Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Hines.
Sara, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up loving art. I can remember looking at drawings, paintings or anything creative and thinking to myself I want to do something of my own. So, my journey began! I would practice my best rendition of stick figure families, animals, and pretty much anything my creative mind could think of at a young age. I actually drew in a few books that I checked out in the school library once and that didn’t end well; my mom had to buy the books. I guess you could say that’s considered my first artwork ever purchased.
Anyway, I continued my love for art throughout high school and just kind of did crafts and drew in my free time not thinking anything of it. My high school didn’t offer art classes, so most of my inspiration came from things I had seen out and about or found online. I began just making repetitive patterns that would turn into these massive drawings that were pretty extreme to look at and people loved them. I began posting artwork on an Instagram account and people were reacting to my work, and really encouraging me to keep posting. It was then that I realized maybe there was a place for me in the art world. I then graduated from high school and had ZERO intentions of doing anything with my creativity because I always heard “there’s no money in being an artist.”
I attended junior college and was going through my preliminary nursing classes, and I decided to add on an art class as an elective. I soon realized that I hated everything about my nursing courses and my favorite class of the day was always my drawing and painting class. I had an extremely inspiring professor that instantly realized my potential and pushed me more and more into the art world. The next semester, I had dropped nursing and was fully enrolled in all art courses. That spring, I placed multiple artworks in the art show and placed in the top three, and I began getting more and more exposure. I knew I wanted to take my education to the next level and started looking for universities to attend. I landed on The University of North Texas because of their focus on art, and I applied. I received my acceptance letter that summer and I was off to Denton the next fall. I enrolled in the communication design program and was put through a portfolio review at the end of my first semester. You had to be chosen to continue in the program for the next semester and I honestly didn’t think I would make it just from what I had heard from other students and how tough it was to make it through. They chose less than half of the students, but I heard back over the Christmas break and I DID IT. I had a professor tell me he really thought I could excel in the graphic design world.
So, I shifted my focus from drawing and painting to the design world and began experimenting with all sorts of different media. Time flew by and I had really found my niche in the design world and continued to hoan my skills in graphic design. I took on clients all through college gaining some great experience and making extra money. I had an internship with FreeRange Concepts out of Dallas my last semester at UNT and that’s when reality set in that I was about to be released into the crazy world of adulthood and the design field was slim. But I continued and pushed forward after graduated and nearly went to an interview every single day for three months before I ever found anything. I was freelancing full time trying to find clients in the meantime. In July of this year, I landed a position as a graphic designer for a company called American Leather. I currently still take on clients and freelance work.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I mainly focus on hand lettering, illustration, logo and brand design. It sounds pretty broad since most designers have one focus but I could honestly go on. I will generally take on any challenge when It comes to being creative. My personal art has its own look at feel since I generally do it by hand whether it be hand lettering, watercolor or doing hand-drawn illustrations that I transfer over to illustrator for touch up. I make custom watercolor and name drawings, greeting and Christmas cards, wall murals, custom prints, and everything in between. I like to use watercolor to create beautiful color mixes for background and then I will go back in and do hand letting over the top of the watercolor. I like to inspire people, and when I am creating I just hope that the viewer gets as excited as I do when they see it. I like to put out inspirational quotes or just my daily thoughts into my artwork so that when people see it maybe it’ll brighten their day or inspire them to go on and do something creative themselves. People should know that my artwork is geared towards feeling good when you see it and for it to be a light in your creativity.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
Becoming a successful artist these days is extremely pressuring and I think most give up because of the sparsity of it. The world of aspiring artists is crowded, chaotic, and generally ignored. I think the biggest challenge for artists is what to make?! It seems silly, But its something that every artist struggles with. There are so many different areas you could choose to focus on and it’s terrifying. You just have to narrow it down and go in head first and never look back!
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I mainly post my work on Instagram. I also have many other accounts that I use like Etsy, Behance, personal website, and a few others. I like to post about prints or t-shirts I am selling on social media and I will get the support that way as well as word of mouth. I have a lot of clients refer me to different people and I will get emails left and right about doing all sorts of things.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4221 old Denton RD Apt 1304
Carrolton, TX 75010 - Website: sarahinesgraphicdesign.com
- Phone: 4692352259
- Email: sarahines.design@gmail.com
- Instagram: sara.hines.design
Image Credit:
Myself
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