I have a five minute drive.

It is awesome.

But when she's, and she says if you get a dog, I was like I can get a dog?

And she goes yeah, you're, you're going to be home, you might as well get a dog.

Then, you're not alone.

So two months later, I had Mister teddy the Director of Cuteness.

>> [LAUGH] >> He he has his own Instagram handle.

So if you'd like to follow him, he posts updates.

But, yes, Mister Teddy, the Director of Cuteness.

He's my, he is my little buddy, he's my little fluff ball.

When I adopted him, he, he was a rescue dog from Florida Little Dog Rescue.

And he is just, I love him to death.

He's my baby.

If you come talk to me, if you talk dogs,

you're gonna see photos of him, because I have so many photos.

My mom has been sending me photos because she's, she's watching him this weekend.

I love him.

But when I got him, he was very, very flaky, very very, he had no hair.

He just, he was a mess.

It's kind of like a metaphor of where my life was at that time.

>> [LAUGH] >> And, so ultimately, like, kinda,

we both kinda grew together.

And he's now, now he's that adorable little fluffy thing.

His hair's crazy thick, and he sleeps like no one's no one's business.

It's awesome.

He sleeps in and doesn't try and wake me.

It's great.

So while I'm sitting on the couch and, and just kind of, like, freaking out,

my Dad goes to my, he goes, he goes to my fridge and he pulls out the tonic, but

he goes, why do you have diet tonic?

I said it has less calories.

He goes, that's bull.

Excuse me.

And he's like, so he makes me this really strong vodka tonic, and

I'm looking at my parents.

I'm like, I don't wanna be a victim in this.

I wanna really, like, stay positive.

I said I never want to be a victim because, yes, it sucks.

It happened to me.

But this is a chance for me to really grow and

really come out of it really strong and just show them.

And so I'm a big believer in that positive yields positive.

You put positive energy out into the universe and

the universe is gonna bring it back.

And I mean, that night, I'm like chomping at the bit.

I'm like, okay, I'm gonna freelance.

This is gonna be awesome.

I'm gonna make this happen.

I don't know how to do this at all, but I'm gonna make it happen.

And ultimately, my mom was like, why don't you just come home for five days and

take a mini vacation with us?

And, I was like, okay, I'll just come home.

That's fine.

So I'm like, for the next five days, I'm, like, chomping at the bit at home.

She's like, sit down and relax.

She goes, you never just relax.

And this still to this day happens.

She's like, why are you sketching?

I'm like, I'm relaxing.

I'm relaxing.

She goes, you're working.

I'm like, I'm sketching.

It's different.

So exactly a week later,

I got a call from a company called Brain Juicer up in New York City.

They are still a house client for me to this day.

We just did the third annual report cover.

But they came to me, said, we saw your World of Foot poster.

We really love your style.

We'd like you to do our annual report cover.

It's going to be this poster, and this thing is like this big.

I mean, it's huge.

This file, I think, ultimately ended up being over a gigabyte cuz I had so

many layers and so many textures.

And they loved it.

But this took me probably two months to do, and it was, it was a labor of love.

It was really just, it, I, it was what I needed to get me out of a slump, and

it was the first freelance gig I had as a full-time freelancer.

And in that time, I'm sitting at, I went to go skate and

I opened my phone and there's an email and I just wanted to check and

make sure I didn't have any, like, emails from Brain Juice before I got on the ice.

And it's an email from 3M Post-It.

I still don't know how they found me.

They never told me and I asked.

And they at, it was, at the time it was for

this project called the 3M Post-It specialty artist series.

Something like that.

Unfortunately they, they ended up discontinuing it last August so I never

actually got to see these in stores but I do, I did get a bunch of samples.

And my mom has them displayed in her cabinet with, like,

her pretty porcelain stuff.

>> [LAUGH] >> And she's like,

I'm never gonna use them.

And I'm like, I can give you an extra set.

I have like, 20.

And she's like, no, I'm never gonna use them.

They're just here for display.

Yeah, I did a cup design recently, too.

Same thing.

Never gonna use it, I'm just gonna display it.

So I got to do these, and it was really awesome because this first set on the,

on the left was part of the first round of things they had me do.

And I had about a month and a half to do these, and I presented four options.

They only asked for three, I presented four.

That was the fourth and that's what they chose.

So, go figure.

