Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Hernandez.
Samantha, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My art journey started in high school (John Paul II High School in Plano). I had an amazing teacher, Mr. Steed, who opened the door to the art world to me. I just wanted to make art all the time. More specifically, I wanted to create stories with my art. I focused on and studied illustrations from old children’s stories, Japanese manga, and comics from the Sunday newspaper. Four years later and one AP portfolio later, I was standing in Savannah, GA as a student at SCAD — Savannah College of Art and Design. I put everything into my classes and graduated with a BFA in Sequential Art and a minor in Storyboarding. Those four years are my most treasured years. I was surrounded by fellow artistic minds, all from various backgrounds, in a beautiful city that had its own stories to share.
While at school, I focused on getting into American comics. I was a fan of dramatic panels and characters. I submitted penciled pages right out the gate once I graduated, but I wasn’t getting any bites as the year went on. So, to give myself a break, I turned to an old class project of mine: a children’s storybook of a heroine saving her prince. It’s a personal favorite of mine because the main characters are a frog and gecko, which remind me of some of my favorite books growing up. After tweaking it here and there, I finally got Fleet Saves the Prince published in 2017. I was so elated that I started getting to work on more personal projects.
The next big project I worked on was with a group of other illustrators from SCAD. It came about after the immigrant children were being held and separated from their families. We were devastated by the news and wanted to help gather money to donate to one of the non-profits to help them. Together, in 2018, we created illustrations of North American birds and their hatchlings and got it published as Hatchlings: A Coloring Book Anthology (Coloring Nature). Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from each purchase goes to support the Young Center, a human rights organization that provides legal and social services to immigrant children. This sparked a fire in me. The idea of creating art and using portions of the proceeds to donate to charities was thrilling and inspiring. I eagerly put my name down for the next project, which is currently in the works.
Right now, I have three projects in the works. The first project is the newest anthology coloring book which is focusing on marine life. The second is completing the sequel to my first book. It has been on the back burner for a long time due to big life changes for me and my family this past year. The third is planning and creating an illustration series – either by myself or with other artists – and use the profits to support non-profits that focus on the environment and wildlife.
I know it can be overachieving to work on so many things at once, but very few things give me as much joy as sitting down and creating art.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh, of course not. If it was an easy road I think more of us would try to be artists. The biggest struggle is convincing yourself that you are not worth the number of supporters you have. Just because another artist on social media has more people looking at their art, doesn’t mean that your 12 followers are nothing. It takes time to build yourself up, so don’t let yourself fall into the depths of despair and doubt. Open up to those artists, or any you cross path within your life and network. A simple appreciation of each other’s artwork goes a long way. Don’t be afraid to share with other artists either. Go to conventions! It doesn’t matter if it’s Comicon, an anime convention, a gaming convention, a fandom convention, etc. There will be artists just like you, who would be more than happy to connect with you.
Another struggle I had was second-guessing myself as an artist when I was trying to get into American comics. It’s hard. It’s even harder as a woman since a large portion of the comic industry is still men. Before I took my break, I was worried it was because I can’t draw muscular men as good as the best. That is the first problem. I was comparing myself to the best. I can draw muscular men in tights. I can make good environments in my images. I just wasn’t the right fit for the comics I was aiming for, and that’s okay. So, if you are interested in stepping into the comics industry, be confident in yourself, and open to constructive criticism. No one is trying to snuff your passion out. It’s a chance to grow.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I work on illustrations, either for my own interest or for a client. I have created a children’s storybook, a few comics (unpublished), and commissioned illustrations. I trained in traditional art mediums, but I became fond of working digitally. In this past year, I entered the world of watercolor, and am planning on opening that as an option for clients in the near future. If I had to decide what I’m known for, it would be my digital art as that is the medium I played with the most to discover my style of drawing. The project I am most proud of is my first book, Fleet Saves the Prince, as it raised my spirits to see it published. I think what sets me apart from others is that I jump around from mediums and topics. One day, I’ll be water coloring tigers and the next I’m designing one of my D&D characters. I’m an artist that isn’t afraid to step into something I’m not familiar with.
For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
I feel like women are well-positioned to be motivators at this point in time of our history. Whether you think women can emote more, less, or equal to men, we are passionate about telling our story. I think this the perfect time for women to come together and share and connect with each other. I think there is just a fire in a woman’s soul that can’t be matched when we are holding our ground on topics we hold near and dear. For some, it might be never giving up on your students or working on a passion project that’s been collecting dust for the past few years. For others, it can be sharing a powerful story for young women and girls to learn from or working long and hard hours to gain the title of their dreams in business. People will see their successes. I think that gives women an amazing opportunity to not necessarily rewrite history because we obviously can’t, but to change the factors so much so that history can’t repeat itself.
Pricing:
- Fleet Saves the Prince $12.00USD on Amazon
- Hatchlings: A Coloring Book Anthology (Coloring Nature) $9.99USD on Amazon
- Commissions – Pricing available upon request. Contact via email.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samihernandez.com
- Email: samiihernandez@outlook.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petite_sami/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/petite_sami
Image Credit:
All images belong to Samantha Hernandez
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