Freelance Illustrator and Teaching Artist

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in arts but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jessica Nunno, Owner of Jessica Nunno Art, located in Huntsville, AL, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

I am a professional working artist and work full-time as a self-employed solopreneur. There are many facets to my business, as I found with being a freelancer, I have to have many projects going at a time and lined up, so I have a consistent income flow. I take on freelance jobs as an illustrator, work as a teaching artist for myself, teaching private one-on-one art lessons and group classes held on Zoom, and run an art club for preteens and teenagers. However, I am also a contracted teaching artist through the Huntsville Museum of Art and The North Alabama Arts Education Collaborative.

I have a working studio/teaching space/storefront for my business located in Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment in Huntsville, AL. I also vend at art festivals and conventions and show my work in galleries through solo and group gallery shows. That means I have a varied client base. On a weekly basis, I teach Pre-K students, every age group in between, and adults. My students come to me expressing an artist in learning the fundamentals of art, but usually from a specific interest they have. Many of my students want to learn human anatomy, animal anatomy, backgrounds, color theory, character design, and creature design. I work with all of my students from whatever point they are at with their skills as an artist and give them the means to progress and take their skills further.

I have the privilege of going into grade schools that have not had an art teacher for a long time or irregularly or lack funding to bring these kids art education paired with whatever subject they are currently working on in their class. This is called arts integration. My clients/patrons who end up shopping at my studio or from me at festivals tend to be people drawn to the science fiction and fantasy genre and are usually anywhere from the age of 20 to 45. When I am doing freelance work, I am often approached by authors needing collaborative work done for graphic design layouts or for personal pieces they would like to have created. That's a lot of different facets and things to keep track of, but it keeps me moving, and it keeps me working for myself autonomously. It also builds a lot of variety into my skill sets and portfolio.

Tell us about yourself

I have always been an artist. I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't drawing. I knew from a very young age that this is who I was and who I was meant to be. Whenever I tried anything else, art was the thing that never stopped and brought me through every obstacle I faced in life. I went to school to be an illustrator. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. It took me a long time to get to the point where I could do what I do now full-time. I had to build it up slowly and work on my skills. And I had to learn the market and how to market myself.

At first, I did a few commissions here and there. Nothing really major. I started working in a method known as pointillism or stippling, where I created intricate works of art out of dots. I did this for roughly 10 years; of course, I did other things too, but I put in my 10 years and 10,000 hours into that craft. But working in dots is incredibly time-consuming! And pieces could take me as long as 6 months to complete. Ideally, this was not the way to be going about making a living as an artist. I had to find a more efficient way.

I was already using alcohol markers when creating the pointillism pieces, but I decided to try and use a different type, moving to brush markers (I specifically work in Copic Alcohol Markers) and learning how to blend. The more I practiced, the easier it got, and I found there was so much I was missing out on with the material and took to it and made alcohol markers my medium of choice. They allow me to create highly detailed, intense, brightly colored illustrations that give me a way to express everything I want to express. Once I started doing this, everything changed, and I started to find my direction.

I started really small at first, putting my work for sale in a consignment shop and then doing very small local comic conventions, getting my feet wet while I learned the ins and outs. And, as I began to understand this world better, I started going for bigger things. Bigger conventions, bigger jobs. But I did this part-time for a long, long time. However, that is when I started teaching but not as a teaching artist; I was a STEAM education instructor teaching mostly physical science classes and vector design for a laser cutter. This would give me the skills I needed though to start teaching for myself.

I took a number of what I call leaps of faith. When I dropped down to a part-time STEAM teacher and a part-time artist, that was a leap. When I got my first very small studio, that was a leap. When I moved into a larger studio space, that was another leap. When I decided to leave STEAM education behind and go full-time as an artist, that was an incredible leap as I now had no steady income. I made this decision six weeks before the entire world shut down from Covid. Everything I had set up for my first year full-time fell apart. I had 11 art festivals and conventions booked for that year, and I was unable to go to any of them and lost a lot of invested money. They say when you are backed into a corner, it's the best way to motivate yourself to make something work. I had no choice; I had to. That's when I jumped into teaching online.

I did this really quickly, and during the first year of Covid, I took all of the freelance teaching jobs that came my way; there were so many people who didn't want them and didn't want to teach. I was willing, and so I did. That's when I got involved with the museum and the collaborative. I started creating videos of craft projects for kids to do in after-school clubs. Those videos went out to 5 schools over the course of a year, and I made 59 in total. If you can believe it, I ended up in demand as an artist and had commissions coming in. I started a free online art club for preteens and teenagers to give them a place to socialize and be themselves while they were stuck at home. I legitimately was able to go full-time even during one of the roughest years on record.

I had my first two solo gallery shows that year. And I kept pushing forward, trying new things, and seeing what worked and what didn't. I have the privilege of working on something I absolutely love—making art and teaching art, and inspiring others. I feel compelled to draw. I have so many images and ideas in my head that I don't experience art block. I actually have to force myself not to draw for a day. But knowing I get to get up each day and work with my passion keeps me going. Even though doing this full time is an incredibly hard life. It's the life I was cut out for.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Being able to move into working full time on my business, bringing in enough income to survive by only working for myself. That was and is something that was incredibly important to me. When I work and work and work, and I see the payoff of a fantastic festival when I see my work up on a gallery wall after months of preparation. These things are big accomplishments because it's what I always wanted. I went after it, and I got it. I started winning awards. I won the Best Business in Huntsville for Artistic Services in 2021 and 2022. I won an international award for the illustration category in the Word Association for Artists competition. I took 2nd place in Best in Show at an art festival and won best in show for the graphics and illustration category at another. All within the past 2 years.

I just opened my largest solo gallery show to date. I see my students progress from drawing simple cartoon characters and creating fan art to seeing them draw hyperrealistic portraits, design their own characters, and write their own stories. I have a student who just opened up her first studio. Seeing my students achieve their goals is incredibly rewarding as a teacher. And when I can see that a concept I taught them made a difference. There's a lot to be grateful for about this work.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

Because I am a solopreneur, everything falls on me—every aspect of my business. From accounting to inventory, to marketing, working long grueling festivals, completing the commissions, the months and months and months of preparation for a gallery show, the physical exertion of painting a mural, or staying away for three days straight to complete a piece. This is a very hard job. It's hard to keep up with everything, so I am constantly working on overdrive.

With times more often than naught where I am working 70 to 80 hours a week. That's pretty regular. But that bumps up to over a hundred hours if I am on a deadline of any kind. And constantly have to teach myself new things about marketing, new technology, and new subjects my students want to learn. I am simultaneously the teacher and the student, as I have to keep moving and keep learning in order to do what I do. The hardest part is honestly giving myself permission to take a break and do something just for me.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Make sure you have a steady income initially. Use that income and invest in your business. As a lot of things you need to run a business, you'd need upfront. Take the time to take an accounting class, as it is very difficult to keep track of things and keep your numbers straight. And set boundaries with yourself and with clients. The boundaries with yourself as in sticking to your plan, making sure you take time off and making sure you take care of yourself mentally and physically. It is very easy as a business owner to lose yourself in work and never take a break. Remember to have a life outside of your business. You also need to set boundaries with clients of any kind. From the time of day they contact you, how many revisions you will allow for the price of the commission, sticking to contracts that benefits you and the client. There's a lot more to learn. But I would say those are the 3 most important lessons I learned as I navigated these waters.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.jessicanunnoart.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaNunnoArt/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicanunnoart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaNunnoArt
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicanunnoart/

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