And there was actually an, a chance that they wouldn't even end up using

any of them, but the chalk thing was huge then.

They were like, we love it.

And then they came to me in about June, and like, hey,

we need this by next week, but would you be interested in doing a nautical series?

And I was like, oh heck yes.

Sure, let's do this.

And that was, what we ended up doing instead was we did a very sort

of symbiotic thing where I just would send things and they'd say,

we like this and this and this.

Let's combine it all, and off it went.

It was fantastic.

So that was the other series and it was really fun.

Of course, they played off the word, seize the day as seas, S-E-A-S, ha ha ha.

So, well, in, so, then in about April, I get an email

from the son of the owner of Brunet-Garcia, and he says,

hey, my girlfriend is the creative director of Jacksonville Magazine.

She saw the foot poster.

This thing is going to keep continuing to pop up, this one poster.

He said, she saw your foot poster and she really wants you to do a cover for

Jacksonville Magazine.

Would you be interested?

Would I be interested?

Yeah.

Duh.

So I got to do this, this awesome cover.

And they, she said I really want to do, like, chalk style typography and,

you know, can you come up to Jacksonville and draw around this taco?

And I was like, I could just do this digitally.

I could do it. We got, and she was like, really?

Yeah, we'll do this.

It'll be awesome.

So I got to draw around this, this, I think it was a tuna taco.

It's at TacoLu in Jacksonville.

So if you ever go to TacoLu, go try it.

It's probably good.

And so this was really awesome.

And during that time I had actually gone and,

like, applied to different artist reps.

And I, I just, I suck at promoting myself, I suck at pricing myself, and I was like,

if I can find someone to do that for me, that would be awesome.

And I had applied to them back before I had moved down here and they said,

you know, your art's not ready yet, but please keep sending us stuff.

And then I got busy and didn't.

So when I went full time, I said hey, is the offer still open for

me to send you things?

And she goes, of course.

So, I'd been sending her things over the last couple months and

she's like, these are great.

I'll present them when we have our artist review.

I sent her that.

She writes back, this is what we're looking for.

Your contract's coming next week.

And I got, I started my relationship with Illustration Limited.

And they are one of, I think, the largest artist reps in the world.

They've got several offices all over the world, and I love them.

They are just the best.

They go to bat for me when a client is really making me mad.

And it's just been a really great relationship with them.

My first six months was a trial period cuz they wanted me to kinda build up my work

and see if were, we would work, you know, well together.

And like, December came, and it was past six months, and I was like,

huh, guess I'm cool.

And so I've been with them, in June of this year it'll mark two years with them.

So it, like, for me,

it was, it's a fantastic experience cuz I don't have to price myself.

I don't have to worry about contracts or anything.

If I just agree to, you know, they say how is this for price?

Cool. Okay.

So what I have learned from this, though, is if you cant do, pay someone who can.

I can't do my taxes well.

I'm paying an accountant to do them.

That's his job.

He knows his stuff.

So I'm paying, you know, I, they get a percentage of what I earn.

But it, it's worth it because it's something that

I don't have to worry about or do.

I don't have to go seek out the work.

You know, they, they have plenty of clients that come to them saying,

we're looking for this kind of style, and they're like, oh, we've got Shauna.

She can do that, or we have so and so, they can do that.

And it's fantastic.

So some of my, one of my first projects with them was with Scholastic.

I was like, holy moly!

What is this?

This is awesome.

And as soon as this was actually available,

this is, this was chalk type as well.

It's hard to tell on here but

they wanted, like, colorful chalk and around this little boy reading.

And so as soon as it was available on Amazon, my mom bought it.

It's sitting in my bedroom in, like, this little pile of, like, stuff I've done.

And then a few months later I got to do a piece for the Wall Street Journal online.

And, I mean, it's just been, the ma, things I've had the opportunity

to do are just incredible, and I'm thankful for every one of them.

And a lot of it is just me remaining super positive all the time.

So that the ener,

you know, the, the positive energy goes out and the good stuff comes back in.

And this one was actually really cool because this was a mall in

I believe Switzerland called Silcity.

And they came to me and they said, we wanna have chalk vectors.

I said chalk vectors will never happen.

You will lose your, you will lose your texture.

It just, it's not gonna look real.

I said, I can do double DPI in Photoshop and you'll love it.

And it worked really well.

