Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicholas Williams.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Nicholas. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story starts after the Marine Corps in 2013. I had traveled to Japan, Korea and California meeting good people and cultures. This left me with an open but creative mindset. After I enrolled in school for a degree in Graphic Design. With that I learned something important, I loved drawing but getting a full-time job in Illustration somewhere in Texas would be a hard and starving task, but there were plenty of jobs needing Graphic designers. So with that, I kept honing my drawing/illustration skills while gaining an education in design. Illustration would be my side hustle while graphics would be the breadwinner, they would support each other. While attending college, I met a guy who’s pretty much my brother now. His name is Chris Machorro and he introduced me into the Dallas art scene. Before I would think submitting my art to school magazine and school art shows was something. Until he showed me an art show at the Basement in Oak-cliff, I was hooked. The only question I had afterward to Chris was how do I get my art in a show like that! Ever since then it’s been a wrap, The people I’ve met and the shows we have done together has been an experience and this is just the start. Other than that my art, for now, has been focused on what lies beneath. Yes, I can draw the human body but what about what makes it functions, i.e. muscles, nerves, bones thoughts, and ideals… My art is broad at the moment, I cover current topics and what I feel. I can’t stay comfortable in one theme, I’ll just say my style is still growing.
Has it been a smooth road?
It hasn’t, I don’t plan on it to be smooth either. Knowing this makes me a smoother stone in the end. When I first started out my biggest struggle was defining my style. I was good with certain mediums but my art came out looking like everyone else. The more I worked, the more my art changed and the more people noticed that. It’s getting to the point where someone can see a piece and recognize it by the way that it’s illustrated or laid out that it’s my work. The process is still going but I’m glad I’m not in the same place I used to be.
The other struggle that has arose is living with the realization that someone like me can’t make a living off just illustrations. I know someone reading that line would say Duh! But when this hits you, it hits you hard. To make a living off just Illustration/Drawing, I would work myself to an early grave from exhaustion. With a combination of Graphic Design, Photography and Illustration skills though I can have a variety of clientele and more ways than one to earn a living. Being a Jack of all pays off.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I’m an independent artist for now (go figure). I focus mainly on Illustration but weirdly I’m not too shabby at Graphic design and photography. It’s I’m a Jack of all three but you wouldn’t be able to tell with design cause I don’t really share my designs unless a client wants to see work. Just weird about it and waiting till I get better.
For Illustration, I take commissions for anything if someone needs album art, portraits, book covers or just art for the house I can cover it as long as the price is right.
Photography cause I get just as much clientele for portraits as I do drawing. I shoot both film and digital with studio space available if need be. Another weird fact is I got an internship in photography first before I got internship in illustration or design.
Lastly, Design, whether logos, layout or anything else is needed, I can cover it and if not then I know someone who can. Design is apart of my life, I have my degree in it and my upcoming BA minors in Visual Communications. I know this will be my main source of income but I’ve also learned that design and Illustration coincide together. Once I learned that life got a lot easier.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The Dallas art scene is growing and is good for graphic designers. For Illustrators, I feel it may be harder since our art scene is smaller than Austin and Houston. Work is out there you just got to have the skill to find it or let it find you. One thing though is that illustration in the south is harder in general. More work is out in the East and West. Even data shows that East coast and West coast Illustrators are paid more than their southern counterparts. If money isn’t everything to you though that you can make it out here, you may need another hustle until you get so good to where the work is rolling in constantly.
Our city is improving, but it’s not where it needs to be in time things will be better. For those artists that leave home for the bigger projects elsewhere don’t forget that home is home and that’s your base… I learned that from a wise artist named Miguel DJ.
Pricing:
- Illustrations depending on size and medium $150-300
- Logo/Design $150-200
- Photography $70 per hour
Contact Info:
- Website: nicholaswilliamsdesigns.squarespace.com
- Email: nikotatt@gmail.com
- Instagram: deadloccs
- Other: neo_honcho @IG
Image Credit:
Isaias Martinez Jr. @cheech3 Personal photo
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