Takeover Tuesday with Nick Fairbanks
An interview with Nick Fairbanks a freelance illustrator and animator living in Atlanta, Georgia.
Interviewer: Bella Alfonsi
Read time: 5min
Bella:
Nick! Thanks again for joining us for Takeover Tuesday. Can you please give us a lil' intro to let the people know who you are and what you do?
Nick:
Hi! The name’s Nick. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator living in Atlanta, Georgia. I mostly work in the startup and tech world but I’m trying to break into editorial work and children’s books.
Bella:
How'd you get into illustration and animation?
Nick:
I got my degree in documentary filmmaking at Florida State University. I had to learn After Effects and really loved it. I had some intricately animated sequences in a documentary I was working on and it impressed a classmate who had a startup company. He hired me to create an animated explainer for their product and was willing to pay $800 which was a lot for me at the time. I had always drawn things, but as I worked on the animated explainer, I learned about Dribbble and Pinterest and became exposed to the world of tech art. By the time I graduated, I was working for the startup company and had pivoted my career goals towards tech illustration.
“Seaplane.”
Bella:
Your style is unique and I've always been a big fan because it looks like it belongs in a book or magazine. What advice do you have for people trying to "find" their style?
Nick:
It’s incredibly hard to create a style that is truly your own. You don’t have to scroll that far back in my feed to see that the way I draw has changed a lot over the years as my influences have changed. But the art we make will always be influenced by those we look up to and that has to be okay. For me, it’s people like Oliver Jeffers, Vincent Mahe, Tom Hugonaut, Miroslav Sasek, Robinson, Quentin Blake. It’s important to keep in mind that there are two components to style: 1. the way you create art and 2. the stories you tell. Be conscious of what you’re taking from others and what you’re contributing that is your own. Find a balance that allows you to sleep comfortably at night. As far as actionable advice, the most common theme in art is people. So draw a janitor, a politician, a florist etc. Draw lots of people and then ask yourself, what would a car look like that this person would drive? What would their house look like? Build out the world in your style, starting with people.
Bella:
Where do you find inspiration?
Nick:
The most interesting things have some truth in them so I try to pull inspiration from the places I go and people I meet. I always keep a little notebook I can fit in my back pocket and write down the things I see and the thoughts they prompt as they happen.
“Preparing for emergencies.”
Bella:
Can you tell us a bit about your website, aportraitof.info?
Nick:
My Grandmother passed in 2021 and while I had plenty of photos, I had only one video. It prompted me to think how nice it would have been to have a long form video of her, and even better if she was answering deep, thought provoking questions. I created A portrait of as a way to do just that. I’ve filmed about a dozen so far and while it’s emotionally rewarding, it is very time consuming. I don’t advertise it much anymore, but if people reach out and want me to do it for their family, I’m always happy to do it. I may pick it back up more seriously in the future, but it's too far removed from my larger goals to warrant dedicating time to.
Bella:
What's the process like for managing your own Etsy shop?
Nick:
I initially wanted to print, pack, and ship all my own work. I sold out of 40 prints in a few days which was really encouraging, but the process was taxing. As of right now, I just offer digital downloads so that people can print them however they want. I’m thinking a lot about passive income, so I’ll keep the store as is for now, but I will be looking into working with a printing company soon who can handle all that for me.
“Arc De Triomphe.”
Bella:
How has your random mug drawing series on Instagram been helping you combat creative block? Is there anything else you like to do when you feel stuck?
Nick:
Yeah, it’s been really helpful! I actually draw the first thing I pull from the list. I was spending way too much time thinking about what people would want and it was stifling my ability to create. If I don't want to draw something from that list, I go on long walks and don’t come home until I have something clear in my head.
Bella:
Some of your advice on the gram is to try to "create something every day that makes you want to call your mom and tell her about it." (amazing advice btw). What's something you've worked on recently that made you want to tell your mom about it?
Nick:
My mom is my biggest supporter so she sees most of my work on IG before I get around to telling her about it. That aside, I was excited to tell her about a side project I spun up, creating animated portraits of creatives I interviewed while traveling around Europe and Asia a few months ago. I only shared a small portion of our conversation on social media but she wanted to hear about the whole thing.
Bella:
You've got a pretty big social media following (100k followers WOO)! Any advice for people trying to get noticed and share their work on social media?
Nick:
For context, I’ve been sharing my art on IG for 9 years. 8 months ago, I had a following of 5,000 or so. The cityscapes went sort of viral and propelled my following to what it is now, and I’ve been hovering around 100 for the last 3 months. So the bulk of followers came in about 4 months. But here’s what I’ve learned:
1. People love to travel. My cityscapes remind people of where they’ve been or where they want to go. People are always sharing it or tagging their friends. Anything that has to do with travel is going to increase your chances of it performing well.
2. People love to love. Create content around relationships or love. If you can strike that chord, reminding people of someone they love, or loved, it will perform well.
3. Elevate your work with animation. It doesn’t have to be anything major. Most of the animation I incorporate is really subtle and simple to execute. But it performs better on average than a static post.
4. It has to be either really strong stylistically, or really strong conceptually.
Look at something you’ve made and ask yourself, “Why would a stranger care about this or want to share it with their friend?”
“San Francisco Sunsets”
Bella:
Anything you're looking forward to working on/doing in the future?
Nick:
I’m ALMOST done with a Skillshare course on how to draw my cityscapes [Update it’s live!]. I’ve been talking about it for months and should be publishing it in the next 2-3 weeks. After that, I’ll be working on my website and try to make a real career out of freelancing.