They were super happy.

But I had to write in German, which I've never done.

And I'm, so, I was very lucky cuz they were very patient with me because I was

trying to read their notes, and they had,

like, weird spacing issues when they'd write.

So I had, like, words coming together, like, no, these are actually two.

I'm like, [LAUGH] sorry.

I don't speak German.

But they sent me this, and it was out, it was the front of the mall and

I was like, oh my God, this is awesome!

And, it's, it's really crazy to like, to see these things come to life.

And towards the end of last year I was approached by International Delight.

And that was one of those I'm sitting in my apartment and I was like, Teddy,

you're never gonna believe this, and the dog's just like, [SOUND] I love you.

I'm like, I talk to the dog all the time.

But I got to do two panels for International Delight.

And yes, these are iPhone photos because I have not taken good photos of them yet.

But this is the day that I found it in stores.

I'd been looking for months and they finally rolled it out.

And I'm, you know, I'm walking around Publix and

all of a sudden I go, oh my God, and I took a picture.

I sent to my mom and I sent it to my friend Megan and then Megan went and

found it in California and she's like, look what I found out here.

And then I sent it to one of my friends, Katie, and then she sent it to her parents

and they sent pictures back finding it at their Publix.

It was, like, crazy.

And it was so weird, it was like my first truly,

like, all-over project, and it's just everywhere.

I went into Target and I'm like, there it is!

That's awesome!

And then my mom goes into Publix and she turns them all around.

>> [LAUGH] >> So, yeah.

She, the first day she was able to find it, she picked it up and

she's like, my daughter did this.

My daughter did this.

Hey, see this?

My daughter did this.

Yeah, so.

But, I'm honest, I'm really proud of this.

It really tastes pretty good too so if you buy it it's actually, it's quite good.

They also have chai tea, like a vanilla flavor and all these other flavors.

I did, I think, six or seven in total.

It was really fun.

So about mid last year, though,

I was approached by Walter Foster to do a book called Creative Lettering and Beyond.

And, yeah.

[LAUGH] This was really fun for

me, because I never thought that I would actually be an author.

And by all technicalities, I'm an author.

And I'm like, what is this?

What is my life?

This is weird.

And, like, I like, I live in Orlando.

I work from my apartment.

I'm in this like little bubble.

So I really have no idea how far my work actually goes to people.

So, I get like random messages from people in France, they're like, I love your work!

Okay, cool, sweet.

But this is a really cool book.

It's, it's really big, too.

There's like practice pages in it and

I was one of four artists to do a section on lettering.

And so I covered chalk lettering, and there's a few,

there's a bunch of different prompts.

It's a great way to learn.

The other artists did a fantastic job.

They covered everything that I didn't, and I mean, it's, I mean,

they're way more in-depth than me and it was, I learned things reading it.

It was amazing.

And so I, I, but I have a few pieces in there that are sort of, they show, like,

the step-by-step progress for how, like, I build things out,

how I sketch it, build it, refine, and finish.

So, I did a few of these like, really, just kind of fun, chalk-type pieces, and

I did them all digitally.

I cheated.

I, they were like, can you do, can you do chalk work first?

And I said sure, it's all digital.

So, we're just gonna fake it, so for the printing reasons.

And it was kind of fun cuz I really saw my style start to evolve during this.

And, I, I started to get really pumped again.

And in the meantime, I also started to do some side projects.

So, I'm very adamant about the side project thing.

Like if I don't have work coming in I'm working on side project stuff because

clients tend to reference all my side projects.

It's very rare that that actually reference my, my client work.

But, I did one early last year that kinda failed, I just didn't like it.

I would try to do three word stories and had a couple people contribute and

then I just got bored with it and kinda let it die.

So, it happens.

And about August last year, I started, I got this idea, and I was like,

I really wanna illustrate clickbait.

I don't know why.

But I do.

And, so I started what I called the Clickbait Project.

And my definition for this project is, if it is enticing enough

to make me click on it, I will click on it, otherwise, whatever.

And at, that was mostly so I didn't get a bunch of like

he saw her crying on a bench, you'll never believe what happened next.

Cuz that's like the formula for clickbait.

So, I did a bunch of different silly ones.

I go on BuzzFeed and I find ones, but you know, 20 Words That Have Different Meaning

in the Midwest, and Ghost Like Figures Shows Up on State Police Station Video,

and 45 Times Oprah Really, Really, Loved Gardening.

