Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebs Beers.
Rebs, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a creatively driven person. As a kid, this usually took the form of drawing crayon comics on copy paper stolen from my parents’ printer or doodling all over my notebook in class until I was reprimanded by my math teacher. Throughout school, I kept finding new outlets for my creativity, whether that was through drawing, painting, bassoon, or a brief phase of crude attempts at games coding, I was drawn to anything that let me make something new. I’ve always been interested in illustration of some form as a hobby, but I didn’t consider it much as a potential job until very late in high school.
I spent my senior year of high school applying to a variety of art schools to find somewhere I could get any kind of formal training in just general illustration. I knew that in the future I really wanted to work in the video games industry somehow, but I had no idea what I wanted to do, what I should look for, or what I was getting myself into. I had never taken an art class since up until recently I had been dead set on attending college for a degree in music composition, so the idea of being tossed into classes that may have depended on previous experience I didn’t have was frightening, to say the least. Over the next year, I would visit a few campuses and be accepted into colleges that looked amazing from the outside, but at the last possible moment, I decided that the cost of tuition at an out-of-state college dedicated to the arts was more than I could justify. I was devastated after making that decision, and it felt like I was giving up on an idea before it had even started by not just following through on what I really wanted at the time, but as a compromise, I decided that I should stay closer to home and attend the University of North Texas as a student in the Drawing and Painting program.
A semester into my freshman year, I was encouraged by my dorm suitemate and RA, who happened to be a junior in the Communication Design program at UNT, to apply for the first portfolio review of the highly competitive Graphic Design track. She had seen some of my illustration work and thought that my style may be better suited for the work she was doing herself in the design courses that I wouldn’t be able to take if I stayed in Drawing and Painting. I was resistant at first, mostly out of fear of not being able to make the cut for the program that I had missed the initial introduction class for, but the older students in the Communication Design major who had made it past their own two portfolio reviews were incredibly supportive. With their generous help and guidance, I was able to make it through the first and second round cuts and into the program that I have been working through for the past three years.
Today, I’m a senior in the Graphic Design program and am currently finishing up my second to last semester before I graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Design and a minor in Art History. While I still lean heavily towards illustration in my work, I’ve developed a love of other aspects of design that I never thought would, and I attribute that entirely to my amazing professors that push everyone in the program to experiment and grow outside our comfort zone when it comes to design. I’ve also recently discovered a love for stickers and print design, which brought me to opening an Etsy and tabling at a few local events this semester. I’ve had a lot of fun putting myself out there more this year, and I’m excited to see what comes next for me after graduation.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t always been easy. I struggle a lot with my own mental health, and that doesn’t mix very well with a major that demands so much from its students all the time. I’m sure it’s a universal feeling, but being in college, especially on your own dime, really pushes you to do your best and be on top of every project all the time. That drive to get everything you possibly can out of school is great, but it can also lead you to resent doing the thing you love if you aren’t careful. Alongside classes, I also work an on-campus design job, and while I love getting make art for a lot of high visibility events or programs, it can lead to a lot of creative burnout, which leads to stress, which leads to anxiety, which leads to depression, so it often starts to feel like a cycle of constantly thinking like you’re not doing enough or the work you are putting out isn’t good enough or that you don’t deserve to be where you are. I wouldn’t say that is something I’ll ever completely overcome, but I’m trying to learn how to work around these thoughts and be kinder to myself and my work.
This semester in particular has been rough on just about everyone I know, especially those I’m in class with. The light at the end of the tunnel for us though is that we’re almost done with this chapter of our lives. I think that we’ll be proud of how far we’ve all come when we finally get to walk across the stage at graduation. And then maybe some of us can finally get some sleep.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an illustrator at heart, but a lot of what I create at the moment is graphic design for on-campus events and programs. I currently work at a print shop called Design Works that gives me a lot of cool opportunities to work with organizations and departments wanting to advertise events for students, so I usually end up making a lot of posters and lawn signs. It’s probably concerning how fast I’ve gotten at drawing the school mascots.
Outside of school work, I spend most of my time drawing posters or sticker designs for my personal shop. The majority of my prints are rather eclectic in terms of content or subject, but a lot of my sticker designs feature animals or technology in some way since when I’m not drawing, I’m usually hanging out with my pets or ruining my sleep schedule with video games. I try to branch out occasionally, but generally, my art utilizes heavy line art and cell-shaded style coloring because my style largely developed while I was still working with Copics, watercolors, and Micron pens instead of digitally like I do today.
The thing I’ve been the proudest of this year has been getting to table at local events to sell my own prints and stickers that I hand-make myself at home. It’s been a goal of mine to table with my own artwork at least once before I graduate, and there’s something incredibly rewarding about getting to be a vendor at an event you’ve gone to in the past as just an attendee. It took a lot of getting over my own anxiety and self-doubt to do it, but I’m so glad now that I’ve had that experience and gotten to meet the people buying my art face to face.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My little sister and I used to spend the night at my grandparent’s house sometimes when our parents were out of town or just needed a break from two little kids, and I remember that the best part of staying and Grandma and Grandpa’s house was that grandpa made pancakes in the morning. This was totally different than normal pancakes because Grandpa had a turkey baster that he would fill up with batter- way before there were entire YouTube channels dedicated to highly elaborate pancake art. These weren’t colorful or detailed like you see online now, they were kind of just big tan slightly burnt blobs. I remember pulling the blueberries and Cool-Whip out of the fridge and spending longer decorating my breakfast than it took anyone to eat theirs, but at least it was pretty. Grandpa also couldn’t draw in the slightest, but if you said you wanted a horse-shaped pancake, he would definitely try to get something on your plate that maybe had four legs and what could kind of be called a head. He passed away a couple years ago, but his willingness to go along with suggestions like “dolphin-shaped pancakes” from his weird grandkids is something I remember quite fondly about him, so that’s probably one of my favorite childhood memories.
Contact Info:
- Email: rebsbeersdesign@gmail.com
- Website: rebsbeers.squarespace.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebsinspace/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/RebsInSpace
