Fabiola Lara

When Fabiola Lara began sharing her illustrations on Tumblr, she didn’t realize illustration was a viable career route. Eventually, she left her job in social media marketing to become a full-time freelance artist. But the corporate hustle was a useful experience, giving Fabiola insight into the mechanisms and relationships behind commercial projects. Today, she’s carved out a space for the Latinx community through her illustrations and podcast Draws in Spanish, alongside creating 13 art vending machines across Philadelphia.

About my work

My creative practice
I’m an illustrator and content creator. I illustrate and design my own mini prints that I stock in 13 mini print vending machines across Philadelphia.

I also create content about my life as a full-time artist and small business owner, sharing my process, experience, and day-to-day life. I find creating videos just as fun and creative as making visual art.

Influences and inspiration
Color and pattern.

My training
As an entrepreneur/small business owner, one of the biggest skills I had to learn was marketing myself and my work. I learned the basics of advertising during my time at the University of Florida, and more about digital and social media marketing through my internships at Viacom and Tumblr. These internships gave me real-world experience working as part of a corporate marketing team.

As an artist, I am mostly self-taught. I took some basic art classes at college, but learned digital art, animation and video editing on my own by watching a lot of tutorials. While I believe college gives you a great foundation, it’s what you do outside of school to nurture your skills that takes you to the next level and differentiates you.

Favorite recent project
Recently, I got the opportunity to display my mini print artwork designs as banners on Broad Street in Philadelphia. Four of my designs were printed across ten banners and placed along a highly visible corridor of the city. Countless people have seen my work now! Getting the opportunity to have a personal project displayed in the city and elevated (physically and figuratively) was so unexpected and special.

A day in the life
Every day is a bit different. The majority of my day is spent in my home studio working on different project phases and running an art business – sometimes with clients, sometimes just for myself.

I’m always working on some aspect of my mini print vending machines: whether it’s designing or stocking mini prints, chatting with potential new locations or about event opportunities. I’m also always working on social content to promote what I’m currently doing.

How I got here

Starting my creative journey
I started my career in social media marketing, finding a path in the corporate world before going freelance in 2019 after years of moonlighting as an artist. I was then able to dive into all the parts of art-making I find exciting and pursue different mediums: video editing, graphic design, etc.

Landing my first few jobs, clients and/or commissions
My first commission was for Teen Vogue: they found my work on Tumblr and reached out about illustrating an editorial piece. I’d always just shared my art online because it was a fun place to connect with other people, but that was the moment I realized illustration was a potential career path.

My most successful way of getting paid projects was, and continues to be, consistently sharing my work online. This way, potential art directors or clients can see what I can do for them and their projects.

Biggest challenges along the way
As a freelancer, finding stability was something that was difficult at first, but after years of freelancing, you realize that the journey is part of the process.

It’s also easy to get distracted with well-paying projects that you’re not passionate about; finding a balance between those paid projects and the more passion-driven ones can be tricky. Ultimately, the longer you’re in the industry, the more you’re able to learn what work you like. Hopefully, with time, you can get pickier while maintaining stability.

Everyday skills I’ve found helpful for my creative work:
Being punctual with your deliverables is an underrated skill.

My social media and self-promotion vibe is…
People take themselves too seriously and get in their heads with socials, when in reality it’s just an extra way to showcase your work and who you are. It’s a great way to build trust with potential clients.

Three things I've found useful in my career:

My greatest learnings when it comes to making money and supporting myself as a creative:
Don’t worry about taking on work that doesn’t align with your ultimate creative goals; sometimes a check is a check and that’s totally fine. Just remember that anything you end up publicly talking about will attract more of that work; so if you do a project just for money, maybe keep it off your portfolio. On the flip side, if there’s something you want to be paid to do, start doing it and talking about it.

Advice

My most useful career tips
Give yourself permission instead of waiting for it from a client or brand. If there’s something you want to try or do, experiment and see how you can make it happen for yourself. Create the opportunity for yourself.

If you do your best at every job and are easy to work with, freelance opportunities will always find you.

Where I go to feel connected as a creative
My friends – just talking to them lifts my creative spirit.

What I'd say to someone looking to get into a similar role
Start before you think you’re ready because you’ll never truly be ready. I created my own role, so start creating yours as soon as possible.