And then I did this one for fun, too.

But people thought I actually did work for Starbucks, and I'm like, no, no, but

if you have connections, hook me up.

And then, but I've also noticed with the, with the lettering trend, it's like,

really become saturated, which is fantastic.

I love that people are excited about it and that they wanna learn it.

But I also realized, oof,

I should probably figure out how I can actually illustrate.

So, I did a pattern project for

the holidays, and originally it was going to be, three sets of twelve.

I was gonna do three different songs.

I only made it through the first one.

I got busy.

It happens.

But, I did the twelve days of Christmas, and I did it in patterns.

So, we have three, is that one?

Three French hens.

Seven, or six swans a-swimming.

No, yeah, I don't know, swans a-swimming.

Drummers drumming, and maids a-milking.

And it ended up, well, my microphone fell, there we go.

It was actually a really fun project, kinda forced me to like, really

really pull myself out of there and really try new things, and it's, it's fun.

You know, I enjoy it.

It was a really fun day and the website's cool because it's like,

one pattern at a time and it, it parallax scrolls up and so it was fun.

And I also ended up doing a self-promo project where I just did some really

pretty, pretty, pretty stuff.

And I made these into postcards and sent them out to art directors that I liked,

and a few of these have now been licensed by some companies, and

they're being made into like wall prints.

So, you never know what those side projects are going to turn into.

Andd this was done for AIGA Jacksonville's Always Summer Poster Show, so

if you're an AIGA Jackson, I know they're here somewhere, but, maybe, maybe not.

>> Yep. >> Yay!

But yeah, it's a really awesome poster show.

You pick a song that reminds you of summer and it's really fun and awesome.

So I did Pompei.

I had it stuck in my head for weeks afterwards, but this is an 18 by 24 and

the, the chalk texture I did is just really,

probably the most realistic I've ever done to that point.

I created brand new brushes for it and it was, I was very proud.

It actually sits above my desk.

And then this I did about two weeks ago.

If you, if you come find me, you get these.

They're little like, little playing cards, and they're awesome

I just like revealed the big surprise, but I'm really proud of them.

Like, they were fun.

So, if you come find me, come get a, come get a little, little blue envelope and

it's got fun things inside.

So, you know, to conclude, you know, find your passion and get excited.

Like, you can tell, I love what I do.

I'm very excited about what I do.

I love talking.

I've talked to a few people out here that just, they're so

in love with what they do that like, we have this, this pas,

we're just bouncing this passion back and forth like, oh, that's so awesome.

And yeah, yeah, that's awesome and that's awesome.

Everything is awesome.

But also, work your ass off.

You know, I like to think I got very lucky with how things sort of panned out with my

career, but that there's a lot of things that I never put on social media.

I only put out what I want people to see.

They don't see me staying up till four am to finish a project.

They don't, they don't see me, you know, having, you know,

nervous, nervous breakdown, not really total nervous breakdowns, but

like when I didn't have client work, I was like, when's it gonna come in?

When's is going to come in?

I don't know what I'm gonna do when.

That's when you start the side projects.

But yeah, you know, work your ass off, get excited, and just make great work.

Thank you.

[NOISE] [APPLAUSE]

Do we have time for Q and A?

Yeah, okay, questions, anyone got questions?

I can't see, so like, people can just shout.

I can't hear, no questions at all, seriously?

That's a first.

>> Have you felt like having an agent [INAUDIBLE]

>> I think it actually has helped a lot.

>> Could you repeat the question?

>> Oh, he says, do you think that having an agent has

really helped you find, like, find success?

>> As opposed for looking for it for yourself.

>> Yeah, okay. Yeah, as opposed to finding

clients for myself.

It really has.

What it did was really put my work out there.

They have a, a huge mailing list, so

it went out to all these clients that they already have and put my work out there in

front of people that would've probably otherwise never seen it.

And it really has been such a, such a, such a blessing to have because I don't

know where I would be right now if they hadn't taken a chance on me.

I know a lot, there's,

there's people that like don't have such a great relationship with their agents.

They just don't like the, the way it works, but for me it's really,

it's really been great and I've had a lot of really cool opportunities,

even ones that never really panned out, but I've had people come to me.

