Behind the Portfolio: Ane Arzelus Shares Their Journey from Creative Child to Creative Professional

We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with illustrator Ane Arzelus to learn about their journey to becoming a sought after illustrator and designer. Read about their experiences and words of advice for creatives who are just starting out.

When did you first know you wanted to be an illustrator?

I was a creative child that turned into a creative teenager who debated whether to study Psychology or Fine Arts, and the Fine Arts won! I was an avid reader too so any interaction with images and texts fascinated me. I accidentally stumbled into Graphic Design classes in my art studies where I learned about visual communication, and that's when I can say I definitively and purposefully decided that I wanted to create illustrations for a living.

What do you love most about being a freelance commercial illustrator? What do you like least? 

Being able to decide what my daily schedule will be gives me a flexibility and quality of life that I really appreciate – the flip side of it being that work never stops if I'm not careful with setting boundaries with myself!

Conceptual editorial illustration commissioned by Range magazine for an article about cruise ship travel.

Tell us about your formal education.

I have a bachelor's degree in Creation and Design specialized in illustration, and a postgraduate degree in Editorial and Advertising Illustration.

How did you go about getting your first few jobs?

I also work as a graphic designer so my professional start was in different graphic design jobs, where I slowly started integrating more and more illustrations. Those projects attracted more illustration work, and I also started doing lots of self-promotion to publications and clients I'd love to work with – something I still do to this day.

Book cover illustration commissioned for Cups and Killers, published by Harlequin Books.

How has your career evolved?

I started pursuing illustration in earnest in 2020 and I can now tell that my career is quite stable, something I'm very grateful for. I started doing way more design work than illustration, but I can happily claim that the percentages of each type of project has definitely flipped through the years.

Tell us about a past project that was especially exciting.

I self-published a zine that later was picked up by a publishing house and turned into a book, a project I'm still extremely proud of.  It's a take on classical Greek myths through the lens of how the way we tell and retell those stories is as important as the stories themselves, and how the stories change depending on the POV of who's telling them. It's a book that aims to make people reflect on the narratives we read and develop critical thinking from a young age.

Interior illustration for Invisibles, published by Zahori Books.

Can you share about a project that went particularly wrong (without mentioning names of course) and what you learned from the experience. 

Most of my bad illustration project experiences can be attributed to two things:

1. Lack of clarity of what the project scope, time, budget etc. will be before starting work

2. Lack of knowledge on the part of the client of what commissioning illustration entails.

I have learned through it all that it's really important to clear all of it up front so both parties know what to expect during the project. Luckily, I have never done anything that went unpaid.

“Basseria” self-directed piece about the feeling of my home having its roots in the natural environment. Created for entry into the Northern Festival of Illustration

What do you hope to see happen career-wise in the next 2-5 years?

I'd love to get the chance to keep making editorial illustrations for magazines! Coming up with ideas for these is what I enjoy most about my illustration work. I'd also LOVE to create paper engineered projects, pop-up books and whatnot. 

Editorial illustration commissioned by Puget Sound University alumni magazine, Arches for an article about adoption.

What advice would you give to illustrators that are entering the industry now?  

Illustration as a career is a marathon that will require you to keep moving and working hard, with delayed payoff for your efforts. It's reeeeally normal to have another job for stability while developing your illustration career on the side, so don't be ashamed if your illustrations are not sustaining you entirely from day one. Just persist, and you'll eventually get there! I'll also encourage people to make more of what they'd like to be commissioned for – personal projects do pay off in showing what you have to offer and what your unique voice is.

What do you wish you had known at the start of your journey?

Maybe the advice I just gave in the previous answer, hahaha!

Keep up to date with Ane on their illustration journey. Check back often to see new and exciting work develop.