And I'm like that's amazing, I can't believe this might happen.

>> Can you talk about how at the end of the day what you do [INAUDIBLE]

>> Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Okay, so, Diane asked, what, what I do at the end,

what I do at the end of the day when I'm done working.

Lately, I've been working until like, 10, 2.

It's just kinda not had like, an ending.

>> But, when I'm not totally, crazy swamped, and

I actually have my schedule on board.

I go to my couch, I turn the TV on, I snuggle with Teddy, and

I take out my sketchbook and I just start drawing.

I don't let, I don't have a computer in front of me.

I don't, I sometimes have some books for inspiration around me.

But mostly, I just sit and I sketch.

And sometimes that's when, that's a lot of times when, like,

my best prints come out because I'm not thinking about it,

I'm not trying to, like, push myself harder to do something.

Like, it just comes naturally and like, I've got things in there that I'm like,

I'll never turn this into anything.

But I use that time to really explore and experiment and kind of push what I do.

[BLANK_AUDIO]

Anyone else?

Any more questions?

That it?

>> [INAUDIBLE] >> Oh, okay.

There's, these are really bright, so just shout out.

>> What is your favorite letter?

>> What is my favorite letter?

Ooh.

That's a toughy.

Actually it's changed over the years, but

I kind of actually think that Ss are kinda really fun right now.

I love doing Qs because you can really have fun with the tail.

Who else, what other, like S and Q seem to be, seem to be some of my top ones.

I don't like doing Ks.

Ks are actually really hard for me to do.

Sorry if your name starts with a K.

>> [LAUGH] >> But yeah, yeah.

>> Did, [UNKNOWN] did German [INAUDIBLE] other language [INAUDIBLE]

>> I actually have I, did,

a project in Spanish before that.

I did a, it was, if you, if you live in Europe or you go to Europe,

you find this little bottle, it's called Chocolate.

They have an English version and they have a Spanish version.

And I had to, and the Spanish version was actually pretty easy for me to do because

I did Spanish in high school, so I understood it, and I knew kind of where,

where the grammar and the conjugation and all that stuff was.

So I have done that, and then I did another project just after Christmas for

an insurance company in German, as well.

And, but after that, I did it.

It was weird, I, I had to, I did a magazine cover for a Korean mall, but

it was all in English.

I don't understand that one.

>> [LAUGH] >> But it was in English.

But other than that,

I don't really think I've done a whole lot of foreign languages.

I've done a lot of work for the UK, and if it's in other countries,

a lot of times they actually, they seem to default to English a lot of times,

which I find interesting.

[BLANK_AUDIO]

Anyone else?

Yes? >> How long did it take you after

you lost your dog [INAUDIBLE]?

>> Oh gosh. It actually didn't even happen until

about last year.

Yeah, I, I, because my work wasn't as known,

even with the agent, I was, I was still making money, but I was paying off debt.

I had to pay rent.

And it wasn't until after about June of last year that I really started to

get consistent work, because the last two years, January through June, were dead.

I had a project here or there, but mostly there were just, you know, dead.

There was no products coming in, and no clients coming my way.

And it was so, I, actually that's why I, I always have,

like, the very nervous, nervous times in my life.

Because I didn't know if this would continue.

And that's why I started side projects.

But I'm at a point now I've,

I've separated my personal stuff from my business stuff.

I finally set up a business, which has helped immensely.

So I'm still paying off some debt, but I finally feel like I can breathe,

I don't have to be so stingy about things, like, I can come and I can enjoy,

like I can enjoy Creative South.

I'm going to be going to New Orleans in a couple months for, or couple months,

a couple weeks.

Oh gosh, that came up quick.

In a couple weeks for a client, and I'm staying an extra day, so

that I can explore.

And I, I'm not worried about paying for that, because I,

I know I can afford it, currently.

And I'm, you know, I want to eventually pay off more debt as I come along.

But, it's, I'm, I'm not necessarily free yet, but it's,

it's getting more comfortable.

But it took, like, two years.

[LAUGH].

>> Shauna, how do you deal with working alone?

I mean, I know that Ted's there.

[INAUDIBLE] >> Yeah.

I like to call myself an, an extrovert,

extroverted introvert. I can talk to people, no problem, but

it takes me about three days to recover. >> [LAUGH]

>> [LAUGH]

>> [LAUGH] And

I'm perfectly fine staying at home, in my apartment, for three days straight.

How, which is what I would do before I had Teddy, but because Teddy is a living,

breathing animal, he has to be taken out to go pee.

So I have, you know, he actually like,

it forced me to get out of the apartment, meet neighbors, meet people.

One of the neighbor dogs is one of his best buddies and

they, they see each other from like 50 feet away, and run to each other.

It's really cute.

We're kind of sad both of them are fixed, because they'd make adorable puppies.

>> [LAUGH] >> But I, I actually,

I love working alone.

I don't like having to like, I, I always got really freaked out when I worked at,

at the agency, because I had to end up turn my desk outwards, so

that I could see people coming.

Because people would just walk in to my cube, and they're like, so whatcha doing?

I'm like [NOISE].

You know, so it was, it was one of those things where I was like, I, I don't like,

it was like it was a control thing, like, I couldn't not know they were coming, but

I liked to listen to music, cuz I couldn't listen to the office chatter and

distraction.

And so.

I love it.

I listen to music, I listen to podcasts, I listen to audio books.

Sometimes I listen to pure silence.

But having Teddy there actually does help a lot, because I really didn't realize how

quiet my place was until I had him, you know, bouncing around.

But I to, I get out.

I, I go to the rink.

I skate, I've got a, a freelancing friend that I go skate with.

I go out with friends, and we go to happy hour on Friday nights, I,

you know, randomly go to like different AIGA events.

So I still get out and I socialize but I do definitely prefer the solitude.

So it's just kind of nice.

You know, it's very, very quiet.

And my, my apartment complex, for the most part, is very quiet.

Occasionally I hear my, my neighbor laughing at, like, midnight,

when I'm trying to go to bed, but such is apartment living.

Anyone else?

We have like a minute left.

Any more questions?

Yes?

>> [INAUDIBLE] >> Okay, the question was,

would there be a circumstance which I'd go back into a full time job?

No. >> [LAUGH]

>> I briefly considered it.

Louise Fili was hiring in, in York, and

I was like, oh, two years ago that was a dream job.

And now I'm like I like that I wake up at, you know, eight or nine,

and I work til noon.

And then I go skate, and then I come back and work at three til whenever,

like, I enjoy that freedom.

I know that I'm unproductive between about 12 and 3.

Nothing gets done, which is why I take the advantage, I take advantage of that, and

go skate and work out.

But I, like, it would have to be very, very, like, enticing, and even

then it would be very hard for me to make that decision to go back into full time.

But the Louise Fili job was actually something that I was like, oh,

should I apply?

Should I not apply?

And kind of wrestled with it, and finally I was like, I can't do it.

Can't bring myself to do it.

[LAUGH] Eight seconds, anyone, any last questions?

>> [LAUGH] >> Yeah.

>> You talked about how you start how you end your day.

How do you, do you have any routine for how you start your day?

>> Oh, okay.

Routine for how I start.

>> Yeah.

>> Well I have been trying to fix it.

>> [LAUGH] >> I used to actually get up at about

7:00, 7:30, and I'd get up, and I'd take Teddy downstairs, come up, have coffee,

and just start working.

Lately because I've been going to been really late, I get up at like 8:00,

8:30, I sit on Reddit on my phone for like 30 minutes.

Teddy just, you know, snuggles next to me,

until I'm ready to get up ,and then I take him down.

We take him for a little walk, and then I come up, and make my breakfast, and

then I sit down and work, and by then it's 9:30.

>> But every day, for creative stuff,

I actually have to sit down and I have to sketch for about 15 minutes.

It doesn't matter what, I could just, even if I'm looking at like an alphabet,

I just have to draw the letters, just to kind of warm up my hands.

I joke that I have old lady hands, cuz they all like tight and

cramped up, and so, if I don't do that, I, I feel off for the day.

Like trying to draw on my Cintiq, I'm like, ugh, something just, I feel very,

it's like very stiff.

So I do do about a 15 minute warm up, sometimes,

actually, that's when other ideas for different side project prints come out.

And, but it's something that if you don't do that, I actually highly recommend it,

cuz it's a great way to wake up your brain.

Cuz you're just, you're just letting loose and just, taking in the moment.

Yeah.

Think that's it?

>> [APPLAUSE] >> Thanks guys.

>> [APPLAUSE]